Ipswich Council is replacing its VME back-end to deliver services
over the Web.
Councils in the UK are being forced to upgrade their IT systems as
a result of the nationwide drive to put local government online and
deliver more services electronically. For Ipswich Borough Council
this has meant installing a new back-office system.
The council's previous IT system was based around a VME (Virtual
Machine Environment) back-end. It had already upgraded it once by
putting a "gooey" front-end on it and was reluctant to do so again.
Gary Butler, the council's IT manager, says he was looking for a
system with a more up-to-date look and feel about it that offered
more flexibility at the desktop. "VME is a dying regime," he says.
Ipswich Council started looking into replacing its revenue system
at the end of 1999 but the decision to adopt a Pericles system from
Anite Public Sector wasn't taken until last November. The
implementation is still in the early stages.
The first phase involved migrating financial applications, such as
ledgers, on to the system. The next phase will involve transferring
the revenue systems.
The council plans to go live with its business rates service in
November, with council tax following next March and housing benefit
next April. It is presently going through a data-cleansing period
as it converts the information held on the old VME database.
The council chose Pericles from a shortlist of four systems. "One
of the factors that was quite powerful in our decision was the
position in the lifecycle of the products at that time," explains
Butler. "And Pericles was going in the direction we wanted to go
in."
Another aspect of Pericles that appealed to the council was that it
could be driven by a browser at the front-end. This was
particularly attractive as the council wants to provide more
flexibility in the way it communicates with the public.
The plans for the system are bold. "We intend it to become a far
more integral part of the revenue system," says Butler. "It will be
core to all of our communications with the public. Pericles will be
running the show."
Although Butler doubts whether the system will free up staff time,
he believes that if the council ends up with a more efficient
service it will have achieved everything he intended. Implementing
Pericles has cost the council in the region of £370,000, including
training. But Butler believes it will cut costs in the long run.
"We are looking at a five-year term for the software," he says.
"What will happen after that is difficult to see."