Website review

Client name:

Central Bedfordshire Council

Date published:

Sat, 12/12/2009

Lead consultant:

Andy Grant

Central Bedfordshire Council seek help from Socitm Consulting to improve their Web Site for users and staff and in turn be reviewed by Socitm Insight as part of its annual Better Connected survey.

Central Bedfordshire Council came into existence on 1^st April 2009 and is an amalgamation of three previous authorities: Mid Beds, South Beds and Bedfordshire County Council. As a result of this restructuring the new Council’s website was in its infancy and had never been surveyed by Socitm Insight as part of its annual Better Connected review. The Council wished to have a review of the Council’s website provision to establish a baseline in comparison with other sites and against the Better Connected standards.

Socitm Consulting expertise was sought to carry out a full review consisting of the following elements:

Review the technology of the website and intranet and the extent to which it offered the best solutions for the Council in relation to the existing investment and any potential future investment.
Review the publication and editing process, responsibilities and the final outcome; sustainability and long term options
Review the skills base of the Council staff involved in the web and intranet systems, and identify the options for providing these skills on a long-term basis
Review of the Council’s website to include an assessment against the latest Better Connected criteria and Accessibility.

Our Consultant met with all relevant staff members who are responsible for provision of the web site, to ascertain their responsibilities and knowledge. We also reviewed how both staff and the public use the web site. Reports were then prepared and presented documenting the elements of website status according to the Better Connected criteria and a roadmap of how to achieve an improved Better Connected rating with a focus on efficiency improvements in service delivery and potential cost savings.

Socitm Consulting was able to assist the Council in developing their online transactional status and therefore provide a better customer service. By establishing the position of the Council’s website within its wider strategic and service delivery priorities, we provided a clear roadmap of efficiency improvements to the website according to national standards and importantly we identified the resources needed to achieve this goal.

Our Consultant provided advice regarding Web Content Management systems and Web governance to ensure best practise. We also provided the Council with a benchmark position statement which would allow them to measure future progress of the website against future improvements.

Alan Ferguson, Web manager Communication commented, “The work carried out by Socitm allowed Central Bedfordshire to make immediate quick fixes throughout the website in preparation for the Better Connected review in November 2009. The comprehensive report was filtered and we were able to prioritise actions based on what would give the best possible customer service. In addition, the report will be used to begin the next stage of web development. The information has been invaluable as being a new Unitary authority, we had nothing to benchmark against.”

Project ID: 7207

Client: Central Bedfordshire Council

Contact: Alan Ferguson, Web Manager, alan.ferguson@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk ,

Tele: 01234 276318

Consultant: Andy Grant

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