To successfully deliver on this plan, we need to have the right conditions for change in place. Our vision is built around four themes, and to achieve the vision and desired outcomes for each, a number of enablers need to be in place along with consistent application of design principles.
Leadership
Digital is not a separate activity in its own right but touches and influences every facet of how we live and work.
The council’s political and executive leadership understand that digital is a priority and an enabler for continual service improvement and transformation, and to provide future resilience and sustainability for the organisation. Our leaders will champion a digital culture, including getting the basics right, user-centred design, agile methods, innovation with new technology and working in the open.
Infrastructure
This is about having the right systems, applications, services and connectivity to support the use of new technology.
We need to make sure that the building blocks are in place to allow us to consume digital services efficiently, with resilience, security and accessibility as standard.
We’ll continue to design solutions and services that are re-usable where possible and exploit opportunities to integrate and connect systems to benefit digital consumers and to get maximum value out of our investments.
We’ll continue to grow local and national business partnerships to improve the city’s fibre broadband infrastructure and mobile networks.
Collaboration
The Council already has strong partnerships across the city and the south west region – across health, housing and education sectors as well as voluntary, community and social enterprises. Using technology to share data and information will help us strengthen these existing partnerships, and help us develop new ones.
We’ll continue to grow local and national business partnerships to improve the city’s fibre broadband infrastructure and mobile networks.
All local authorities are facing similar challenges to Plymouth City Council; to deliver services and support their residents with increasingly limited resources. Where we can we will collaborate and share with local and central government bodies. In signing the Local Digital Declaration we are committed to the shared ambition of a culture shift to use technology more effectively.
Data
We need to recognise that data is a valuable and growing asset to the council and our partners and must be treated as such.
The National Data Strategy published in September 2020 has highlighted a number of issues that currently prevent the best use of data in the UK. As an organisation we recognise many of these issues and need to address them if we are to become a data mature organisation.
The outcomes we want to achieve are based on the four pillars of the National Data Strategy:
Data Foundations
Our data is fit for purpose, recorded in standardised formats on modern, future-proof systems and held in a condition that means it is findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable.
Data skills
Our staff have the right skills to make the best use of the data we have.
Data availability
Our data will be accessible, mobile and re-usable; we will adopt an open first approach to data – if it can be then it should be open. We have a co-ordinated approach to encourage collaboration and data sharing across organisations in the city.
Responsible data
Our data is used responsibly in a way that is lawful, secure, fair, ethical, sustainable and accountable, whilst also supporting innovation.
In working towards the outcomes above we will become a data mature organisation enabling us to use data more effectively, and drive better insights and outcomes from its use and setting the foundations for future innovation.
We recognise that more work needs to be done to realise our data ambitions so we will:
- identify data champions across our organisation to form a community of purpose
- commit to introducing data owners for key corporate data sets
- through this group undertake a data maturity assessment
- develop an action plan to work towards our outcomes
In working towards the outcomes above we will become a data mature organisation enabling us to use data more effectively, and drive better insights and outcomes from its use and setting the foundations for future innovation.
Design Principles
The following principles will be adopted and consistently applied across our organisation:
Focus on user needs
We design with our users so their needs are met and their expectations are managed through clear service standards.
Digital first
Digital to be considered first to solve business problems. Not only will this meet the raised expectations of customers for 24/7 online access, but is the most cost effective customer channel.
Inclusive and accessible
Online services are accessible and other channels are always available for those who truly need them.
Consolidated front doors
We streamline our services so they are easy to find, easy to access, consistent and cost effective.
Automation
Services are built around clear service standards and automated end to end.
Data to intelligence
We collect and use data to monitor our performance. We turn data to intelligence to make decisions and for continual service improvement.
Technical innovation
We innovate with new technology rather than relying on legacy systems.
Communication & collaboration
We take a collaborative approach to service design and communicate effectively – we say what we do and do what we say.
Agile approach
We respond to user needs and solve problems. We work iteratively to fail fast or prove value and scale up.