Annual Progress Report 2018democracy.carmarthenshire.gov.wales/documents/s23689/REPORT.pdf · This...

Annual Progress Report 2018

Carmarthenshire County CouncilDigital Transformation Strategy 2017-2020

“A Digitally enabled Carmarthenshire”

• Provide transactional services and informationonline in a user-friendly and inclusive way.

• Use technology to change the way traditionalface-to-face services ae delivered, enabling usto deliver effective and efficient services forour residents.

• Create a digital workforce which is agile, mobileand using the most appropriate technologiesto support service delivery.

• Support our residents to use digital technologyand enable access to technology for those thatdo not have it.

• Support our businesses in a digital economy.

• Use digital technology to work and collaboratewith our partners seamlessly, including theeffective sharing and use of data.

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To achieve this bold vision we must:

KeyPriorities

DigitalWorkforce

DigitalCommunities

& Business

DigitalCollaboration

DigitalCustomerServices

Our vision for Carmarthenshire

Improved publicsatisfaction levelswith Council Services

Reduction inorganisational‘running costs’

Improvedsta!satisfactionlevel

Improved digitalaccess

Increasedemployment

Increased online activity to address public queries and transactions

Increasingpubliccommunication,consultation and engagement

Increasedeconomicactivity and productivity

The projects inentified within the Digital Transformation Strategy are designed to deliver the keyobjectives of the Corporate Strategy

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Building the Digital Foundation inCarmarthenshire

A Regional Digital Infrastructure ProjectGroup has been established as part of theSwansea Bay City Deal. Carmarthenshire isa lead partner along with Hywel Dda andAbertawe Bro Morgannwg Health Boardsand neighbouring local authorities, togetherwith senior representation from BritishTelecom.

The digital infrastructure project will makethe most of the underwater transatlanticfibre-optic cable which will run from NewYork to Oxwich Bay.

A Cloud-based Data Centre at the PortTalbot Waterfront Enterprise Zone will bedeveloped which will be capable of dealing with large data requirements. Theproject will also include targeted fixed lineimprovements to expand the provision offixed ultra-fast broadband, 4G and WiFicapabilities to benefit both rural and urban

areas of the region as well as establishInternet Theme Testbeds to supportinnovation with 5G mobile connectivity. Weare working closely with WG and UKGovernments at senior political and officiallevels to finalise what this will look like andto maximise collaboration across the publicsector.

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National SurveyWALES 2014-15

81%internet of people use the

86%Households accessinternet

66%

60%38%

three devices most commonly used to access the internet

82% of ad

ults

used internet daily or almost daily

200657%homes access internet

UK Speci!cinternet access



70%internet access the

on the go

2016

Carmarthenshire

Speci!c

coverage superfast broadband

81%

48%

accessed the Council website using a mobile/tablet


32242online transactions in 2016 up from 30031 in 2015

National SurveyWALES 2014-15

85%internet of people use the


65%

61%38%

three devices most commonly used to access the internet

88% of ad

ults

used internet daily or almost daily


UK Speci!cinternet access



78%internet access the

on the go

2017

Carmarthenshire

Speci!c

coverage superfast broadband

86%

54%

accessed the Council website using a mobile/tablet


38698online transactions in 2016 up from 32242 in 2016

2016 2017

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“Enabling citizens to get the services andinformation they need online”

Digital Customer Services

What it means• Providing high quality user friendly

services and information online toresidents.

• Providing increased 24/7 digital access toservices that are bilingual and customerfriendly.

• To provide a personal digital service andrespond to customer needs.

Why is it Important?• To meet customer demands and respond

to rising customer expectations.

• To improve customer engagement withaccess to personalized information andservices.

• With greater use of mobile technology,provision access to online services at thecustomers convenience, ‘anytime,anywhere’.

Progress Made• Pembrey Country Park On-Line Booking

System went live in May 2017. Since beinglaunched over 2,500 bookings have beentaken (on-line and telephone). For thiscamping and caravanning season (sinceFebruary 2018) 1,200 on-line bookingstaken compared to 220 telephonebookings; which equates to 84% on-linetransactions.





Increasedemployment




5

• Personal Safety Register (PSR) systemwent live in April 2017. A new process anddigital systems has been developed andmade accessible to all staff via theintranet. The system provides the abilityto corporately manage informationsharing across the organisation regardingindividuals who present a known risk.Various existing systems flag an issueregarding an individual. Staff can thenresearch the detail of that individual viathe new system to asses and manage therisk accordingly.

• Corporate On-Line AppointmentsBooking System (for Customer Services)went live in December 2017. Customers attheir own convenience can now managetheir appointments with CustomerServices. Customer Services also havingan electronic back-office solution tomanage this function.

• School Meals On-Line Payments andCashless Catering. Procurement of theon-line payments ParentPay systemcompleted December 2017 and has beenrolled out across all Secondary schoolsand 8 Primary Schools (April 2018). Thisnow means no physical cash is beinghandled within these schools and 100%on-line management of payments andpupil balances by parents. Roll-out toremaining Primary schools to continuethroughout 18/19.

• Replacement Customer RelationshipManager (CRM) system went live inMarch 2018 using Firmstep technology.This key transformation ensures we nowhave a holistic picture / ‘single view’ of allCustomer Contact with the Authority’sContact Centre; be it face-to-face, over thetelephone and on-line. On-goingdevelopments and additional servicesbeing provisioned in 18/19.

• Green Waste On-Line Booking systemwent live in February 2018 and allowsresidents to apply and pay for theauthority’s garden waste collectionservice. This service also integrates withthe new My Account and new CRMresulting in an improved customer service.

• Corporate Mobile Responsive Websitewent live in February 2018. Website is nowfully accessible and usable across anydevice and website browser including smartphones and tablets. According to theNational Survey for Wales, 65% of thoseaccessing our Council website did so using asmartphone or tablet. Websites willcontinue to be developed throughout 18/19with greater integration to the new MyAccount, CRM and to back-office systems toprovide our customers / citizens withgreater range of service and access to theirown personalised information.

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• My Account was launched alongside thenew Mobile Responsive CorporateWebsite in February 2018 and already hasover 3000 residents signed up. They canaccess personal account informationregarding their Council Tax Account,Businesses Rate Account as well as withour Tenants being able to view their RentAccounts. Further enhancements anddevelopments expected in 18/19.

• Housing Repairs On-Line Reportingsystem was launched October 2017.Ongoing developments for 18/19 tointegrate with the new My Account, CRMand Total back-office system to furtherautomate and make the reporting processmore efficient.

• Mobile Project - Housing EstateInspections. An off-line mobile solutionwas developed to allow housing officers toundertake Estate Inspections using mobiledevices (tablets/smart phones) and off-line in the absence of mobile or Wi-Fisignal. Over 600 digital inspections out ofa total of 940 (63%) have been undertakensince May 2017 saving significant time andeffort. Ongoing development andintegration into the authority’s DocumentManagement System to be introduced in18/19.

• Land Charges Online payments wentlive in March 2018 to allow a Local LandCharge search request to be submitted tothe authority’s Land Charges section.Local Land Charges are an important partof the property conveyancing process andwill inform potential purchasers withessential information that the authoritymay hold about a property (e.g. planningpermission, public rights of way).

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“Carmarthenshire will aim to support its staff inadopting working practices with maximum flexibilityand minimum constraints in order to optimise their

performance in the delivery of quality and costeffective services”

Digital Workforces

What it means• A digital workforce is more responsive and

flexible.

• Being responsive to the needs of ourcitizens by providing good public servicesand being flexible about where work iscarried out.

• Flexibility for our staff is being able towork from different locations, at differenttimes using the most effective technology.

Why is it Important?• Agility and mobility brings efficiencies and

increased productivity through betterways of working.

• It increases our ability to ensure a healthyand mutually beneficial work life balancefor our workforce. This increases ourability to attract the necessary skills and

knowledge for our workforce.

• It allows us to improve processes,procedures and work flows, reducingwaste and exploiting efficiencies throughgood use of data and analytics.





Increasedemployment




8

There are now Agile touchdown zonesin:- 3 Spilman Street, Carmarthen

- Ty Elwyn & Trostre Depot, Llanelli

- Municpal Buildings, Llandeilo

- Town Hall, Ammanford

- Building 2, Parc Dewi, Carmarthen

These spaces include:

• Desks and chairs.

• Some docking stations, keyboards andmonitors.

• Lockers.

• Printer and coffee machine.

• Power sockets to charge your devices.

• Access to a telephone.

• The larger zones in Ty Elwyn, Parc DewiSant and Spilman Street also have spacefor small ‘ad-hoc’ meetings, which youcan turn up and use.

Progress Made

• During 2017/18 we deployed 916 newLaptops to staff as part of the Agile andReplacement program. Our aim by 2021is to have 80% Laptops and 20% desktopPC’s as the main devices used by staff.

• An Android mobile phone identified asan alternative smartphone to be providedto end users as an option instead of theexpensive Apple I-Phone. With themigration to Office 365 we will now beable to allow staff access to their emailsand calendars via an android device. Thefirst 50 android phones are beingimplemented within Social Care’s HomeCare team and they will also integrate withtheir back office system, Jontek.

• Work has commenced on migrating ourMicrosoft Email over to Office 365 whichis a cloud hosted solution. This willimprove accessibility, communication,productivity and cut costs.

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• Data center core switches purchasedand installed in County Hall and 3Spilman Street Data Centers. This willimprove the overall resilience of our coreinfrastructure.

• Resilient internet feed installed andfirewall architecture agreed withmaintenance on firewall hardwarepurchased until 2020. This will ensure theAuthority has sufficient bandwidth as wemove towards utilizing more cloud basedservices.

• A Digital Learning Strategy is currentlyin draft and will be completed in 2018.This will aim to improve the digital literacylevels of all staff so that they canmaximize the benefits of the latesttechnologies.

• Accident & Incidents reporting system.A new Accidents & Incidents reportingeForm and enhancements to the back-office system were developed by ICTServices in 17/18 to improve the reportingprocess. On-going developments for18/19 include greater integration to back-office systems such as the authority’sDocument Management System -Information@Work and PayrollResourceLink systems.

• Human Resources (HR) / RecruitmentProcesses. New electronic processes for‘Permission to Recruit’ and ‘Create NewPost’ were developed in house by ICTServices which went live in April 2018.These processes eliminated the previouspaper-trail with workflow to sign-off atvarious stages along the process as wellas integration with the ResourceLinksystem to simplify and streamline dataentry. Further electronic processdevelopments are targeted for 18/19.

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“Enable residents and businesses in theCounty to use digital technology to enhance

their lives”

Digital Communities & Business

What it means• Ensure that residents and businesses

exploit the latest technology to improvetheir lives.

• Developing the digital skills of ourresidents from children to our elderly

• High speed connectivity for everybusiness so that they can compete in aglobal economy

• Enable business to make use of ‘cloudcomputing’. Cloud computing canaccelerate time to value, drive higheradoption of new technologies, andconnect the services offered in real time.

• Digitally transform Council businessoperations to make them more efficient

Why is it Important?• A digital Carmarthenshire will encourage

new business to invest inCarmarthenshire to support the localeconomy and attract sustainableemployment

• Ensure that our children live in digitallyconnected communities and have thelatest digital technologies available to givethem the best start in life

• Every resident of Carmarthenshire shouldhave the ability to access ‘on-line’ serviceswhich can be used to improve their‘quality of life’





Increasedemployment




11

Progress Made• Local Carmarthenshire contractors Antur

Teifi have been successful in securing thecontract to install, deliver and support theStrategic Rural Towns WiFi network acrossCarmarthenshire at St Clears,Carmarthen, Whitland, Ammanford, BurryPort and Pendine. Once installation iscompleted, a full technical anddevelopment support package, deliveredby Antur Teifi, will be in place for twoyears and will include two apprenticeshipplaces. They will work with and supportboth Town Councils and businesses todevelop and maximise economic benefitsand enhance the visitor experience byutilising digital connectivity on the highstreet.

• We have ensured all sheltered housingresidents continue to benefit from Wi-Fiinternet provision and IT training. Wi-Fihas been installed/set-up and is availablefor residents to use in all communallounge areas and we continue to supporttenants who wish to improve ITknowledge and skills.

• Wi-fi is now available in our TownCentres allowing members of the publicand staff to connect and access ourservices on the go. According to theNational Survey for Wales, 65% of thoseaccessing our Council website did so usinga smartphone or tablet.

• Digital Skills continue to be developedand 152 computer class sessions in thecommunity have taken place this yearwith a total of 1,150 attendees. Coursesare delivered by both library andcommunity based organisations.

• Engagement is on going between officers,elected members, BT Open reach and theCity Deal team in relation to ImprovingBroadband connectivity across theCounty. 86% percent of premises(residential and business) now haveaccess to superfast broadband acrossCarmarthenshire, however take-up iscurrently only 40% of those who can get it.Work is ongoing to promote andencourage investment, further rollout,uptake and an understanding of thevarious options available to citizens andbusinesses.

• For those premises who currently don’thave access to superfast broadband wehave established that the followingoptions are available. Communicationsare currently being prepared to providethe public with the relevant informationrelating to Community FibrePartnerships, Access Broadband CymruScheme, Support for CommunityGroups and Businesses.

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“Innovative digital solutions will enableincreased collaboration and facilitate

organisations to work seamlessly together”

Digital Collaboration

What it means• Improved information sharing with other

organisations and partners.

• Increased sharing of software andhardware platforms across the region

Why is it Important?• Digital Collaboration underpins ‘Digital

Customer Service’, the ‘Digital Workforce’and ‘Digital Communities and Business’

• Helps foster cohesion in teams. This isespecially relevant to teams that aredispersed as cohesive teams are far moreproductive.

• Creates an atmosphere of openness asstaff are up to date with and able toaccess the very latest news andinformation.

• Simplifies the way that we share data withother organisations and partners makingeveryone feel like part of a single team

working on common objectives.

• Is a catalyst for cultural cohesion enablingdepartments to focus on putting thecitizen at the heart of what they do.

Progress Made• The new building, part funded by the City

Deal, on the University of Wales TrinitySaint David campus in Carmarthen, called‘Yr Egin’, will give creative industries topquality office spaces which will benefitfrom state-of-the-art digital technologyand will also feature the newheadquarters for S4C.





Increasedemployment




• In Llanelli, an outline planning applicationhas been submitted for the Life Scienceand Well-Being Village at Delta Lakes.This £200m project will include a cutting-edge new leisure centre, spaces formedical research, health service provisionunderpinned by the very latest digitaltechnology and connectivity.

• The Skills and Talent project being led bythe South West Wales Regional SkillsPartnership, is already exploring the gapsthat currently exist in the provision ofskills and how this can best be addressed,both now and in years to come, byintroducing courses that are tailor madeto the City Deal projects.

• Rationalisation of existing ICT systemsand technology has taken place during2017/18 :

- CITRIX decommissioning and AccessDatabase Consolidation hascommenced and will be on-going until2019. CITRIX will be fully decommissionby April 2019.

- ICT Services are working with manyservice areas in relation to CloudManaged Services which will furtherallow I.T. to streamline support andrationalise the number of businesscritical systems hosted on-premisewithin our Data Centres.

• Alternative options are being consideredto the Welsh Community Care System(WCCIS), due to the ongoing issues, whilstremining fully commited to an all Walessolution in the long term.

Annual Progress Report 2018democracy.carmarthenshire.gov.wales/documents/s23689/REPORT.pdf · This...

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