Careers in technology

• 2008: Apprentice IT Support Assistant 
• 2009: Analyst Programmer
• 2011: Senior Analyst Programmer
• 2011: Senior Analyst Programmer Integration
• 2014: Principle Analyst Programmer
• 2022: Lead Developer
• 2023: Digital Architect

"The council provided me with the opportunity to start my career in technology via an apprenticeship. This suited the way I learn and soon provided me with the confidence to progress within the Development team. Working on a diverse range of projects and services over the following years allowed me to gain a wealth of knowledge and experience, culminating in a recent move into Technical Architecture. Improving public services in the local area has provided great satisfaction. I'm really fortunate to work with many talented and supportive people, who are focussed on the same goal."

"As a new starter to the council and technology and change, I have found, in comparison to my previous employment, that the IT services provided are substantially integrated. This is an obvious advantage to having in house ITC resources which provide solutions that meet user needs and that put users at the heart of the testing outputs. Platforms such as IT support services, H&S sites, Learning Zone and MyView are all good examples of how the IT is implemented to make a difference and drive excellent user experiences.

To allow staff and services to perform, I have been impressed with the integration of the Microsoft 365 Sharepoint platform. This is integrated with teams channels and smoothly links to files and documentation to drive the correct culture of document control within the organisation, to which is embedded in the induction training. This has made the initial start of my employment easy and less frustrating than previous experiences with Sharepoint."

“Working in the digital team is so rewarding - we deliver some fantastic products which I'm really proud of and I love working in such a supportive and friendly team”. 

“It’s great to be part of such an innovative team both in terms of the technology we work with and the ways in which we work”. 

 

 

“Delivering digital services which our residents love makes being part of the digital team so rewarding. You learn something new every day!” 

 

“The team is fantastic, they know their stuff and are really supportive and friendly. Our products make a real difference and everyone pitches in to make that happen.” 

“Our Digital Team is friendly and supportive. We are passionate about delivering the best products to our customers.” 

Project aims and objectives

The early weeks of lockdown introduced self-isolation and shielding to North Yorkshire’s most vulnerable residents. Uncertainty, panic buying and general increased demand left some goods and services unavailable to sections of society. Likewise, local businesses were unable to trade in the conventional way. The solution needed to put local businesses in touch with customers in an effective and trusted way.

The idea came from the local economy work stream through its desire to help people to buy locally. The digital and customer team suggested the improvement to the initial solution of a list held on the council website, based on their experience of managing this type of information for community services. Initial discussions with the local economy workstream chair were held to agree the most appropriate approach.

As well as the core teams listed above there was key input from our data and governance and legal services teams.

This is a new business directory built to put greater control at the hands of the user and done so under incredible time and regulatory pressure. Time was of the essence. The faster the service was launched, the greater its usefulness to our residents.

By replicating an existing product (the NYConnect community directory) we were able to improve the solution, which was initially holding data on a website, with an overhead to keep up to date and constraints around data governance and sharing consent. We turned this into a model where data owners (businesses and service providers) sign up, consent, and are able to keep their own information up to date. We were able to give customers the function to search what types of products they were looking for and directly contact local businesses.

The service put their trust an existing technical solution, which was already in use by customers. This saved months of time usually spent understanding requirements, defining and designing. The technical team were able to deliver a product that met core requirements within four days and took an agile and iterative approach to further tweak where necessary, based on customer usage and feedback and later on where COVID-19 restrictions eased.

The achievements

Buy Local is a free online business directory developed to connect residents with businesses and tradespeople operating under COVID-19 restrictions in their local area. Developed in direct response to consumer demand in the first uncertain weeks of national lockdown to find local solutions online and assist local business to provide essential goods and services.

Buy Local was developed exceptionally fast, as circumstances demanded, and has put consumers in touch with local businesses through a clear, user-friendly platform.

This has been a truly collaborative approach across the council. In particular, the following teams made a significant contribution:

• digital team - for their exceptionally quick and responsive design and implementation
• customer service centre - outbound calling to businesses across the area
• communications - who researched and produced stories and case studies which brought the directory to life. Also highly successful media campaigns that brought people to the site
• trading standards - for checking and supporting all the businesses listed
• COVID-19 local economy work stream - for striving to invigorate the local economy in such difficult circumstances
• growth and heritage services - developing the idea of the a local directory

The customer experience was simplified. The solution put 750 businesses in one place. Customers were able to access up to date information on one highly functioning platform. In addition, the process for businesses providing the information was simple and already tested, balancing verification and consent with timeliness and detail.

The customer experience was made more accessible by building the site to accessibility standards, as opposed to a PDF or Word document or a simple long list of business that would not be easy to navigate. Routes to the site were made known through excellent communications and links through other local authorities.

The customer is more connected with other services, notably with trading standards.

The trading standards service checked each applicant to the scheme and was able to engage positively with businesses who initially gave concern, giving them advice and guidance which enabled them to achieve compliance with relevant legislation and allow their entry to the scheme. This enabled the trading standards service to reach businesses it would not have had contact with otherwise and it is hoped that their positive experience on this occasion will encourage them to seek advice as required in the future. This is a good outcome for those businesses and also for the residents and other consumers with whom they trade.

Finally, the experience was made quicker for customers. Functionality within the tool enabled customers to search by business type, area or key word to help them quickly connect with relevant businesses and provided a direct link to their website and social media accounts.

Benefits and efficiency delivered

• since the site launched there have been almost 74,000 visits to the site
• visitors have clicked the links to business websites 2,800 times. One business has received 80 visits to their website
• there have been 53 telephone clicks, 639 email clicks and 3,358 clicks for further information about the services
• in terms of the speed of the creation of the site and its usefulness in providing essential services, the shopping element of the site alone was visited 1,385 times in April 2020. Residents wanted and used this site.

These figures show that customers have been put in contact with local businesses when they needed them most.

The site went live in April 2020 and has been updated in response to customer feedback and as lockdown restrictions, we have updated the site to enable businesses to use it as a platform to support the ways they are trading.

Awards

This project was a finalist in the 'Effective Information Sharing & Security Award' category of the iNetwork awards 2020.

Project aims and objectives

The wellbeing of residents in care homes is paramount. That means every aspect of wellbeing, from physical to mental. A conversation with a loved one and being able to see their face makes a massive difference to people living in care homes and allowing them to stay connected during the unprecedented times caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is vital.

The UK government introduced strict lockdown measures in March 2020 to limit the spread of coronavirus, encouraging people to stay at home and only go outside for essential trips such as exercise, food shopping or to collect prescriptions.

Delivery of traditional primary care service models proved to be difficult under COVID-19 with site visits potentially increasing the risk of infection being brought into the care home.

Many healthcare services were reconfigured to adhere to these new measures, which meant that most face-to-face appointments were replaced with telephone or online consultations.

Under normal circumstances, in-person visits to care homes are always welcome. They provide great comfort and vital clinical support to residents as well as allowing staff to keep in contact with the important people in the lives of the residents themselves. When those visits from loved ones and primary care clinicians were no longer possible it was necessary to use alternative means of keeping those essential contacts going.

Maintaining face-to-face contact between residents, their loved ones and clinicians involved in their care:

• would be possible using remote and virtual applications already available to members of the public, social care workers and primary care clinicians
• would require all care homes to have the necessary equipment to access these applications and have the necessary support to staff
• would require coordination between local organisations involved in supporting care homes

In response to this, two complementary initiatives were designed and delivered at pace and scale across the care homes in North Yorkshire.

The North Yorkshire clinical commissioning group deployed 202 tablets to North Yorkshire care homes alongside an additional 30 “consumer” video calling devices deployed by the council to its own elderly persons homes. Both initiatives were at a time when all parts of the health and care sector were under significant operational pressure resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, infection prevention control measures together with essential social distancing meant the delivery and handover of all these devices had to be carefully organised and managed through close working between the clinical commissioning group and council digital support teams, and a local community hub (Nidderdale Plus).

Sandra Anderson, director at the Millings Care Home in the North Yorkshire town of Bedale, said:

"From our first try we had a really good experience using the device. Residents were really happy with how it worked and we found it to be a really efficient way to contact healthcare professionals."

The achievements

All the devices were delivered through collaboration between the North Yorkshire clinical commissioning group and council digital teams, supported by the local voluntary sector organisation Nidderdale Plus. Deliveries were undertaken within strict infection control measures.

The deployment of the devices has been followed up by a structured survey and evaluation report commissioned by the North Yorkshire clinical commissioning group. In addition, regular usage data was analysed to assess the amount of activity taking place through the devices.

The devices can also be utilised by staff to access essential training sessions and materials and also to access applications such as self-care apps targeted towards a resident’s particular condition.

Feedback from care home staff, residents and primary care clinicians was obtained and fed into the evaluation process.

Some of the feedback received for the care home tablets and video calling devices project:

"Great initiative that we hope will continue after the pandemic restrictions are eased."

"Very useful project to enable increase in use of technology and improve ways of working during current pandemic."

"It’s really wonderful for our residents to be able to see the faces of their loved ones - we’ve had a few happy tears from them."

"Having the tablets has been invaluable during this crisis when residents can’t see their friends or families when normally, having visits would be the highlight of their day."

"It means families can have ‘virtual visits’ and it’s been brilliant."

"It gives everyone reassurance and peace of mind - families know their relatives in the care home are fine and it’s good for the resident’s mental health and stops them feeling isolated and locked in."

"Only that it is a great support. Much better to be able to see the GP during a consultation for our residents, rather than a telephone call. I have seen residents interacting with the calls and enjoying the experience."

"I feel that the use of technology for instance, video calls would be of great benefit to use going forward when COVID-19 restrictions are lifted. It reduces the amount of people coming into the home. Also one of our residents has attended and enjoyed weekly alcohol and anxiety groups. In the past he has not attended these groups, he says that he is attending due to been in his home environment."

"Reduced need to physically visit means patients are more likely to get a face to face consultation, although virtual. It also frees up clinical time that otherwise would have been spent travelling to and from the care home. More regular review of our patients has been possible."

"The main difficulty is that for elderly residents with visual or hearing impairment, they struggle to engage with the tablet. It still enables me to see them however."

"I have found it helpful to examine overall well being, breathing, rashes, to do memory assessments. The obvious benefit it that it has significantly reduced the number of visits in person required. This has two benefits: Firstly reduced risk of infection spread, and secondly, it does save time for GPs too."

Awards

This project was a finalist in the 'Partner Excellence Award' category of the iNetwork awards 2020.

Project aims and objectives

In 2018, we embarked on a project to transform the blue badge service. We identified much room for improvement due to:

• poor customer experience
• poor online experience resulting in low uptake and high drop-off
• a disjointed application process
• poor online payment platform
• no shortcut renewal process for people classed as ‘permanently disabled’
• a four to six week wait for receipt of a badge

There were also inefficient processes associated with the service:

• only 17 per cent of applications completed online (vs phone)
• complications and delays around assessments
• delays due to matching payments and chasing evidence
• unnecessary assessment processes
• receipt of cheques resulting in high processing costs
• many customers opting to pay over the phone rather than online
• geographically inconsistent face-to-face offering

Following significant business change analysis, we chose to completely redesign the service through:

• creating an intuitive online application including screening and scoring tools
• systems integration with in-house and Department for Transport systems
• redesigned back-office processes
• creation of a data dashboard to allow monitoring of service performance and customer behaviour
• adherence to our customer and digital strategies

The achievements

Through implementing a new customer platform, badge management system and revised back-office processes the service has achieved:

• average 92 per cent applications completed online (previously 17 per cent)
• reduced time for receipt of badge (average of less than ten days against a previous time of four to six weeks)
• £70k of annual savings
• efficient process and back office system have eradicated backlogs
• improved customer satisfaction ratings and feedback
• streamlined phone process that has removed significant wastage

There is now a rich data dashboard to monitor service performance and customer behaviour. This has been achieved through:

• cross functional project team (including service team leader, project manager, solution analyst, business change officer, UX designer, software developer and systems team officer)
• alignment to customer and digital strategies
• ongoing customer engagement and user testing
• process engineering
• customer journey mapping
• automated online decisions
• user centric design and prototyping
• agile development approach
• consistent approach for ‘exceptions’
• culture change within the business to support moving customers to the online channel
• creating face-to-face ‘digital assistance’ model in libraries to support customers who need it

The project team were key to arriving at the correct outcome through analysing and challenging in order to arrive at a proposal that created a compelling business case.

The secondment of the service team leader onto the project provided the dedicated input required, allowing timely decisions, and was integral to the service redesign. This was an innovative approach for us and required significant investment and upskilling, but paid off through the success of the end product.

This role also linked to the utilisation of user feedback. Customer engagement sessions allowed us to challenge existing assumptions about customers, and ask directly what is right for them. The project has provided a best practice way to develop other customer facing services whilst ensuring efficiency and savings. The principles included:

• start with customer needs
• do less (reduce spend)
• design with data
• do the hard work to make it simple for customers
• iterate, and use feedback
• build for inclusion
• understand context and always focus on the customer
• encourage innovation
• be consistent, use the same language where possible
• make things open, provide clear and honest guidance about services and eligibility

Awards

This project was a finalist in the 'Transforming & Innovating Public Services Award' category of the iNetwork awards 2019.

Project aims and objectives

How many of us have had that daunting feeling when visiting a new town or city, whether for work or pleasure, and not knowing where to park? Or facing the dilemma of whether there will be any spaces left, how much is it going to cost and will I have enough change?

That frantic rummaging for loose change in the centre console is now long forgotten in Harrogate town centre.

Harrogate Borough Council operates its own off-street car parks as well as managing on-street car parking on behalf of North Yorkshire County Council. In 2017, in partnership with county colleagues, they began exploring smart parking as one element of a local digital and connectivity programme.

There was growing evidence that Harrogate was not immune to the climate of declining footfall and retail performance. Congestion had also become a local issue and there was a lack of evidence to support strategic decisions around parking assets. Research suggested smart parking had the potential to improve the customer experience, support the local visitor economy and enhance data-driven decision making.

Late in 2017 Harrogate Borough Council applied to an innovation competition fund and were subsequently chosen as the preferred destination to introduce a unique smart parking solution. The cost of the hardware and installation would be met by the fund.

After careful consideration of the available evidence, both Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council were bold enough to recognise the opportunity and potential benefits of a pioneering project, albeit implemented on a two-year trial basis.

The primary risk to the local authorities was the shift to minute-by-minute parking charging. A ‘linear’ pricing model is considered fairer to the customer but was uncommon in the UK. We decided that with an appropriate minimum charge, the benefits to the customer would outweigh the risks to us if it was monitored closely.

So how does smart parking work in Harrogate town centre?

A total of 2,200 surface mounted sensors were installed in all ‘paid for’ on-street parking bays and off-street surface level car parks.

The sensor can determine if a space is occupied in real time and provides this information to a free smartphone app used by the motorist. It also confirms the cost for each parking space and the hours of availability.

In practice

The app allows the motorist to navigate the most efficient route to the parking space that suits their needs and avoid areas where there is no available parking. On arrival, the motorist starts their parking session via the app with one click or they can still choose to pay and display in the traditional way.

A key benefit for both the motorist and the high street is that the motorist does not have to predict how long they will be in the bay and the session automatically ends when the car leaves. Payment is taken for the minutes parked, plus a convenience fee of 20p for each parking session.

How many of us have had to end visits to the high street abruptly for fear of the parking ticket running out? This smart parking solutions takes the worry away.

The system has also been integrated within the town’s two ‘barriered’ car parks through the use of automatic number plate recognition cameras. Motorists, who include their car registration in the app, can automatically enter and exit the car park and are charged accordingly.

The cross-party work included amendments to traffic management orders and the installation of two low powered wide area network antennas on council buildings. The key technical challenge related to the integration with various suppliers and platforms to deliver a seamless experience for users.

The achievements

During the first 18 months of the trial, take-up was encouraging. A total of 140,000 smart parking sessions were conducted by around 10,000 individual customers, equating to around ten per cent of all parking sessions.

As the project was a trial it was important to understand the benefits to the motorist as well as the two local authorities. Therefore customer feedback was essential, and 627 smart parking users were surveyed in 2020, with the results showing:

Improved customer experience

• 83 per cent of users said using smart parking alleviates stress normally associated with using a pay and display machine
• 93 per cent said it is more convenient than using a pay and display machine
• 89 per cent believed the solution is fairer and makes parking easier.

Benefit to the local economy

• the smart parking trial has supported a positive vision for the town centre
• 62 per cent of users said they stay longer in Harrogate town centre as a result of not worrying about a pay and display ticket expiring
• 60 per cent said they were more likely to park in Harrogate because they can pay via the app

Benefit to the environment

• the trial has resulted in fewer miles being driven in Harrogate town centre
• 32 per cent of users said they now check availability in-app before they arrive at their destination
• 56 per cent of users have saved time finding a car parking space

Improved operational and strategic insight

Smart parking has provided both authorities with real-time capacity data, payment data and overstay data for parking across the town. The data has also acted as a robust evidence base for the recent parking review that will support town centre master planning in the future.

Financial benefit to the councils

The average session derived an additional 50p off-street and 25p on-street compared with customers who chose to pay and display. This is driven by:

• no rushing back by the customer to avoid a parking ticket
• the customer paying immediately upon arrival (89 per cent of users said the app saves them time compared with displaying a ticket)
• the customer paying for the entire duration of their stay (for instance, the session ends when they drive away)
• further financial benefits have been made through reduced transaction costs as well as less cash management

Financial benefit to the customer

Despite the 20p convenience fee, more often than not smart parking is cheaper for the customer than pay and display as they only pay for the minutes they use and do not overpay within a block purchase of time.

Following the success of the trial Harrogate Borough Council are currently exploring implementing a permanent solution.

Awards

This project won the 'Innovation of the Year' category at the LGC Awards 2020.

Project aims and objectives

In 2020, people's lives were changed dramatically. People required to shield were unable to leave their homes under almost any circumstances. 

In response to this, we brought together service delivery from a number of community support organisations. 

The achievements

With the help of 23 community support organisations and over 3,000 volunteers, we were able to mobilise support for those shielding in just four days.

We implemented a technology solution to quickly deploy volunteers to where they're needed most. A new team, 'U+' was established to bring together data, technology and volunteers in a way that has never been achieved before.

As a result, between April and October 2020, the community support organisations were able to:

• delivered 22,135 bags of food shopping
• delivered 21,968 hot meals
• delivered 13,091 prescriptions
• made 31,985 welfare and befriending calls
• have had contact with 60,567 residents

There were also:

• 40,000 text messages sent
• 24,000 letters sent out
• 140,000 telephone calls to check people were managing and to follow up previous contacts
• 2,500 face-to-face contacts

Awards

This project won the 'People's Choice Award' of the North Yorkshire County Council Innovation Awards 2020.