August 2008

Let the "force" be with Auros

One of the industry's most highly regarded awards, CNET, has announced that the Scottish Police PINS project – developed in conjunction with Auros - is a finalist for the Public Sector Technology Project of the Year. Winning two Police Authority projects in Scotland, Auros recently completed delivery for Scottish Police College. Now, hot on the heels of this successful project come Lothian and Borders Police, who are hoping to set the industry CMS standard for all authorities to adopt.

This year Auros has secured two significant wins within the Police sector, coincidently both in Scotland. Firstly the Scottish Police College, part of the Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA), provides expert policing and support services to the country's eight police forces and criminal justice community, the second being Lothian and Borders Police Board. Lothian and Borders covers almost 6500 square kilometres of South East Scotland encompassing Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary, Strathclyde Police and Central Scotland Police which effectively means that they police 20% of Scotland’s population.

The initial project for Scottish Police was to create an online version of a mission critical information resource previously distributed across the Scottish Police forces in CD format. The new Extranet enables production costs to be removed, information dissemination lag times to be substantially reduced and the content update and approval process made significantly more efficient. Astounding return on investment figures show that the Extranet will save £3.4 million in its first year alone.

Scottish Police has recently given Auros the task of further upgrading their existing Immediacy site (Police Information Net for Scotland) to the latest version of Immediacy in order to gain the newest features. Moreover this will enable Scottish Police to implement the Web Asset Manager and Taxonomy Categorisation Manager at a later stage, meaning that they will be able to categorise content.

After a long procurement process, the Lothian and Borders Police project will in essence replace two sites. Initially, Auros will redevelop the force intranet, originally developed in 1999, with the following key objectives;

• Compliancy with the Freedom of Information(Scotland) and the Disability Discrimination Act
• Projecting the Lothian and Borders corporate image by using standard templates
• Retention of information to the owner ensuring all copy is single sourced and accurate
• Reducing the number of web related requests which currently form a bottleneck
• Providing a platform for online communication

Furthermore, Lothian and Borders are keen to implement a solution that not only meets their requirements, but is cognisant of other force requirements in line with their long-term strategy.

Both projects present different challenges for Auros. In the case of Scottish Police College, Auros will endeavour to build on the fantastic return on investment already delivered.

The preliminary stages for Lothian involve Auros developing creative designs for the website and intranet, and implementing the Immediacy CMS across the force, including the delivery of a high level training and support package.

Recognition of Auros’ strong partnership with these Police Authorities has extended beyond the Police community. The first phase of the Scottish Police College project, the Police Information Net for Scotland, has been identified as a finalist for the CNET Awards’ Public Sector Technology Project of the Year. These awards have fast become the most sought after technology industry accolade recognising innovation, application and excellence.

The Police Information Net for Scotland is now a major training resource and knowledge-base for the entire Scottish Police workforce. Auros’ remit encompassed the following;

• Full visual design
• Template development
• Content audit
• Migration support
• Implementation
• Training
• Support
• Maintenance

Saving one hour per officer per month, the project has taken content that was originally used in a non-searchable, non-editable and slow-to-distribute format and turned it into an interactive information resource that can be updated in real-time, with a conservative cost-saving figure of £3.4million in 12months, and the break even point being calculated at less than 10days.