Southend-on-Sea Borough Council has implemented electronic document management (EDM) and workflow technology from Civica as part of a organisation-wide drive that aims to save £15m over the next three years.
A pilot phase designed to test the software has begun in three paperwork-heavy departments: revenues and benefits, planning and adult social care. This test phase is due to end in September this year with full rollout beginning in December. The Council hopes that implementation will be completed in April 2011 and provide benefits to 2,500 staff across 20 departments.
The Council believes that Civica’s EDM and workflow technology will provide £1m of savings towards its goal of £15m over the next three years.
As part of the EDM project all paperwork will be scanned in and stored in a centralised database, enabling staff from all departments within the Council to access the documents electronically. This will reduce the amount of paper in circulation at the Council, saving on storage space and administration costs.
“As an organisation, Southend-on-Sea Borough Council is determined to reduce costs, increase efficiency and deliver an improved service to citizens. We initiated a transformation programme in January 2009 and Civica’s EDM and workflow technology will greatly improve administrative processes, allowing us to provide citizens with a faster service while cutting back paperwork and enhancing flexible working options for our staff,” said Martin Hone, head of finance and resources at Southend-on-Sea Borough Council.
The new flexible working options should enable staff to work more productively when out of the office or working from home.
Val Earle, director of transformation strategy, Civica said: “The transformation agenda continues to be a key issue for all local authorities and it is a clear strategic decision for Southend-on-Sea to implement a corporate-wide transformation programme. The council will harness workflow processes to prompt, guide and enforce the correct filing of records compliant with national and international standards. Civica’s technology will aid Southend-on-Sea in capturing and retrieving records and documents within a corporate file plan, which also includes the flexibility to adapt it to individual needs.”
Content from our partners
Civica provides software and consultancy services, specialising in the public sector. The firm has 1,700 customers across the UK, and serves 90% of the UK’s local authorities.
