elevate annual review 2013/14 · 4 2014 201314 201314 introductions welcome to the third annual...

ELEVATEANNUAL REVIEW 2013/14

© All photos are copyright of Spencer Griffiths

(except those on pages 6, 7, 10, 12, 17, 27, 32, 34, top left picture on page 37)

ELEVATE EAST LONDON LLP

Barking Town Hall, 1 Town Square, Barking, IG11 7LU

Tel: 0845 313 3932 | Fax: 0845 313 3934

Email: [email protected]

Web: www.ElevateEastLondon.co.uk

© 2014 ELEVATE EAST LONDON LLPELEVATE ANNUAL REVIEW 2013-14

ELEVATE ANNUAL REVIEW 2013-14

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Introductions ...................................................................................................................................................................Jobs & Growth ................................................................................................................................................................ Barking Enterprise Centre .........................................................................................................................................................................

Case Study: Nazare Da Silva ......................................................................................................................................................................

Case Study: Tradex ......................................................................................................................................................................................

Apprenticeships ...........................................................................................................................................................................................

Improving Services ...................................................................................................................................................... Customer Services .......................................................................................................................................................................................

iPad Triage .....................................................................................................................................................................................................

Discretionary Housing Payment Fund (DHP) .........................................................................................................................................

Windows XP Replacement Project ...........................................................................................................................................................

Public Services Network Code of Connection .......................................................................................................................................

Measuring Customer Satisfaction ...........................................................................................................................................................

Oracle R12 .....................................................................................................................................................................................................

Schools Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) Project .........................................................................................................................

East London IT Service Desk (ELIT) .........................................................................................................................................................

HR & Payroll - Employment Checks - DBS .............................................................................................................................................

Increasing Income & Reducing Costs ............................................................................................................... Income Collection .......................................................................................................................................................................................

Procurement ................................................................................................................................................................................................

Public Health Procurement ......................................................................................................................................................................

Awards & Accolades ...................................................................................................................................................

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4 © 2014 ELEVATE EAST LONDON LLP ELEVATE ANNUAL REVIEW 2013-14


INTRODUCTIONS

Welcome to the third Annual Review of Elevate, the partnership

between Agilisys and the London Borough of Barking and

Dagenham.

We continue to work closely with the Council to:

• Improve services for our residents

• Create local jobs for local people

• Increase revenue collection and reduce costs

• Provide innovative IT solutions, assisting the Council’s

‘Digital by Design’ approach

Our partnership has received some external recognition this

year, evidence that our collaborative approach is proving

successful. We were finalists at the IRRV Awards in the category

of partnership working and finalists in the LGC Awards in

the Corporate Governance and Partnership (public/private

working) categories. Although we did not win we were delighted

to be shortlisted in two such prestigious sets of awards, and of

course our ambition is to win next year!

During this year we have also refreshed our own website, and

it now provides a much better window onto our activities –

why not check it out at:

www.elevateastlondon.co.uk

In this year’s Annual Review we have chosen to focus on some

of our people and IT successes, without of course losing

sight of the phenomenal work our Revenues & Benefits and

Procurement teams do.



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So within these pages you will see the stories of some of our

business start-ups and some truly innovative work on mobile

working solutions, alongside our proudest achievement –

our successful apprentices, who have now secured full time

employment.

Agilisys our Managing Partner has been a huge support to

us through its Agilisys Arch apprentice programme, which

has allowed us to recruit and train apprentices in a number

of areas, including revenues and HR. The Arch programme is

ongoing, and we look forward to seeing more young people

graduate into permanent roles in 2014/15.

Looking to the future, we know that local government is facing

huge financial challenges, and we are certain that we can bring

more innovation to help with this. We are already looking

to implement new technologies to automate transactions

further, using artificial intelligence in fresh and exciting ways.

I fully expect in next year’s annual review to be able to provide

you with even more success stories, both of people, and ways

of helping Council funding go even further.

I am grateful to the Council for its open approach to the

partnership. By ensuring we are fully included in the work

of the Council, we are better able to provide solutions and

improve services, to the benefit of our residents.

Finally, I must conclude with a big thank you to all the staff in

Elevate for their hard work this year. I am proud to be part of

such a successful team.

Sue Lees

Chief Executive

“We are already looking to implement new technologies to automate transactions further, using artificial intelligence in fresh and exciting ways.”



This last year has seen more solid evidence of the strength of

our partnership. Elevate has successfully continued to improve

services, created 238 new jobs since inception, and has

delivered significant savings for the Council, as well as helping us

to collect more income than ever before. In this last year Elevate

has achieved its best rent collection ever, alongside beating

many other income collection targets. This is during a period of

intense welfare reform, and is to be soundly applauded.

Our partnership with Elevate continues to grow in other areas

as well, and I would particularly like to highlight the innovative

joint work on introducing Chrome Books to the Council. You can

read more on this within this document – but for me it is the first

step on the Council’s journey towards true flexible working. My

vision is of a council working in partnership with local residents,

and unhampered by walls, or tied to cables. Chrome Books

help to create that environment, and will also see us making

significant savings in the future, as they allow us to consider

web-based software solutions at much less cost. Overall we are

moving more and more towards ‘Digital by Design’ services, and

Agilisys as our partner in Elevate is well positioned as a market

leader in digital technologies to help us on this journey.

The significant savings that Barking and Dagenham Council have

to make in the future rely on the efforts of Elevate and Agilisys.

I look forward to more innovation during 2014/15 when we will

be adding further services to our ’ MyAccount’ platform, and fully

modernising our website.

My congratulations to Elevate on a further year of strong

achievement.

Graham Farrant

Chief Executive,

London Borough of Barking and Dagenham

“In this last year Elevate has achieved its best rent collection ever, alongside beating many other income collection targets”



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Elevate has continued to grow in strength and is at the heart of

Agilisys’s activities in East London. We are very proud to now have

three clients in the East London area – Barking and Dagenham

itself, and now Tower Hamlets and the City of London.

This has enabled us to create an East London IT service,

supporting all three customers, and delivering even greater

value and innovation to each.

I am also delighted to see highlighted in this Annual Review

the fantastic work that Agilisys Arch is delivering in support of

apprenticeships. As a Board Director of Arch, I have taken a

personal interest in the development of apprenticeships across

all the Agilisys partnerships, and the stories contained in this

document are representative of many across the country. As

part of our partnership with Barking and Dagenham we have

also been able to place an apprentice with Graham Farrant – a

great chance for a local young person, and I am very grateful to

Graham for providing that opportunity.

I think, for me, that sums up Elevate, a true partnership working

to support the Council’s aspirations on every level, helping to

improve life for local residents.

Next year of course, our challenges continue, and we already

have plans to bring more ideas to the Council on how to make

savings whilst maintaining services – Agilisys remains proud to

be Barking and Dagenham’s partner on this journey.

Kay Andrews

Executive Director, Client Development

Agilisys

“I think, for me, that sums up Elevate, a true partnership working to support the Council’s aspirations on every level, helping to improve life for local residents”



JOBS AND GROWTH

BARKING ENTERPRISE CENTRE

some of their local teams and their other delivery providers in

delivering their wider employment programmes.

Alongside our start-up work through the BEC, we also help

to generate jobs at Elevate and Agilisys in the local area. To

date we have facilitated the creation of 238 new jobs for East

London residents against our milestone target of 200 to the

end of March 2014. This sets us on a strong trajectory towards

our next ‘jobs created’ milestone of 300 new jobs by the end of

2016. Of these 238 new jobs, two thirds have been secured

by Barking & Dagenham residents.

Local Jobs for Local People

We have created more new job opportunities this year from our

continuing success in operating the Barking Enterprise Centre

(BEC) where we have helped a further 58 new businesses to start

up this year - 16% over our target - bringing the total to 131 to date.

Working alongside the two local Jobcentres, our free ‘Be Your

Own Boss’ Enterprise Workshop continues to be recognised by

the DWP as a Jobcentre Plus Enterprise Club. We work closely

with them to actively promote self employment, support



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Flexible Workspace Management: Supporting Inward Investment through Small Business Growth

East London has become London’s newest opportunity for

entrepreneurship and enterprise growth and we have worked

hard this year to position the BEC as the place to start-up and

grow a business in the outer east boroughs and the London

Thames Gateway.

The BEC’s flexible workspace offer is crucial in supporting

growing businesses as they move out of working in their

homes and into more professional workspace.

The BEC’s stock of hot-desks, co-working spaces, private offices

and meeting rooms to rent met with unprecedented demand

in the second half of the year resulting in 100% occupation in

our office space and a huge and growing demand for single

person private space. To cope with this demand, we re-

configured some of our large office spaces to create smaller

units, and even converted our own office spaces!

Free, Confidential & Independent Business Advice from Accredited Business Experts

As the BEC brand grows across East London though outreach,

word of mouth and a cost effective social media marketing

campaign, demand continues to grow locally for more business

counselling support and coaching, learning and networking

events for new and existing business owners.

Our popular Agilisys Business Growth Support Network - a

peer-to-peer business support event that brings owners and

managers of smaller enterprises together with larger ones -

continued this year with a series of events facilitated by, for

example, Steven Beard, CEO of Agilisys and David Abensour,

Chief Technology Officer of the Blenheim Chalcot Group. We

forged new relationships with local banks and in particular,

NatWest who, under their own community engagement

commitment, kindly worked with us to help deliver our popular

fortnightly ‘Be Your Own Boss’ taster Enterprise Workshops.

We continue to work closely with local experts to deliver a

programme of workshops and seminars on a client demand-

led basis to up-skill business owners and their teams to help

them strengthen their businesses.

As such, we broke through our ‘businesses supported’ target

earlier than expected, achieving our target of 315 by mid

Quarter 3 and finishing the year having supported 615 micro,

small and medium sized businesses and with growing

demand into next year.

To date we have facilitated the creation of 238 new jobs for East London

residents against our milestone target of 200 to the end of March 2014



Nazare came to England from Portugal about four years

ago. For many years she had harboured a wish to start

up her own company. She wasn’t too sure about what she

wanted to do and having worked in a laundry back home

she thought this might be good experience for running her

own ironing service. In need of advice Nazare went to the

BEC and met with Ian Griffiths, one of the centre’s business

counsellors who talked to her about her business idea.

Working through the idea they both realised that Nazare would

have to spend about 23 hours ironing before she started to see

any profit. She talked to Ian about some other ideas and one

idea that emerged was the beauty industry. Ian helped Nazare

with finding out about the costs of training and the equipment

she would need to become a beautician. With Ian’s assistance

Nazare found a course that suited her at the Beauty Academy

in Rainham. She said “It was perfect for me as it wasn’t a long

course like other schools so I could get started quicker.” Nazare

completed her training and is now a nail technician.

Ian also supported Nazare with obtaining financial assistance to

set up her business by helping her with making an application

for a business loan. With her husband’s support Nazare wrote

a business plan and Ian helped her to make the plan more

robust and gave advice on cash flow. Nazare said: “Ian was

great, he helped me a lot and he encouraged me so much.”

Nazare’s confidence has increased and she is now doing

courses in massage, waxing and tanning to enhance her skills

even more. With a loan from the Small Business Centre Nazare

was able to buy a car and massage equipment so that she can

make her service more mobile.

CASE STUDY:

NAZARE DA SILVA

“I am so glad that I came to the BEC, it is helping me to make my dream a reality and I am achieving so much. I am really excited to be getting my business up and running.”



Tradex is run by Juan Montero and his business partner

Jesús Arcas who both hail from Spain. Juan used to work at

the Spanish Chamber of Commerce based in London and he

realised that a lot of the Spanish based businesses that he

worked with really needed help with doing business in the

UK. He saw that the majority of Spanish companies required

assistance with translation, identifying and getting access to

possible clients and having an awareness and understanding of

the logistics, regulations and administration processes of the UK

business sector. Spotting this gap in the market Juan spent six

months developing his business plans and ideas and contacting

the businesses he knew at the Chamber so that he could set up

his own company and start to build a customer base.

He approached his long time friend Jesús who comes from

a financial background and used to live in London to come

on board as his partner. Together they have formed Tradex

which formally launched in January 2014. So far business is

booming and the BEC is helping to play an important part in

the company’s development!

Juan said: “I saw that with my experience, contacts and knowledge

of the UK business market I could set up a company that could

really help to promote premium Spanish companies who wanted

CASE STUDY:

TRADEX

“We were really impressed by the space and the flexibility of office options that were available to us. Finding good office space was a great weight off my mind.”



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to sell their high quality products in the UK. We specialise in

helping companies who produce olive oil, wine and fresh produce.

To get the business up and running we needed to find an office

space in London. Jesús and I looked at about 12 properties

before we came to see the BEC. We didn’t like anywhere we

saw and when we arrived we got the date wrong and came

a day earlier. We met Mark Kass (who runs the BEC) and he

kindly dropped what he was doing and showed us around. We

were really impressed by the space and the flexibility of office

options that were available to us. Finding good office space

was a great weight off my mind.

The BEC has been brilliant for us. We have a light and airy

space, air conditioning and the team on reception are

wonderful. I can’t praise them enough. They are always so

cheerful and helpful that it makes me feel more at home in

London as I miss my family in Spain. The Conference Room has

been so useful for us as we have what we call trade mission

days when we invite several companies over from Spain and

get them to meet UK businesses that we have also invited who

we think could become buyers. Recently, we had a day where

we concentrated on olive oil producers and the reception

staff really helped us with looking after our visitors and doing

photocopying for us. I can’t thank them enough for the support

they give us. Mark is always introducing people to us so that

we can raise our company profile.

We have more events planned at the BEC and they are highly

critical to our business as we gain fees from our Spanish

contacts for the introductions to UK businesses and we receive

a commission on future sales. So we really depend on these

events and the BEC’s facilities and support from the BEC staff

is absolutely essential.

I hope to grow our business and we plan to open an office in

Malaga at the end of the year. Although we have only been

operating a few months we are doing extremely well so far

and have already taken on a few members of staff. We have

been featured on the radio and in newspapers here in England

and on TV and in the papers in Spain as we are doing so well.

Wherever I can I always mention our London home – the BEC.

“The team on reception are wonderful. I can’t praise them enough. They are always so cheerful and helpful that it makes me feel more at home in London.”



APPRENTICESHIPS

Improving Career Chances For Our Local Young People

At Elevate we offer apprenticeships wherever we can in our

organization as we realise that by helping talent to develop we

are growing our future workforce. We have been delighted to

see several of our young people successfully complete their

apprenticeships and gain full time employment with us.

Filza Sohail (Revenues)

Filza finished her A and AS levels at 18 and then started to

think about her career options. She found out about our

apprenticeship opportunities through Barking & Dagenham

College. Having successfully completed her apprenticeship

Filza gained a permanent role with us. Filza said:

“I have found the apprenticeship to be fantastic as it was the

experience I was really missing in life. After finishing my AAT

course I really struggled to find a job but to get a job and gain

another qualification has been amazing. Some people have

asked me what the apprenticeship has given me that the

diploma didn’t and I tell them that it is something that can’t be

bought – it is work skills, recognition and the chance to excel.

While working I also learnt a lot about revenues work and

legislation relating to that.

I have to thank all the team for their help, without their support

I wouldn’t have passed the apprenticeship and got a job at the

end of it. My line manager Jenny Noble and Head of Rents Tim

O’Brien have been brilliant, making sure that I got all the right

experience to succeed in my training and secure the role when

it was advertised – a big thank you to all!”

Sonia Javed (Revenues)

Sonia is also a local girl who felt that going to university and

getting a degree wasn’t right for her. She really wanted to get

a job and looked at our website and saw the apprenticeship

and applied. Sonia has worked in the Council Tax team and will

remain in this team. Sonia said:

“I’m so glad I did the apprenticeship. It has given me exactly

what I wanted – a qualification, some key skills and now a job.

I did spend some time working in the Contact Centre to help

develop my customer skills which was very useful but working

in Council Tax is where I want to be. I’d really like to progress

into being a good recovery officer.

My colleagues are great and the team is very warm and

supportive. I realize the importance of getting work experience

so the apprenticeship was invaluable for that. I’ve been keen to

learn and earn at the same time so that I continue to develop

my skills and knowledge but am able to look after myself at the

same time.”

Carlos Ojelade, Council Tax Manager is delighted to have Sonia

in the team. He said: “Sonia has been a brilliant addition to the

team and we are delighted that she has progressed into being

a Revenues Officer and will be staying with us”.

“I’m so glad I did the apprenticeship. It has given me exactly what I wanted – a qualification, some key skills and

now a job.”



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Tom Wright (Revenues)

Tom started his apprenticeship with us in April 2013. Tom is

a local lad and lives in Dagenham. He had previously done

an apprenticeship with West Ham United (even though he is

an Arsenal fan) but the club were unable to offer Tom a full

time role so he decided to move on. Tom also had an interest

in working in finance and revenues so when he saw our

apprenticeship advertised he immediately applied. Tom said:

“I’ve learnt so much during the apprenticeship. The training

has been really useful as it covered all the things I needed

to know about such as legislation, the systems we use and

customer service skills.

I have also done administration work and helped with sending

out 1,800 texts to customers to help chase payments. I really

enjoy learning about a variety of topics and I have covered

Council Tax, subsidies and liability orders. I want to be multi-

skilled and doing different things is helping me towards that.”

Tom is now working in the Business Rates team and he is really

enjoying learning new things. His manager, Gill Hills says: “Tom

has settled into our team very well and very quickly. He is very

keen to learn about how we work with businesses on collecting

income for the Council. I’m sure he will continue to be a highly

valuable addition to our team.”

Hayley Marjurum (Revenues)

Hayley is literally one of our stars! She won Apprentice of the

Year 2013 at the Barking & Dagenham Star Awards. Aged just

19 Hayley started her apprenticeship with us in December 2012

and is following in her father’s footsteps. Hayley’s dad Colin is

a Housing Benefit Officer in the Dagenham One Stop Shop. In

fact it was Hayley’s dad who pointed out the apprenticeship to

her and she subsequently applied. Hayley said:

“I’ve loved working in Council Tax and am delighted to have

gained a full time role in the Council Tax team now that my

apprenticeship has ended. It was exactly what I wanted.

The training was great as we got to shadow more experienced

members of the team so we could gain a real insight into what

the job actually involves. I live in Dagenham and it is great to

be able to work locally”.”

Hayley sees herself as staying in the revenues department and

particularly within the Council Tax team. She really enjoys helping

people on the phone with their queries and giving them support

and advice.

“I’ve learnt so much during the apprenticeship. The training has been really useful as it covered all the things I needed to know.”



Pictured above from left to right: Filza, Sonia, Hayley and Tom



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Victoria Whiberley (HR & Payroll)

Victoria left school at 16 to do a course in health and social

care and psychology. After finishing the course she changed

her mind about continuing on this career path as she didn’t

want to go to university but instead wanted to go into full time

work. Victoria looked around and contacted Agilisys who told

her about an apprenticeship at Elevate in the HR & Payroll

team. As her dad works in payroll for an accountancy firm

in London Victoria knew something about payroll work and

decided that this might be for her. Victoria said:

“I thought it would be a really good idea to do the apprenticeship

as it would give me a qualification which would be useful. My

dad works in payroll and he gave me some advice which was

very helpful at the interview. I was very shy when I first came

here and now I am much more confident and outgoing with

the team and with customers. The coursework has helped me

to develop my skills particularly in numeracy, in teamwork and

in using specialist software programmes. I’ve learnt a lot about

legislation and I look forward to developing my skills even

further. My line manager, Linda Humphrey has been amazing

and so have the rest of the team. When my apprenticeship

ended and a permanent role was available I was keen to apply

for it and was very happy that I won the role. I live nearby in

Grays so it is great to be working reasonably close to home.”

“I was very shy when I first came here and now I am much more confident and outgoing with the team and with customers.”



The customer is at the heart of everything we do. Over the

last year we have made some significant improvements by

implementing innovative digital solutions and re-thinking

processes to further improve our customer focus.

Housing Repairs - IT

When its existing housing repairs contract came up for renewal

the Council decided to return the services back in-house and

initiated a project to create a new service.

Although many of the staff were transferred back the systems

were not and the project entailed creating a Repairs service

from scratch in under a year. Elevate were asked by the

Council to support the Repairs service and its back office staff

with having the required infrastructure and software in place

by 30 April 2013.

The project faced numerous challenges such as:

• limited support and engagement from the outgoing supplier

• extremely tight project deadlines

• complex integration of applications from three third-

party suppliers

• challenges around the redesign of operational business

processes and training

Elevate achieved the project’s required IT outcomes:

• Implementing the core IT Infrastructure (Servers,

Telephony, WiFi, PCs, Handsets) to support the new

products and services

• Reviewing and reconfiguring the Housing Repairs module

and process

IMPROVING SERVICES

CUSTOMER SERVICES

Increased resource productivity is visible across the workforce and has allowed better utilisation which will soon bring savings.



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• Implementation of:

OPENContractor – this is the software used for

management of core operative functions

Optitime – for the scheduling of jobs and management

of the operatives

TotalMobile – to enable operatives to receive jobs in

the field

Web Portal implementation – this is for use by sub-

contractors to track jobs assigned to them

• Selection and procurement of the mobile devices used by

operatives

There are two final software modules to implement which we

plan to complete in the second quarter of 2014. The system

is highly complex with numerous interfaces and applications

communicating with one another. Due to the tight time frame

and the scale of the project, there were some inevitable

challenges at service commencement, which required

intensive support to resolve. These initial problems have now

been addressed and we are now fine tuning the systems to

improve performance and give greater stability.

Increased resource productivity is visible across the workforce

and has allowed better utilisation of capacity which will soon

bring savings. Performance reporting still requires some

improvement but does indicate that the service remained

stable and completed most works as planned.

Customer Services

The Housing Repairs service was created to serve the

residents of the borough who occupy Council owned property

as tenants. These tenants are entitled to request and receive

maintenance and emergency repairs to keep their homes safe

and in good repair. Elevate provides the contact centre for the

Housing Repairs service.

Initial requests from tenants, via both phone and email are

received by the Housing Repairs Contact Service Centre

(HRCSC) , entered onto the required systems as a ‘job’ and

provide the tenant with an appointment for an operative to

call and undertake the work. The call handlers at the HRCSC

assist in assessing the emergency status of a call and provide

updates to tenants if they request them.

The new HRCSC, through the use of the recently introduced

technology is able to provide customers with real time information

about repairs, and in many cases can book appointments for

operatives, having diagnosed what repair is required. This means

that customers can get their problems resolved more quickly.



Telephony VOIP project completed

May ‘11

Council Tax end-to-end processing established in front office

Jul ‘11

Fairer Contributions policy implemented

Sep ‘11

Benefits Entitlement and Claiming System online form implemented

Nov ‘11

Barking Enterprise Centre opens for business

LBBD transfers HR & Payroll as well as elements of Assets & Commercial Services to Elevate East London

Mar ‘12

Agilisys and Barking & Dagenham Council launch Elevate East London, a borough-based joint venture, to transform services and create savings for local taxpayers

Dec ‘10

I-Procurement and e-Auction services go live delivering benefits and savings to the council

Jun ‘11

Benefits Direct service goes live in Barking Learning Centre (BLC), and 3 months later in Dagenham Library (DL)

Aug ‘11

SMS Service for Housing Repairs launched

Oct ‘11

Online benefits claims and assisted self-service launched at BLC and a month later at DL

Dec ‘11

My Account e-Services launched

Dec ‘11

Feb ‘12

Elevate contact centre expands bringing in 20 new recruits

NHS applications integrated with council system using the Public Services Network

New ICT Self Service Portal

Jul ‘12

Won Silver IRRV Award for Partnership Working

Rents added to MyAccount

New Out of Hours SVS Launch

Quality monitoring

Parking permits VR Call Handling for HR

IVR Phase 1

Olympic Resiliency

New HR Intranet Site launched

New Cash Management System with better online & debit / credit card handling

Dec ‘12

Jan ‘13

My Account Phase 2

Outbound recovery launched

Feb ‘13

Jan 13

Self serve videos launched

Mar ‘13

Launch new Housing Repairs Contact Centre

May ‘13

My AccountPhase 3

Introduced Webchat

Achieved jobs Target two months early 112 jobs created

New Council Intranet launched

Customer online experience enhanced through introducing Agilisys Engage

Introduced i-Pads to children and adults with learning disabilities to aid communication at Heathlands and the Maples centres

Jun ‘13

Nov ‘11

Feb ‘12

Aug ‘12 Aug ‘12

Aug ‘12 Aug ‘12

Oct ‘12 Oct ‘12

Oct ‘12Oct ‘12

Dec ‘12

Jan ‘13

Jan 13

Mar ‘13

May ‘13

Install wi-fi to Council corporate buildings

Installation of Schools VOIP system

Aug ‘13

May ‘13

Sep ‘13

PSN Code of Connectivity Compliance

Introduced Gov Metrics – measure customer satisfaction

Oct ‘13

Dec ‘13

East London IT Service Desk established in Barking

Council goes cashless,phase 1

Nov ‘13

Jan ‘14

Chrome devices introduced

New Elevate website launched

Feb ‘14

Dec ‘13

Shortlisted for LGC Awards 2014

Mar ‘13Online DBS system launched

Achieved jobs target of 238 (Target 200)

Apr ‘14

Mar ‘13

i-Pads introduced to manage queues in One Stop Shops

ELEVATE EAST LONDON JOURNEY (2010-PRESENT)



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Telephony VOIP project completed

May ‘11

Council Tax end-to-end processing established in front office

Jul ‘11

Fairer Contributions policy implemented

Sep ‘11

Benefits Entitlement and Claiming System online form implemented

Nov ‘11

Barking Enterprise Centre opens for business

LBBD transfers HR & Payroll as well as elements of Assets & Commercial Services to Elevate East London

Mar ‘12

Agilisys and Barking & Dagenham Council launch Elevate East London, a borough-based joint venture, to transform services and create savings for local taxpayers

Dec ‘10

I-Procurement and e-Auction services go live delivering benefits and savings to the council

Jun ‘11

Benefits Direct service goes live in Barking Learning Centre (BLC), and 3 months later in Dagenham Library (DL)

Aug ‘11

SMS Service for Housing Repairs launched

Oct ‘11

Online benefits claims and assisted self-service launched at BLC and a month later at DL

Dec ‘11

My Account e-Services launched

Dec ‘11

Feb ‘12

Elevate contact centre expands bringing in 20 new recruits

NHS applications integrated with council system using the Public Services Network

New ICT Self Service Portal

Jul ‘12

Won Silver IRRV Award for Partnership Working

Rents added to MyAccount

New Out of Hours SVS Launch

Quality monitoring

Parking permits VR Call Handling for HR

IVR Phase 1

Olympic Resiliency

New HR Intranet Site launched

New Cash Management System with better online & debit / credit card handling

Dec ‘12

Jan ‘13

My Account Phase 2

Outbound recovery launched

Feb ‘13

Jan 13

Self serve videos launched

Mar ‘13

Launch new Housing Repairs Contact Centre

May ‘13

My AccountPhase 3

Introduced Webchat

Achieved jobs Target two months early 112 jobs created

New Council Intranet launched

Customer online experience enhanced through introducing Agilisys Engage

Introduced i-Pads to children and adults with learning disabilities to aid communication at Heathlands and the Maples centres

Jun ‘13

Nov ‘11

Feb ‘12

Aug ‘12 Aug ‘12

Aug ‘12 Aug ‘12

Oct ‘12 Oct ‘12

Oct ‘12Oct ‘12

Dec ‘12

Jan ‘13

Jan 13

Mar ‘13

May ‘13

Install wi-fi to Council corporate buildings

Installation of Schools VOIP system

Aug ‘13

May ‘13

Sep ‘13

PSN Code of Connectivity Compliance

Introduced Gov Metrics – measure customer satisfaction

Oct ‘13

Dec ‘13

East London IT Service Desk established in Barking

Council goes cashless,phase 1

Nov ‘13

Jan ‘14

Chrome devices introduced

New Elevate website launched

Feb ‘14

Dec ‘13

Shortlisted for LGC Awards 2014

Mar ‘13Online DBS system launched

Achieved jobs target of 238 (Target 200)

Apr ‘14

Mar ‘13

i-Pads introduced to manage queues in One Stop Shops



To help reduce queues we introduced ‘i-Pad triaging’ in

February 2014 into the One Stop Shops in Dagenham Library

and Barking Learning Centre. The aim is to help customers

reduce the amount of time they spend waiting to access face

to face services by introducing them to ‘MyAccount’ using the

iPads so that they can begin to learn to access key Council

services online. ‘MyAccount’ is an Agilisys portal which enables

people to undertake transactional services such as Council

Tax, rents and benefits.

In the first month of ‘i-Pad triaging’ 426 customers were

helped with using ‘MyAccount’ on the iPads and this led to

218 additional ‘MyAccounts’ being successfully set up; an

impressive 51% sign up rate. We are now compiling more

detailed data to help us further understand customers’ needs

around this new initiative including how customers may need

additional support in accessing the ‘MyAccount’ portal. This is

now a permanent addition to our service.

IPAD TRIAGE

• iPad triaging introduced in Feb 2014 in One Stop Shops

• 426 customers have been helped in the first month using ‘MyAccount’ on iPad

• 218 ‘MyAccounts’ successfully setup; 51% sign up rate

Help customers reduce the amount of time they spend waiting to access face to face services by introducing them to ‘MyAccount’ using the iPads.



DISCRETIONARY HOUSING PAYMENT FUND (DHP)

Elevate has successfully helped to manage the impact created

by the Welfare Reform Act which included changes in the rules

governing under-occupation for tenants in the Social Sector

and the roll out of the Benefit Cap from August 2013. In the

borough 1,600 households were identified as being affected

by the under occupation rules and over 700 households were

negatively impacted by the Benefits cap.

People affected by these changes have been proactively

supported by Elevate through effective partnership working

with all of the Council’s departments through successful

management of the Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP)

fund. During the last year Elevate dealt with over 2,000 claims

for DHP. The Council received funding from central government

for DHP and over 98% of the fund was spent during the year.



25

Much of the Council’s desktop computer and laptop stock

was approaching the end of its life in 2013 and the authority

was facing a significant cost to refresh both the computers

and the operating system software. Strategically the Council

had recognised the need to move towards a more flexible

workforce and move away from ‘fixed’ desktop devices to

mobile computers but also recognised that the cost of

procuring new Windows laptops would be prohibitive given

the Council’s current financial challenges.

In December 2013 an appraisal of options available to address

these issues was carried out by Elevate and the Council

decided to replace the entire Council Windows XP Desktop and

Mobile computer stock with a mixture of Windows 7 Desktops

and Samsung Chromebooks running the Google Chrome

operating system. The Chromebooks are similar to laptops but

approximately half the cost.

The project timescales for this were extremely tight for two

reasons. Firstly, Microsoft had announced that their Windows

XP operating system was ‘End of Life’ from 8 April 2014 and

would no longer produce any software security patches.

Secondly, the Government’s PSNA authority advised that Local

Authorities that did not have a clear programme in place to

WINDOWS XP REPLACEMENT PROJECT

remove Windows XP from their Estates could be disconnected

from the Public Sector Network (PSN). The PSN provides a

means for Local Authorities to communicate with and receive

information from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP)

and other Government agencies.

The new Chromebooks only connect to the Council’s systems

via WiFi/Broadband and to cope with the increase in mobile

devices the Council has also approved a significant upgrade

to the WiFi infrastructure across Council buildings. Also, as the

Chromebooks do not hold local versions of software packages

on the devices, the Council’s Citrix infrastructure, which provides

a ‘virtual desktop’ for each Chromebook is being expanded and

upgraded. These major pieces of work are now in progress.

This is a very large, challenging and complex programme of work

and good progress has been made since commencement. We

have been working through a number of user and technical

issues and the project is now scheduled to run through to the

end of July 2014. This has been made possible by the recent

announcement by Microsoft that they will extend their support

of Windows XP and continue to release software security

patches.

The Council decided to replace the entire Council Windows XP Desktop and Mobile computer stock with a mixture of Windows 7 Desktops and Samsung Chromebooks.

A critical part of Elevate’s work is to support the Council through the provision of modern and cost-effective IT hardware and systems. We have been working hard this year on some very innovative projects.



Each year the Council has to go through a reaccreditation process

to connect to the UK Public Services Network (PSN). The PSN

network securely connects us to systems that are hosted on central

government sites like the DWP benefits system. These systems are

key to providing services to the residents of the borough.

This year’s submission was made more difficult because early

in 2013 the Cabinet Office announced a “zero tolerance”

approach to each of the Council’s 2013 submissions and they

took a tough line with every council. Failure to gain accreditation

would mean disconnection from the PSN.

All councils have a fixed resubmission date to which they have

to submit their CoCo’s (Code of Connection documents). One

of the documents we have to submit is an IT Health Check.

This check is done by an independent security company. It

highlights the risks and issues that the Council may have with

its technical infrastructure. As part of the new zero tolerance

PUBLIC SERVICES NETWORK CODE OF CONNECTION

approach any critical or high risks that are documented in the

IT health check have to be fixed and remediation plans drawn

up for other medium to low risks.

Many councils have struggled with their submissions and

failed on their first attempt causing them to go into an

escalation process and resubmit multiple times with the

threat of disconnection looming. Bearing this in mind Elevate

worked hard with the Council to achieve compliance early so

that we could get our submission accepted the first time.

Elevate and the Council have always submitted robust CoCo’s

in the past and have had a good security view of the risks that

the Council faces. With that in mind the issues highlighted in

the IT health check were fixed and mitigation and remediation

plans were put in place for the others enabling the Council to

achieve their PSN CoCo in a timely manner.

Elevate worked hard with the Council to achieve compliance early so that we could get our submission accepted the first time.



27

MEASURING CUSTOMERSATISFACTION

Gov Metrics is a digital method of registering customer

satisfaction or dissatisfaction at the point of contact. You

can see these interactive stands with happy or not so happy

faces on the screens at the One Stop Shops, Civic Centre

and in Barking Town Hall. By capturing customer feedback

quickly in this way, at the point of service, we can easily see

how to improve our services, and the data can also be used

for benchmarking with other local authorities on the same

system. So far on average 650 customers provide feedback

to us every month using these interactive devices.

Annual customer satisfaction surveys will still be completed,

so what we now have augments that longer term view, with

immediate feedback creating a strong feedback loop so that

we can improve faster, and more frequently.

We can easily see how to improve our services, and the data can also be used for benchmarking with other local authorities on the same system.



ORACLE R12

The benefits of a shared procurement were seen as:

• Reducing implementation costs

• Providing an ability to share services with other boroughs

• Reducing ongoing support costs

The Council currently uses the Oracle system as its Enterprise

Resource Planning system to manage its resources and

finances. Oracle announced that the version of software

in use at the Council (Oracle R11) would be going out of

support. As a result the Council decided to use the project

Athena Framework to enter into an agreement with five other

boroughs to procure an upgrade to the latest version of Oracle

(Oracle R12) and create a single instance that would be shared

between all six boroughs.

The project has had multiple deadlines which included the

completion of analysis of requirements, and various Dress

Rehearsals tests and Payroll Parallel runs. This has put pressure

on several Elevate services that have been involved in the R12

implementation and they have all risen to the challenge. The

Council’s R12 Programme Manager has reported that the

Council and Elevate have met all of their targets in the R12

programme.



29

The Schools within the Authority have a current telephone

system provided by Centrex - an old analogue system which

is now out of contract and will soon be costing more than

£18 per month, per line. The Council has migrated most of

it’s own non-school sites on to a new advanced digital VoIP

telephony system. The Projects Management Office (part of

our IT service) is helping to deliver a VoIP system to 50 of the

borough’s schools.

Meeting the unique requirements of 50 schools has been a

challenge but through a two-phased approach to the project

this has been achieved. The schools’ requirements have been

accurately captured and agreed 12 months ago in Phase

1. A long implementation period in Phase 2 has delivered

the necessary cabling work, and any required network

infrastructure and the handsets themselves have been

configured to suit the needs of the teachers and support staff

at the schools.

Currently, the project is in its closing stages – the vast majority

of schools have received all their VoIP handsets and the

remainder will be completed soon.

SCHOOLS VOICE OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL (VOIP) PROJECT

The main benefits that VoIP telephony will give schools include:

• Free calls to any other Council operated VoIP handset - over 3000 numbers

• Significantly less expensive monthly line rental costs than alternative options

• More cost effective talk time tariff as schools’ calls will be included in the Council’s bulk talk time tariffs

• Local support from the Elevate IT Service Desk



In 2013/14 Agilisys began to build a centre of excellence in ICT

service delivery for its clients in East London. By amalgamating

the individual IT Service delivery functions for our clients in

Barking & Dagenham, City of London and Tower Hamlets into

a new IT shared service delivery model significant benefits

have been achieved for each authority.

As part of the setup of this new East London IT (ELIT) delivery

model Barking and Dagenham was selected as the primary

location for the setup of the new shared Service Desk function.

The Service Desk is the main point of contact for all IT users

within the Councils and is being developed to the latest modern

industry standards. Already the City of London Service Desk

has relocated into the new facility based in Maritime House in

Barking and staff have been cross trained to be able to support

either City of London or Barking and Dagenham Service calls.

The combination of the latest tools and technologies together

with a wider pool of skills and resource is already beginning to

deliver improved service performance and greater flexibility to

meet peak demands for our customers.

The new ELIT structure has approximately 160 IT staff employed

covering a wide range of skills across the IT spectrum. This

new structure is organised into three groups, Infrastructure,

Applications and Support. Through the restructure process

we have been able to offer wider job opportunities to existing

staff that enable them to develop their careers in their chosen

direction while providing greater strength in depth for the many

niche IT skills that modern organisations require. This removes

single points of failure where previously an organisation might

have only had one person with a specific IT skill set.

With the backing of Agilisys and working closely with Barking

and Dagenham we are also developing a range of exciting

products to aid the delivery of improved online services to

customers such as Agilisys Digital, Agilisys Engage and Agilisys

Automate. These products together with a range of new

‘Cloud’ based technologies will enable the Council to improve

customer service, reduce cost and eradicate inefficiencies in

back-office processing. The new ‘Cloud’ based technologies

offer ‘Utility’ type pricing for IT Services that will enable the

Council to flex its cost base to meet the changing demands of

its residents.

As part of our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities

we are also increasing the number of digital apprenticeships

for 16-18 year olds within East London and offer initiatives

to support local start up social organisations and Small to

Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs).

EAST LONDON IT SERVICE DESK (ELIT)

The Service Desk is the main point of contact for all IT users within the Council and is being developed to the latest modern industry standards.



Launch of the Atlantic Data System for on-line DBS Applications

DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) forms have to be

completed for all members of staff who will be coming into

contact with vulnerable people in our community. The forms

used to be known as CRB checks and help to make sure that

we know the background of people coming to work for us.

Elevate have implemented the on-line DBS Atlantic Data

system which allows for greater flexibility. This system submits

all DBS disclosure applications electronically to the DBS service

and has replaced the current paper-based process.

In the past newly recruited staff and those needing renewals

every three years were required to visit the HR office or attend

open days held across the Borough to complete these checks.

Disclosure applicants are now able to complete their electronic

forms at home, at their office or at a choice of Council buildings

throughout the Borough. This has significantly reduced the

number of days taken for a check to be completed.

HR & PAYROLLEMPLOYMENT CHECKS - DBS

Elevate have implemented the online DBS Atlantic Data system which allows for greater flexibility.



33

Advantages

The advantages of using this system are:

• Quicker application process with results also being received

more quickly

• Employees require less time away from their place of work

and work responsibilities to attend appointments

• Recruitment candidates can complete the form remotely

without having to arrange time off work for another visit

• In the event that a DBS check has resulted in a criminal

record or allegation being disclosed, we will be alerted to

this through the system so that we have a targeted list of

applicant copies to check

• The system has a number of inbuilt validation checks and

alerts that makes the application process virtually error proof

• Only positions that have been assessed as requiring a DBS

check will be available to select within the system. The level of

check that we can legally undertake will also be pre-defined.

Results

On average paper claim forms took up to six weeks from end

to end to complete. On line DBS applications can be completed

in one day online and the rate at which they are returned from

the DBS service are as follows:

• 74% within 1 – 4 days

• 14% within 5 – 10 days

• 7% within 11-21 days

• 5% after 21 days

“I am successfully using the DBS online systemon behalf of Robert Clack School. To date, I am very impressed with the new online system.

It has several benefits:

• Cuts out the paperwork which saves time for myself and HR.

• It is not possible to go wrong when completing the form online.

• I find it easier to have the new starter with me while they are completing their payroll/medical health forms, and at the same time get the DBS completed online.

• It helps me to be more careful and strict about the ID I am accepting for the person as the DBS online system is very particular about what is accepted and what is not. It makes the boundaries very clear.

• DBS disclosures – shorter time scale re: issue of the disclosures. This helps me hugely as I will be able to update the school’s Single Central Record much quicker now.

To summarise, I am so pleased we are now completing DBS forms online. As the main person here at the school who processes the DBS checks and the new starter paperwork it is a great time saver and I feel confident that the DBS Disclosures will come through much quicker.”

- Claire Broadley, Robert Clack School



Overall our Revenues teams have had an excellent year. All

of our Key Performance indicators were met, several targets

were exceeded and some ‘best ever’ collection figures were

achieved. In total we collected over £2M more than target this

year. This is a fantastic achievement in light of the impact of

welfare reform, and prevailing economic conditions.

Every pound of extra collection goes towards helping to keep

Council Tax levels down, and to maintain front line services.

We are particularly proud of our best ever rent collection –

achieving 97.35% collected.

Council Tax collection was also maintained despite the impact

of the reduction in support provided to many residents through

the introduction of the local Council Tax support scheme.

In order to maintain this we continue to explore innovative ways

of increasing collection, alongside tried and tested methods:

• ‘MyAccount’ continues to grow, now with over 27,000

households accessing it for an array of local services

• More service lines added to ‘MyAccount’, creating more

reasons for residents to use it

• Continued increase in the use of Direct Debits

• Extending our use of QR codes for landlords, and residents

• Further work on segmenting debts

• Introducing smart phone and tablet versions of

‘MyAccount’ so that residents have more flexible access

• Using iPads to assist visitors to the One Stop Shops, to make

sure their problems are resolved as quickly as possible

• Ongoing training for our contact centre staff to enable

them to resolve more queries at first contact

INCREASING INCOME & REDUCING COSTS

INCOME COLLECTION

We are particularly proud of our best ever rent collection – achieving 97.35% collected.



35

93%

94%

95%

96%

97%

98%

2013/142012/132011/122010/11

Annual Rent Collection

Years



• Elevate has achieved Procurement Savings for LBBD of

approximately £7.1m to date

• Accounts payable consistently exceeded monthly KPI

target: 13/14 average 95.38% against 94% target

• PFI schools had a great year performing well against difficult

PIs and gaining upper quartile customer satisfaction

• Delivered a new Public Health procurement service which

has been extended for 2014/15

• Worked with North Somerset Council saving approx.

£500k in waste disposal

• Achieved 90%+ Customer Satisfaction on all

procurement projects

PROCUREMENT

This graph shows delivered and forecast savings over the life of the contract – we anticipate delivering over £21M of savings to the Council.

0

5

10

15

20

25

Total17/1816/1715/1614/1513/1412/13

(£) M

illio

ns

Contract Years



Elevate’s Procurement team has continued to assist the

Council with its public health procurement requirements. This

involves placing adverts to source partners and suppliers,

managing the tendering process and supporting the Council

with identifying the right partners. We then monitor and

manage providers on an ongoing basis to ensure that the

Council gets the best value for its money.

In March 2014 the Council undertook an audit on its Public

Health activities with support from an external auditor at

Mazars. The rigorous assessment awarded the service Full

Assurance and this is partly thanks to the robust procurement

management that our Procurement team leads on.

The review inspected the Public Health contract database

which contains all the contracts held with every service

provider. The auditors selected a sample of 10 contracts from

the database and confirmed that all:

• contracts were in place for carrying out services and had

been signed by both parties

• performance monitoring had been undertaken in

accordance with the terms and conditions stipulated

within the contract

• performance information and KPI reports had been

provided in a timely manner in all instances reviewed

Our work with Public Health has been very successful; so much

so that our contract with the Council to deliver procurement

services and support the Public Health Commissioners has

been extended to 2015. Furthermore, we are working on

managing the procurement for a sexual health contract for the

Council and Havering and Redbridge local authorities.

PUBLIC HEALTH PROCUREMENT

Our work with Public Health has been very successful; so much so that our contract with the Council to deliver procurement services and support the Public Health Commissioners has been extended to 2015.



39

Since our last Annual Review we have been very successful

in being recognised by leading awards bodies who celebrate

achievements by local government and their partners. We

feel that this is an acknowledgement of our strong partnership

with the Council and reflects all our teams’ hard work.

Local Government Chronicle (LGC) Awards in 2014

Finalist – Public/Private Partnership

Finalist – Corporate Governance

Institute of Revenues Rating and Valuation (IRRV) Awards 2013

Finalist – Excellence in Partnership Working.

A record breaking number of entries were submitted for the

LGC Awards in 2014 and over 80 organisations were nominated

as finalists. It was a significant achievement for Elevate and

the Council to be included as finalists in two categories and

competition was extremely fierce.

We hope to win next year!

AWARDS AND ACCOLADES

ELEVATE EAST LONDON LLP

Barking Town Hall, 1 Town Square, Barking, IG11 7LU

Tel: 0845 313 3932 | Fax: 0845 313 3934

Email: [email protected]

Web: www.ElevateEastLondon.co.uk

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