1. e-Government A Local Authority response The Life Events Access Project
Alan Davies: National Programme Manager
“Creating e-Citizens: Developing Public Library Websites for 2005”
Public Library Web Managers Workshop
6 November 2002

2. Lewisham - demographics
Lewisham is the 3rd largest London borough in terms of population and area
population*: 247,141
area: 3,473 hectares
ethnicity*: - white 68%
- black 24%
unemployment: 14%
one-parent families: 7%
deprivation index: 11/366
home internet access: 55%
Lewisham is primarily a residential suburb, and has the largest outflow of working population in London
* GLA 2002
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3. London Borough Councils
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e-Government
The use of ICT (internet) to deliver customer-centric public services
It affects the authority’s dealings with citizens, businesses, and other public agencies as well as internal business processes and employees
Driven by the need for government to:
cut costs and improve efficiency
meet citizen expectations and improve citizen relationships
facilitate economic development
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5. e-Government and Services
Pressure to save money whilst maintaining or even increasing the level of customer services
Services delivered by the internet greatly reduce the costs of processing transactions
Online transactions can streamline processes whilst reducing human interaction
Vertical “stove pipe” delivery mechanisms are outdated, need to cut across the underlying structures, requiring horizontal “joined-up” delivery mechanisms
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6. e-Government meeting public needs
As citizens become more internet aware and gain experience and confidence of private sector online services, they will become less tolerant of poor, impersonal services in the public sector
In the digital age public services need to be available instantly, accessible 24x7, from home or work
It’s about making the transition from the industrial society to the emerging information society
Poor web-sites will not suffice, remember that private sector customers are also our customers
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7. e-Business plan for local government
Need to establish our own vision to deliver quality, cost effective customer-centric public services
Explore ways to deliver an integrated approach to service delivery
Change the mindset to customer focused services
Put access to all services online
Ensure easy access to online information, 24x7 irrespective of location
Re-skill employees to become knowledge workers
Benefits of partnership, adopt appropriate private sector techniques
Remove barriers and lead by example (e-payments/e-procurement)
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The LEAP response
Think Big
The vision and plan
Start Small (Pilots)
Limit risk and high-profile disasters
Allow for greater innovation and realisation of faster results
Scale Fast
As soon as process is proven then scale-up to online service
New services to be added constantly until there is full e-government
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9. The Life Events Access Project
Partnership
LEAP is a partnership of 5 local authorities
Funded by:
ISB 2 from the DTLR of £1.2m
In-kind funding from 5 partners totalling £800k
Develop e-Access to services
Underlying “leaf” level processes identified and mapped
Ukonline and “life events”
LEAP has wherever possible used individual life episode titles
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Life events “mapped”
Leaving School Lewisham
Changing Employment Status Lewisham
Dealing with Crime Lewisham
Starting School Camden
Starting a Business Camden
Moving Home Newcastle
Becoming a Carer Lambeth
Becoming Disabled Lambeth
Having a Baby Ealing
Retirement Ealing
Bereavement Ealing
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11. LEAP - Approach Identify Services and Life Events Knowledge Maps
effort
agree
Develop work programme to cover agreed areas
allocate
allocate
allocate
Partners map processes and Life Event added value links
Partners map processes and Life Event added value links
Partners map processes and Life Event added value links
produce
produce
produce
Knowledge Maps
Including Life Events’ processes deposited in a web based repository
value
Whole range of service process maps available to all partners
Migrated to Knowledge management tool
Customer Interface
e.g. call centre
e.g. One Stop Shops
e.g. Kiosks,internet
e.g. Video Conferencing
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12. Lewisham’s pilot channels & services
Internet
Customer
Middleware
Directorates
Generic
Regeneration
Resources
Education & Culture
Social Care & Health
Workflow
Content Management System
DIP
GIS
Fax/
CBR
MIS
Mail
Intranet
Address SW
Data Warehouse
Kiosk
Mail/Fax
Other
One Stop
Shop
Call
Centre
Digital/
cable TV
Telly
Talk
Minicom
Contact Management & Customer Relationship Management
Citizen
Consumer
Taxpayer
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Standards
Project Management standards
All project managers trained in Lewisham’s standard for project management
Mapping standards
Selection of an inexpensive, reliable, simple to use, non application dependant mapping tool - VISIO 2000
Taxonomy of processes
Development of an hierarchical list of customer centric processes - CUPID
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The purpose of standards
Why not simply divide the life events between partners and collect information on services needed for each?
The work produced by one partner needed to be shared by the others. This was difficult because...
Many services fall into numerous life events
Services were found to be a collection of processes - often grouped differently by each authority
We often name our services/processes differently
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Process naming standards
We needed to clearly identify and ‘catalogue’ processes whilst still acknowledging our differences, to do this we needed:
An Hierarchical Process List (CUPID)
Alternative Names Database
A Naming Standard (Present participle verbs, using ‘ing’)
To take frequently asked questions into account
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The LEAP Process Naming Standard
FAQ Grouping
Help at Home
Getting help for people aged over 65
Applying for help
Making a referral for help
Asking for extra help or a change in help
Getting help for carers of people aged over 65
Getting help for people who are visually impaired
Registering as blind or visually impaired
Getting a new card for a person who is blind or visually impaired
Getting help with rehabilitation
Getting a functional assessment
Finding out what equipment is available and where to get the equipment
Making an appointment to visit the resource centre
Getting literature/reading material
Finding out about financial help for people who are visually impaired
Finding out about benefits
Finding out about tax benefits
Finding out about a TV licence discount for people who are registered blind
Finding out about the free directory service
Branch Process
Sub- Branch Process
Leaf Level Processes
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LEAP Standard
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LEAP and virtual services
I can type anything here
Through the user interface the
knowledge can be searched by;
Service
Useful Grouping
Life Event
Natural Language Search
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Searching by description
This example shows a tightly defined description “Apply for free school meals”.
With this search description the user can be taken directly to the desired process.
The user is given the choice of the leaf level processes related to their enquiry.
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Searching the knowledge
Questions continue to be asked until the user is directed to the appropriate solution. Solutions include information, an application form or a booking.
In this example multiple questions are posed, the user selects those that apply.
At any point the user can go back and re-answer any question they choose.
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Searching the knowledge
Supporting information can be provided for the user to help them answer the question. Supporting information can also be a link to an internal or external web resource.
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22. An example of a suggested solution.
Searching the knowledge
At the end of a transaction the user can also be offered other related processes.
At the end of the transaction the user is presented with links to suggested solutions.
The user can provide feedback on each process. This information can be used for improvement and development.
An example of a suggested solution.
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23. Searching the knowledge by life events
There are a number of different ways that the knowledge can be searched or navigated. This search shows the user accessing the knowledge through the life events menu.
This navigation method shows there are a number of different processes that will be relevant to the users search. The user then selects the processes they are interested in.
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24. Searching the knowledge by organisational hierarchy
Processes can also be searched by organisational hierarchy.
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Processes can also be searched by useful groupings.
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26. Searching the knowledge
At the end of a transaction the user can choose to continue to explore other processes. The application will not present the user with questions that it has already asked.
For example, this user has already navigated through information regarding a free school meals application, and now wishes to apply for help with school clothing. The user is not asked questions regarding income or where they live as these questions have already been asked in the previous transaction. Only additional questions are asked.
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27. Applying for a “blue badge”
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38. LEAP and virtual services
Each process is represented once but can be referenced many times to provide:
access by service
access by life event
access by useful grouping
Future virtual groupings can readily be added as and when needed
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39. Conclusions: what next?
Selection and development of a suitable enhanced CBR knowledge system
Implementation of an integrated CRM system
Implementation of a robust customer authentication system
Ensure metadata standards within web front-end to enable navigation between sites
Explore further partnerships e.g. private sector, via ODPM/Office of e-Envoy etc, to develop XML schemas, e-forms etc. enabling customer access to services
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40. LEAP - Further Information
Visit the LEAP Website
Contact
Alan Davies
National Programme Manager
eGovernment Division
London Borough of Lewisham
tel:
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