The project issues
The Council is the smallest Unitary Authority in the UK. In addition to providing the full range of services required of a unitary authority, it also acts as a water authority and manages an airport.

The Council had received the full IEG funding from the ODPM to deliver the requirements of e-government but had limited resources to deliver the programme required. This meant that by December 2004, the only significant e-enabling project was the very successful implementation of webcasting in the council chamber.

The role of the e-programme manager was to agree a pragmatic programme of delivery that would fulfil the requirements of IEG and the Priority Outcomes in a way that was relevant to this unique Council and was acceptable to the ODPM and then manage the programme of projects necessary to deliver the programme agreed with the ODPM by March 2006.

With a council tax base of just over 1000, revenue has to be very closely managed. Negotiation of contracts to minimise the revenue costs over the next 5 years and managing the limited £900k budget were therefore key requirements.

The Socitm Consulting solution
The programme included the procurement and implementation of:

• New website and CMS system which included online benefits calculator and online planning
• CAPS Uniform system to provide a corporate gazetteer and back office systems for planning elections, licensing, housing and technical services
• An island-wide voice and data infrastructure which brought the disparate offices and the airport within one telephone system and data network
• Video conferencing facilities on the Off Islands to enable members and staff to have online meetings without having to take very expensive boat trips to St Mary’s
• Introducing a customer focused front office which included refurbishment and extension of the listed Town Hall reception and e-enabling the services delivered at the front office
• Implementing an electronic document management system
• E-enabling the financial systems

In order to achieve this, the programme manager established an IEG board. A number of interrelated projects were established each with their own PID and project team. This programme was managed under Prince 2 methodology. The whole programme was monitored against the business plan that had been agreed with the ODPM. The programme manager reported regularly on progress to the P&R committee, Full Council and the ODPM.

The benefits to the client
The end result was a successful delivery of all the priority outcomes required. This included an excellent website, fulfilling 20 of 21 Pendleton points for online planning, and the resulting funding advantages, savings on the telephone costs and improved CPA ratings re IEG delivery.

Project identification
Client organisation: Council of Isles of Scilly
Client contact: Steve Watt, Principal Officer , 01720 424043, swatt@scilly.gov.uk
Lead consultant: sue.davies@socitm.gov.uk
Project No. 5344