Public Sector Roundup: Cutting web costs

Liverpool saves cash, doubles online content

A new web content management system has helped Liverpool City Council save thousands on its website, while increasing content.

The Tridion Content Management System, implemented by Liverpool and BT partnership Liverpool Direct Limited (LDL), has helped the council cut £62,000 annually in development costs, as creating new sites now takes days instead of weeks.

But it has also increased the amount of content going online by 100 per cent, the council said, while allowing the 200 various content editors to more easily update and refresh online material.

"It's removed the IT bottleneck," said a spokesman for Tridion.

Bromsgrove links up data

Bromsgrove District Council has signed a deal with IDOX Group to use its UNI-form software to link data across departments.

The seven-year deal will let public users access council information - such as planning applications and health audits - online, while council employees will have access to data remotely via PDAs.

Deborah Poole, head of e-government and customer Services at Bromsgrove District Council, said: "We selected IDOX because of its experience of working with other local authorities and its ability to deliver results on a project of this scale and complexity. We wanted to work with a company that could provide the support that the project requires and help us deliver a better service to our community."

Councils inconsistent with archiving

A study by the National Archives has found variations in what local authorities are doing to archive information. While Norfolk and the London Metropolitan archives both received a three-star ranking in the survey, 13 per cent of the 117 services examined didn't rate a single star.

According to the survey, the top challenges for local archive services are dealing with permanent preservation of digital records, improving building facilities, dealing with backlogs, and further developing their collections.

"Local archives are key to preserving our nation's heritage, and the services they provide are invaluable both generally and in the communities they serve," said Natalie Ceeney, chief executive at The National Archives. "Indeed, the results show that, despite the quality of effort, there is a lot of work to be done to ensure our heritage is adequately cared for."

Nicholas Kingsley, head of the National Advisory Services at The National Archives, said the results - which favoured larger services - could mean it is time to consolidate smaller archives. "Perhaps the clearest message is although local archives achieve a huge amount with the resources they are given, larger institutions are often better able to cope with all the responsibilities of an archive and offer higher quality services," he said. "We are working with local archives to help them address the difficulties the survey has brought to light. There may be a case here for some smaller archives to look at consolidating their services, or moving to joint provision."

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