East Herts' radical restructure; replaces chief exec with board and installs VALID's e-Government solution

East Herts District Council has introduced a radical new approach for managing the provision of services to its 124,000 residents. As part of its restructuring it has created a new executive board comprising three executive directors and seven executive members - responsible for steering the authority on its direction and vision. In support of this vision the executive board has selected VALID's e- Government information management solution to meet the e-Government deadline of 2005.

Chris Cooper, Head of Revenues at East Herts Council, said: "We chose the system having gone through a six month period of evaluation because it was the only one that offered full integration with Academy's revenues and benefits systems as well as being capable of being rolled out corporately. R/KYV's tailorable workflows means we can be confident that the product will work equally well across all the Councils services as well as offering full e-Government compliance and UK Public Record Office approval for its records management module to enable us to comply with the Freedom of Information and Data Protection Acts. The product also enables us to improve our services under the new administrative structure and raise levels of accountability."

The flexible and modular architecture of the product alongside its tight integration with Academy's revenues and benefits systems made R/KYV the right solution for East Herts. R/KYV will be installed first in the revenue section, followed by the legal section with housing benefits to follow. Each section will be able to continue using its specialist software with the benefit of full document management behind it. Further tailored workflows will automate specific business practices including case management, further streamlining working and optimising manpower while enhancing service delivery.

The new technology reinforces the new structure at East Herts where each executive director oversees a specific area of the council's work resources, operations and marketing. The traditional department structure covering community services, environmental services and planning has been abandoned and eight assistant directors now oversee the day-to-day operational activities of the Council. Using the new technology they will be able to obtain an immediate overview of the different sections as well as review performance levels in line with the comprehensive performance assessment targets.

It's a modern approach for a modern world and is aimed at making East Herts Council more business-like, ensuring that the customer comes first and that the services offered are the ones that residents want the Council to offer.

Cllr Mike Carver, Leader of the Council, said: "Teamwork, working together to achieve the best for East Herts, is the way forward for local government in the coming years and I believe the new structure we have put in place will be what other councils will follow. Here in East Herts we have the ambition to improve and we have the people to enable us to make the council a great, high quality business."