Freedom of Information and Complaints Module in Braintree

March 03, 2017

Braintree Council purchased the Complaints and Freedom of Information Module as a hosted system in January 2016 and went live on 1^st April 2016 – the original target date – and at the original cost. At the time of writing, they have been live for only 10 months, they have entered 643 cases and linked 9853 case pages to those cases. A very large number of users are registered on the system – 104 – from every department in the Council. The original objective of the system was to maintain case records which ensured that deadlines were not missed. That has almost completely been achieved (only three have gone over target, and each of those by less than 10 days).

The main challenge with this module was the complex workflow, and the need for the rules to be fully defined by parameters, so that they could be changed at any time. HUBSolutions responded by setting up tables which defined the allocation to staff and the time table of Case Stages based on the nature of the enquiry and the date it was received. All cases follow these rules by default, but the system allows for them to be overridden when appropriate.

Considerable unspecified complications to the Workflow emerged after Go-Live. Examples were – the possibility of putting a Case on hold to seek clarification, and then restart the Work flow from a new date. In addition, was the option for work being distributed to Departmental Users on a round-robin basis rather than specific users. These needs were all taken on board at no additional cost.

The second challenge was the need for very tight integration with EMail, even though the system is hosted by HUBSolutions and therefore does not have access to the Braintree Exchange Server. HUBSolutions was at the time in the process of upgrading its Correspondence and Forms Mail-merge facility, and took advantage of the specific needs of Braintree to fully integrate EMail Output into Correspondence, to set up a batch Correspondence facility which emails out overnight and also to create an In-Bound EMail option – all of these facilities allow attachments to be read into and out of a Case. Although all these enhancements were specifically to meet Braintree’s needs, they have proved hugely beneficial to the other Caseworks modules, and very popular with customers who are already enjoying these time-saving benefits. The extent of the email facility was clear in the original specification but was developed for the Council at no additional cost as the clear need emerged.