The London Borough of Harrow
Goals
For over 12 years, social workers and other employees within the Adults and Housing Services Directorate and the Children’s Services Directorate had been using an in-house software programme to manage their casework. This solution had been adapted on a regular basis to meet new business requirements, but ongoing development costs were escalating. The council therefore decided to replace its existing system with a commercial solution called frameworki. However, the implementation of frameworki presented a considerable challenge. The solution had to be set up to accommodate the council’s existing business processes, and over 700 employees had to be trained to use it in a relatively short period of time.
Charteris' role
Harrow Council appointed Charteris to support the implementation project. Charteris was responsible for managing the project, supplying the software and supporting the council. The project manager from Charteris also worked closely with the council to design a training programme that included generic training for large groups of staff, accompanied by focused sessions for specific teams. Charteris provided the training schedule, wrote the training scripts and managed the trainers. In addition, Chateris helped the council to validate the reports produced by frameworki, to improve the availability of data for management.
Results
The implementation of frameworki was completed successfully and delivered on schedule. A large number of people received tailored training in a very short period of time and, as a result, the new solution was received positively within both departments. Thanks to the validation project, managers now have much greater confidence in the reports that are generated by frameworki and can use them as evidence of the council’s performance. The solution has contributed to a range of efficiency improvements, which ultimately enables the council to focus more of its time on helping residents.
Please click here to download a detailed case study about the work undertaken by Charteris at The London Borough of Harrow.