Civica takes a trip to Southend

Software VAR Civica has been picked by Southend-on-Sea Borough Council to support its organisation-wide transformation project.

Civica will implement its electronic document management (EDM) and workflow technology, to help the council in reaching its goal of saving £15m over the next three years.

Already in its pilot phase across three departments that are particularly paperwork heavy, the technology has been implemented in revenues and benefits, planning and adult social care.

The pilot is due to end in September this year and, if successful, will be rolled out across the whole organisation in December. The full implementation is planned to be completed by April 2011.

The programme will eventually cover 20 service areas and more than 2,500 staff within the council.

Val Earle, director of transformation strategy at Civica said: “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.

“This will unlock a number of savings across the organisation, help to realign processes and create a more service-oriented approach. We are excited to be part of such a significant project.”

Civica’s EDM and workflow technology will aid the council’s transformation project by offering citizens a quick paperwork scanning service into a database that can be accessed by relevant departments. It will also introduce flexible working options for the council’s staff, reduce administration costs, save physical storage space and position workers in more service-oriented roles.

This is expected to deliver a return on investment of £1m by April 2011.

Martin Hone, head of finance and resources, at Southend-on-Sea Borough Council, said: “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.”