LB Barnet is starting a three year project to overhaul its IT infrastructure to allow all of its staff to work remotely, according to a senior official from the authority.
The £20m infrastructure will cover over 4,000 staff from street cleaners to HR services. All departments across the council are to put together plans for mobile working projects so that staff can access databases from anywhere in the borough. Nick Walkley, director of resources at Barnet, told Government Computing News on 26 July 2005 that the aim is to create a fully flexible workforce.
"It is in response to a number of objectives. One issue is the sensitivity of data for much that we do in the council. We were keen in light of new legislation such as the Freedom of Information Act and the Children Act to improve the management of data across the council," he said.
"A key aim is to support mobile working. Rather than doing projects in bits and pieces we decided to change the entire IT infrastructure in order to achieve this. We want to get the infrastructure in place first and then we will forge ahead with the delivery."
Supplier Prime Business Solutions is to work on the infrastructure under a £6m contract. It is hoped that new IT systems will be in place by the beginning of 2006.
A number of pilot projects are already lined up to test mobile working. They include:
- a trial involving 250 social workers using mobile devices. They are already accessing standard applications such as diary and email remotely but will eventually handle more sensitive data;
- cleaning and street repair staff will be able to receive information and reports without returning to the office. According to Walkley, it is hoped that a "200-300%" improvement in productivity will be achieved;
- home working for benefits staff. This is a pilot which has received support from the DWP. The council hopes that in introducing flexible working arrangements it will be able to attract employees from a wider range of backgrounds into the workforce. Barnet is running a proof of concept trial in this area.
Councillor Mike Freer, Barnet's cabinet member for police and performance, said: "We are committed to modernising the council and this means investing in technology, so that we can release money for frontline services and move forward with many of our key strategies."
Quelle: KableNET, 27.07.2005
