What our Customers Think About LalPac...

LalPac users Blackpool worked to enable over 3,500 licences to be converted 
to the new Licensing Act 2003 and their efforts have been recognised by the 
presentation of an Outstanding Service award. 

Case study 3: South Staffordshire

South Staffordshire District Council

• LalPac is delivering real benefits within three months of implementation
• South Staffordshire Council needed to improve efficiency.
• A FOI request took "five minutes" instead of the usual day to respond to.
• All licensing data has been consolidated into one place and makes ad-hoc reporting very easy.
• References were taken from all bidders and LalPac users were, without exception, extremely positive about the product and the support provided.

Background - When David Pattison, Head of Legal and Licensing at South Staffordshire, took over responsibility for the Licensing function, he was met by an immediate request by his team members; "please can we have a new software solution"?

David quickly realised that his staff were not entirely satisfied with the tools they had to work with, so he immediately set about seeing how he could improve their lot, while at the same time, deliver major benefits to the Council, the trade and the public.  An internal audit also concluded that there was "room for improvement" at the same time.

Requirements - David started by identifying the requirements that any new system needed to be able to satisfy the following objectives:

1. Improve Efficiency - any system needed to collect and retain all the necessary information whilst at the same time making time savings on routine tasks thus allowing staff to spend less time paper pushing and free up time to spend on pro-active Public Protection, Enforcement, Communicaton and Education.
2. Quick to Implement - It was important that any system did not demand extensive in-house resources and was fundamentally an "off the shelf" product.
3. User Friendly - It was important that any system would be able to work the way the department wanted to work and that the department not be forced to adapt to how the software worked.
4. Automated - The existing system was labour intensive, so automation of routine tasks such as Licence Renewal letters, daily processes, production of Public Registers, responses to regulatory and ad-hoc requests and reporting was considered essential.
5. Public Access and Responsible Body Connectivity - With the ever increasing trend towards improving service levels, the public facing side had to deliver a high degree of "self service" for the trade and citizens.  A web front end would not only allow customers to apply for and monitor Licence Applications, it would also allow partners to have secure remote access to the information they need, without involving the Licensing Team.
6. System Integration - It would not be helpful to choose a "best of breed" solution that stood alone and introduced other issues into the Authority.  The Licensing Team are integrated into a larger department and any new licensing system would need to inter-operate with existing systems in use in the Authority, such as the LLPG, Oracle CRM and Civica eDRM.

Selection Process - Council procedures required that David needed to evaluate three alternative solutions.  It quickly became apparent that the LalPac proposal clearly delivered the best functionality in terms of meeting the objectives and therefore offered the best value for money.

References were taken from all three potential suppliers, and again, the LalPac proposition stood out because LalPac users without exception were extremely positive about both the product and the level of support.

The one concern over opting for a "best of breed" solution was that it would introduce an additional software product into the Authority at a time when "consolidation" of solutions was a high priority.  However, the Council were persuaded that the significant benefits that a LalPac licensing solution would deliver were sufficient to justify a departure from the corporate goal.  In addition, the Council's confidence in LalPac's ability to inter-operate with current systems was also a significant factor towards minimising risk.

A formal report recommending the Council take LalPac was placed before the Licensing Committee and was subsequently approved.  However, the decision had to be ratified by the full Council because the cost exceeded the budget allocated for the financial year.

Results - Phase 1 - the back office solution has been implemented and is busy helping the Licensing Team.  David Pattison said; "LalPac was extremely attractive to us because it just works the way the Licensing Team needs to operate.  LalPac is already delivering benefits, dealing with enquiries from the trade and public, processing new applications and effortlessly responding to regulatory and FOI requests".

David and LalPac are busy preparing for Phase 2 which will deliver the public facing solution and the integration that the Council need.