The Power of information in a crisis …………
………….is in the accuracy
Industry: Public Sector/Social Services
Business Challenge: Cheshire East Council Foster Care Services found that repeated and multiple interviews were frustrating and stressful for their clients. It was also creating duplication of information which was causing confusion in the coordination of services, affecting the delivery of the most appropriate care when and where it was most needed.
Technical Solution: The solution consists of a mobile interactive application enabling CEC operatives using Digital Pens to capture handwritten information and tick box questionnaires when making home visits. The form was left with the foster carer and a secure user access portal was provided for information editing, data sorting, historic information search, information forwarding and system administration. The solution is hosted on this-tel’s this-SCRIBe service platform and supported by applications and design tools powered by this-EVOLVe.
Adoption: The transition for the user was seamless with the minimum of training, creating a single assessment process for foster care, within the Department of Social Services. The result was an improvement in the initial assessment, speed of delivery, with more efficient working practices and provision of support.
Benefits Gained: Reduced staff & Infrastructure costs, improved CEC's operational procedures by providing a full electronic audit trail of service requests. The transition to electronic storage with historic information search and retrieval, brought huge reductions in the high cost of long term paper storage and management.
Client Feedback: Once the staff started to use the solution the value of this technology becomes obvious. We intend to expand its use into all areas of CW&CC to globally maximise on the benefits achieved in Social Services. Further applications of this technology are now under development, this tool will play a significant role in our ongoing ICT service delivery. Mark Wells, ITC Strategy Project Manger,, Cheshire County Council. |
