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Essex County Council Chooses Civica for Trading Standards Implementation

UK's second largest Authority to install Civica's integrated software solution

10 February 2003, London... Civica, one of the UK's most experienced specialist providers of public sector software and services, has been selected by Essex County Council to provide a new integrated Trading Standards software solution. Civica's ITECS - an integrated solution for Public Protection departments which includes modules for Trading Standards, Environmental Health and Housing Grants - was chosen to provide the Council's Trading Standards department with better workload management and greater efficiency in order to offer higher levels of customer service.

Providing services to a population of around 1.5 million, Essex County Council is the UK's second largest authority (by population). During 2001- 2002, the Trading Standards department handled nearly 22,000 enquiries from consumers and its officers visited nearly 11,000 trade premises. The department had been using the same IT system for over a decade and required an updated solution that would improve efficiency and would be compatible with existing IT infrastructure.

Malcolm Shead, function head at Essex County Council Trading Standards department says, "We wanted to install a system that would offer increased functionality to provide our Trading Standards officers with improved workload management. As with most Trading Standards departments, resources are limited so we wanted to work with a supplier who could provide high levels of support, freeing our personnel to focus on their areas of expertise." Civica was selected following a tender process involving four other organisations. Shead explains the choice: "To ease migration to the new system, we wanted a solution that could be installed with minimal disruption to the operation of the department. Civica's ITECS solution is easy to use and we feel confident that the company has a strong support network to address any technical queries we may have. Civica also offered a highly cost-effective, feature-rich solution."

Essex County Council Trading Standards department believes that the new system will empower its officers to process enquiries more efficiently. For example, officers currently rely on pen and paper to make notes about their visits and to record information about businesses and the checks they have carried out on goods and services and the equipment used. This then has to be transferred onto a database when officers return to the office, which is very time consuming. By equipping officers with mobile technology they will be able to record this information in the field and automatically update the system remotely. ITECS will also enable officers' workload and progress to be tracked and managed much more efficiently.

Installed at more than 30 local authorities, including the UK's three largest County Councils (one of which is Essex), ITECS streamlines complex tasks and work processes such as programmed inspections and legislative returns. It is designed around the actions of the staff in the department and is easily integrated into any organisation. The system uses industry standard technologies and databases to work with desktop applications as well as other corporate and departmental applications. It also supports handheld technology - ensuring that officers make best use of time when on the move.

"ITECS was designed to deliver productivity and responsiveness to busy public protection departments. Civica has been supplying practical software solutions to local government for more than 15 years and we are committed to working with customers to help them achieve greater efficiency and consistently high levels of service", said Paul Simpson, Managing Director, Public Sector UK at Civica. Civica's ITECS application is due to go live within Essex County Council's Trading Standards department in April 2003.

ENDS

About Civica Ltd Civica is one of the UK's largest and most experienced providers of specialist software and services to the public sector. Formed in April 2002 from the Sanderson Group's principal public sector serving businesses, the company has an 18-year history of delivering effective software solutions in the UK and Australia, to local authorities, police forces, healthcare, criminal justice and education organisations, and major commercial firms. Civica Services Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary, is an approved Prime Contractor for software in the UK Government's GCat procurement catalogue.