Subject:
Revenues and Benefits Electronic Document Management System
Replacement
Date of meeting: 16 March 2023
Report
of:
Executive Director, Governance, People & Resources
Contact Officer: Name: Graham
Bourne
Tel: 01273 291800
Email: graham.bourne@brighton-hove.gov.uk
Ward(s) affected: All
For general release
1.1
Brighton & Hove City Council uses the Workflow 360
Electronic Document Management (EDM) System supplied by Civica to
manage the allocation and e-storage of documents, e-mails and files
relating to the administration of Housing Benefit, Council Tax
Reduction, Discretionary Housing Payments, Council Tax and Business
Rates. This system is a complex and essential workflow and
administrative tool for a large service area with a high volume of
document traffic. It is critical to efficient and cost-effective
administration.
1.2
An
original contract, moving the service from a paper-based filing
system to electronic document management, was signed in November
2001 and there have been subsequent contracts for further upgrades,
iterations, enhancement modules and support services. However, the
current system has reached end of life and is being de-supported
and there is no further upgrade route possible. The council
has begun to test the market via early market engagement, in order
to provide the foundation for a successful procurement of a new
Revenues & Benefits Workflow / EDM system.
1.3
This report seeks funding for project delivery staffing,
data migration and business analysis and design costs to enable
business continuity by delivering a new system. Activities needed
to deliver a new system include:
·
pre-market testing, selection,
specification, and procurement of a new Workflow / EDM
system;
·
preparation of existing EDM
documents for migration to a new system;
·
testing, design, integration and
set up of the new system;
·
migration of documents to the new
system, probably via the use of third party
tools;
·
training of staff and implementing
changes to existing business processes to embed the
change.
2
Recommendations
That the Policy & Resources Committee:
2.1
Notes that the extension of the
current contract for the existing EDM and Workflow contract runs
for a maximum of 2 years ending October 2024.
2.2
Approves a capital scheme of
£0.800m funded from unsupported borrowing for the design and
implementation of a replacement EDM and workflow
system.
2.3
Grants delegated authority to
the Executive Director Governance, People & Resources to take
all steps necessary to procure and award a contract for a new
revenues and benefits Electronic Document Management / Workflow IT
system for the Welfare, Revenues & Business Support Service for
an initial term of 4 Years.
2.4
Grants delegated authority to
the Executive Director Governance, People & Resources to extend
the contract referred to in paragraph 2.3 for the replacement
system for a period of up to 2 years, subject to satisfactory
performance.
3
Context and background
information
3.1
Workflow 360 (W360), or
previous versions thereof, provided by the software company Civica,
has been in use since November 2001. This is a critical system
supporting two of the Council’s main income collection
services and the Council’s main benefit and low-income
financial support services. The Council has been lately notified
that the W360 product is being de-supported with no automatic
upgrade path under the current contract. The system is critical to
the efficient and cost-effective processing of benefit claims,
application processes for discretions and discounts, and the
management and collection of Council Tax and Business Rates. There
is no viable option other than to seek a replacement
system.
3.2
The current contract
arrangements, including exhausting extension options, end in
October 2024 when the product will be de-supported. While the
Council typically reviews its IT systems needs at least every 10
years the requirements for core tax collection and benefit
administration have remained relatively stable and changes of
system in a limited market have not been considered cost
beneficial. However, with the position now forced, and with
advancing technology and changing business needs, a replacement
system is likely to offer technological advances which should
improve workflow, automation, digital compatibility, cross-service
compatibility and customer service. The council’s Procurement
Team have advised that a procurement process is necessary in order
to test the market, meet legislative requirements and to secure
value for money.
3.3
The system stores a large
number of records, currently over 20 million, and handles a large
amount of workflow traffic. The number of documents travelling in
and out of the system is circa 1.4 million per annum. It holds all
records and documents sent in by the public, stakeholders,
agencies, and government departments. It also holds all records on
correspondence, notifications and bills in respect of documents
sent by the Revenues & Benefits functions. It categorises and
prioritises incoming documents, partly automatically, channeling
them into workflows for either officer action or an automated
process. There is a licence for 150 concurrent users of the system
with availability extended into other service such as Health &
Adult Social Care and Housing to co-ordinate
administration.
3.5
The IT server hardware
associated with the current system also reaches end of life in
October 2024. The costing assumptions are based on moving to
a cloud-based system and any decision to remain with on-site
hardware would incur additional hardware costs. Cloud-based systems
provide advantages in terms of systems being automatically updated
for latest technological, GDPR and security requirements, provide
greater disaster recovery resilience, and reduce local server and
database administration costs.
3.6
An outline project costing
(attached as Appendix 1) was submitted for Modernisation Funding on
7 February 2023 where it was determined that the project was beyond
the funding envelope available for Modernisation Programmes and
would need to be submitted to Committee for capital funding
approval as soon as possible. The forthcoming pre-election
period means that a report to the March Policy & Resources
Committee is required as project and procurement process costs
would start to accrue well in advance of the next available Policy
& Resources Committee meeting in June 2023.
3.7
A project board, led by the
Head of Welfare, Revenues & Business Support has been set up to
manage the procurement process, test the market, and manage funding
and resources to implement the chosen option if
approved.
3.8
There is a limited market for
suitable EDM / Workflow systems in the local government market.
This may limit price competition but does have the advantage of
there being a high number of authorities utilising the available
systems which provides strong information on the success of the
systems and the issues experienced in transitioning to these
products. Learning from these reference sites will be an essential
exercise in assurance and modelling to make sure budgets, resources
and designs are aligned for a successful implementation. The
Project Board can therefore ensure that the right resources in
terms of project and technical expertise are put in place.
Furthermore, it will ensure that the scope of the project is clear
and will be responsible for managing key risks and issues as they
arise, keeping stakeholders informed of key
developments.
3.9
The indicative cost of
delivering the new system is approximately £0.800m over a
17-month implementation plan. The costs are best estimates based on
the roles required to support projects of similar complexity and
indicative costs provided by potential bidders. Staff and data
migration costs may vary depending upon who the successful bidder
is, whether that bidder already has existing contracts with the
council, the ease with which data can be migrated, the complexity
of workflow configuration and the demands all of this has on
internal resource or external expertise.
3.10
If costs vary significantly, an
update report will be presented to a future Policy & Resources
Committee as part of normal capital reporting (TBM). Support and
maintenance costs of the current EDM system are already built into
the General Fund budget for the service. Should any additional
revenue costs be identified as a result of the new system, these
will be incorporated as part of the budget setting process for
2025/26 and subsequent years.
3.11
The existing contract
arrangements expire in October 2024 and currently there is no
provision for further extension as Civica has given notice that
W360 will be de-supported from this date. In the event of
irretrievable slippage, then options may be available to negotiate
a limited extension but these would be likely to incur significant
extra cost and may carry additional GDPR and security
risks.
Procurement Approach
3.12
The capital funding is sought
purely for the project costs of procuring and implementing the
replacement system. The annual contract costs are met within the
Welfare, Revenues and Business Support service’s revenue
budget. The current annual system costs are £0.079m. The
procurement process will be specified to establish the best value
for the Council in terms of implementation costs, licensing costs,
administration costs and future efficiency savings as well as the
impact that improved functionality will have on services to
residents.
3.13
Procurement advice has been
sought with respect to the process in order to ensure that the
council is compliant with the Public Contract Regulations 2015, as
well as securing a value for money solution to meet the
council’s requirements for a revenues and benefits EDM /
Workflow system.
3.14
This will include exploring the
use of existing frameworks where available as this can offer a
faster and more streamlined procurement approach, for example,
the CCS G-Cloud framework RM1557.13 or the CCS Vertical
Application Solutions RM6259 framework (the latter due to launch
May 2023).
3.15
The Vertical Application
Solutions framework includes most of the leading software providers
and, if suitable, would allow BHCC to hold a mini-competition with
registered and relevant suppliers.
3.16
Alternatively, the council
could run its own procurement process using an open, restricted or
dialogue procedure. A decision on the preferred procurement
approach for the contract will be made once a full specification is
developed following the early market engagement
process.
Next steps
3.17
The Project Board will oversee
the project timetable. The project is currently in the soft market
test phase and, subject to approval, will move into the formal
procurement process with a view to awarding a contract by September
2023 with a 12-month implementation project for go-live by
September 2024. The data retention and transfer phase of the
project is due to start as soon as possible in April 2023 with
project implementation expected to continue right up to the go live
date.
4.1
Do nothing:
This option is not viable. The
current system is being de-supported. Revenues and benefits
processes are high volume, are linked to digital application
processes and are highly automated. This has enabled very
substantial efficiency savings across the service over its
lifetime. Without an effective EDM / Workflow system, the service
would have to utilise a standard document scanning system to store
records but this would have no automated processing or workflow
capability resulting in a very substantial increase in the
administrative burden, not only to manage archived data but to
track and manage the myriad applications and
change-of-circumstances processes handled by the
service.
4.2
Procurement of a new Revenue & Benefits workflow / EDM
system: This is the preferred option. The option focuses upon the
replacement of W360 with a modern workflow / EDM system. This
provides the potential for improved efficiency, would be supportive
of corporate digital service objectives and the prevalent modular
design such systems introduce, and in the longer term provides the
potential for more expansive use across other council service areas
with controlled sharing of data.
5
Community engagement and
consultation
5.1
Generally, the EDM / Workflow
system is a back-office system that does not directly generate or
calculate any payment or notifications to residents or local
businesses. As such, this is primarily an internal consideration
rather than one requiring extensive public consultation or
communication. However, any changes to customer service indirectly
linked to system design or implementation will be tested with
stakeholders and customers as normal.
5.2
From an internal point of view,
the current system is largely self-contained within the Welfare,
Revenues & Business Support service with access to other
services appropriately restricted to essential requirements for
information. However, the current breed of modular systems means
that the procurement decision made may influence future
document/workflow strategy across several services in the
council.
5.3
The Project Board will
introduce a stakeholder engagement plan to ensure all relevant
parties are involved at appropriate times throughout the
project.
6
Conclusion
6.1
The council has an obligation
to ensure that its systems and software are fit for purpose and
that it is able to ensure that services are provided as effectively
and efficiently as possible.
6.2
Implementation of a replacement
system will lead to long term operational efficiencies, improve the
customer experience, and make a significant contribution to service
delivery that is fit for the future.
7
Financial
implications
7.1
Delivery of this new EDM /
Workflow system will enable the service to provide a system which
is designed to support more effective administration and
processing. This should ultimately reduce administrative costs,
thereby improving the value for money of revenue and benefit
administration but no assumptions of direct savings are assumed at
this time. However, any savings enabled in future would be
available to support the council in addressing the financing costs
of the replacement system and, if savings exceed this, to
contribute savings toward addressing future predicted budget gaps
identified in the Medium-Term Financial Strategy.
7.2
The report identifies an
estimated cost of procuring, transferring data and implementing a
new EDM / Workflow System of £0.800m. This excludes annual
software licence, support and maintenance costs provided for in the
service’s revenue budget.
7.3
The capital investment is an
unavoidable cost as not replacing the system is not a viable
option. The replacement can be funded by unsupported borrowing
using an assumed 10-year asset life for system implementations of
this nature. The full-year annual capital financing costs from
2025/26 will be approximately £0.096m and will be added to
the capital financing budget. However, as noted above, the
implementation of replacement systems will potentially enable
greater efficiencies across the service and, alongside ongoing
digital investments, will also be key to underpinning savings that
will contribute to addressing predicted budget gaps in future years
as well as helping to manage ongoing annual reductions in the
Housing Benefits and Council Tax Administration Grants from
government.
Finance officer consulted: James
Hengeveld Date
consulted:23/02/23
8.1
The Policy & Resources
Committee is the appropriate committee for the recommendations set
out in paragraph 2 above in accordance with Part 4 of the
council’s constitution. To comply with Contract Standing
Order 3.1, authority to enter contracts in excess of £500,000
must be obtained from the relevant Committee.
8.2
The procurement of the contract
must comply with the procurement regulations and the
Council’s Contract Standing Orders.
8.3
As highlighted above, this
procurement will involve transferring large volumes of data. A Data
Privacy Impact Assessment must therefore be completed and there is
a requirement to ensure compliance with UK GDPR.
Lawyer consulted: Wendy
McRae-Smith Date consulted:
23/02/23
9.1
None arising from this report.
An Equality Impact Assessment will be carried out to inform the
specification for the new system. Primarily, this will ensure that
personal and sensitive data are stored in line with legislation,
and that the new system is able to deliver best practice guidance
for example including gender non–binary options in honorifics
and gender choices as relevant. The system should also meet
equalities requirements for staff users.
10.1
Procurement of a replacement
system aligns with the council’s Sustainability Strategy as
it will offer further opportunity to move away from paper-based
processes.
Supporting Documentation
Appendices
1.
Project cost summary