E-Government Inititive

Southwark Council

Background to Concept

When the London Borough of Southwark approached RMA, the average time for a Local Housing Association (LHA) claim for support was approximately one month. As part of their planned business change cycle RMA investigated how technology could be used to streamline this process and reduce the headcount required to handle the process.

How was it innovative?

By placing the PDF platform at the centre of the solution (and creating a proof of concept prototype) we were able to demonstrate how with PDF as the forms delivery platform underpinning a Flash/Flex-based interface, the Council would be able to massively reduce cycle times for claimants and make significant cost-savings.

The prototype helped to drive out requirements for a much more comprehensive data integration than had previously been expected (or planned for), preventing this from being exposed at later, more difficult stage in the development cycle.

Using existing word processing forms as the base point for creation of electronic forms, the Vangent and Southwark teams were able to rapidly create a portal solution which allowed LHA support staff to capture and process claims as they were made.

Outcome

The prototype allowed the Council to demonstrate how the time required to process a claim could be reduced from approximately one month to 24 hours.

The e-Government initiative has been expanded and as a result many local government form-based processes (and the monitoring of those processes) are now handled digitally, helping staff to process applications for benefit and support services in record times and with significantly reduced human effort.

Back to Showcase

Previous Case Study