north london strategic alliance street wardens...

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Remote Access v 2 • © 2004 Project Nomad 1

Research Nomad Approved Case Study

North London Strategic Alliance Street Wardens Project

Document Control

D ocument Information

Title Mobile Working / Street Scene

Owner Research

Document Number 1.02

Purpose of Document Case Study

This version no. 1.0

This version date 1st December 2004

This version author AIMTech Research Group, Leeds University Business School

Keywords Abandoned Vehicles, Accurate Information, Anti-Social Activity, ArcPad, Autonomy, Battery Life, Bluetooth, Cost Avoidance, Cost Savings, Dropdown Forms, Empowerment, Environmental Crime, Genesis, GIS Mapping Software, GPRS, GPS, Graffiti, Hotspots, Information Exchange , Key Milestones, Litigation Savings, Mapping Software, O2, Octavia, ODPM Funding, Orange, Photographic Evidence, Pocket PC, Project Life Cycle, Project Life Cycle, Street Lighting, Street Wardens, T-Mobile, Tracking Software, Training, Trust, Working practice, XDA2

V ersion History

Version Date Author Comment

1.0 01/12/04 AIMTech Final Version

Author Name Organisation

AIMTech Dr. David Allen Leeds University Business School

AIMTech M.J. Culligan Leeds University Business School

Project Nomad Document • © 2004 Project Nomad

Contents

1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.................................................................. 1

2 BACKGROUND DATA .................................................................... 2

2.1 Summary description of the project ............................................. 2

2.2 Project savings............................................................................... 2

2.3 Technical Overview........................................................................ 3

2.4 Hardware ......................................................................................... 3

2.5 Software .......................................................................................... 3

2.6 Communications ............................................................................ 3

2.7 Software modifications .................................................................. 4

3 STRATEGIC CONTEXT................................................................... 5

3.1 Project Objective ............................................................................ 5

3.2 The impact on the organisational structure................................. 5

3.3 Partnerships ................................................................................... 5

3.4 Strategic decision criteria.............................................................. 5

3.5 IT Department involvement ........................................................... 5

3.6 User community involvement ....................................................... 6

3.7 Citizen impact ................................................................................. 6

4 PROJECT OVERVIEW .................................................................... 7

4.1 Key incentives for the project ....................................................... 7

4.2 Project risks.................................................................................... 7

4.3 Project management team............................................................. 7

4.4 Impact on employees..................................................................... 7

4.5 Impact on citizens .......................................................................... 7

4.6 The anticipated impacts on employees........................................ 7

4.7 Motivation to maintain the project ................................................ 7

4.8 Performance metrics...................................................................... 8

4.9 Impact on the authorities’ organisational structure.................... 8


Contents

4.10 Resistance to change..................................................................... 8

4.11 Conflict ............................................................................................ 8

4.12 Cultural issues influencing the success of the project .............. 8

4.13 The influence of GPS on HR issues.............................................. 9

4.14 Organisational capabilities............................................................ 9

4.15 Employees directly affected by the project ................................. 9

4.16 Citizens affected by the project .................................................... 9

4.17 Project teams.................................................................................. 9

4.18 Key milestones used in the project .............................................. 9

4.19 Critical path analysis.................................................................... 10

5 TECHNOLOGY .............................................................................. 11

5.1 Hardware selection criteria.......................................................... 11

5.2 Software selection criteria........................................................... 11

5.3 Communications selection criteria............................................. 11

5.4 Change management plan........................................................... 11

6 PROJECT MANAGEMENT ........................................................... 12

6.1 Realisation of the project............................................................. 12

6.2 Risks managed successfully....................................................... 12

6.3 Sustainability ................................................................................ 12

6.4 Material risks identified and managed in the project................ 12

6.5 Internal changes arising directly from the project .................... 13

7 BUSINESS CASE .......................................................................... 14

7.1 Financial Goals............................................................................. 14

7.2 Allocation of budget..................................................................... 14

7.3 Efficiency savings ........................................................................ 14

7.4 Indirect savings ............................................................................ 14

8 FINANCIAL ASSESSMENT .......................................................... 15


Contents

9 ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE ...................................................... 16

9.1 Working practice changes........................................................... 16

10 LEARNING POINTS ...................................................................... 17

10.1 Core functionality ......................................................................... 17

10.2 Expansion ..................................................................................... 17

10.3 Battery life..................................................................................... 17

10.4 Compatibility................................................................................. 17

10.5 Simplicity ...................................................................................... 17

10.6 Over-engineering a solution........................................................ 18


NLSA Street Scene

1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The overall aim of the project was the opportunity to improve the level of internal service.

The London Boroughs of Enfield, Barnet, Haringey and Waltham Forest, have formed the North

London Strategic Alliance, (NLSA), to enable them to share resources and risks through the

process of introducing a mobile data pilot project in the area of Street Scenes and Abandoned

Vehicles. The Project was implemented in May 2004.

This project is intended to replace operational procedures whereby street wardens complete

manual information at the scene before returning to their offices to key these case details into

the council’s IT systems. The project allows wardens to electronically capture information and

transfer it wirelessly to a hosted managed server. To enable this XDA2 smart phones (or Pocket

PC PDAs) with mapping software are used. The database information provides reporting

facilities that are accessed through the Internet using a secure password, via GPS devices that

have Bluetooth connectivity.

The pilot provides sufficient scope for each borough to be free to choose the type of

telephony/data connectivity they require, which is usually dependent on the individual contract

each borough has with their communications supplier. In Barnet the technology has been used

to generate mail-shots for environmental violations. Information captured from the PDAs is

manually extracted for inclusion in formal letters to citizens, which can include time-stamped

photographic evidence. It is estimated that up to one hundred citizens have already been

affected by this element of the pilot in Barnet.

Working practice has not changed dramatically as wardens are simply using a different tool,

except that there is now no need for wardens to return to the office to record information. For

each authority, the increase in accurate information improves the intelligence available, the

ability to act on incidents, to record incidents and to monitor issues. Project savings anticipated

from the introduction of mobile data technology include a reduction in re-keying information and

the reading of hand-written reports and an overall saving of 20% in warden’s time. Legal costs

are avoided and there are savings in abandoned vehicle costs to each council.

It is also reported that there has been a quantifiable increase in the approval rating of the authority in dealing with this type of incident. It should also be noted that because of the success of this scheme the Metropolitan Police have expressed an interest in the pilot.

Project Nomad Document • © 2004 Project Nomad 1

NLSA Street Scene

2 BACKGROUND DATA

2.1 Summary description of the project

The project is a mobile data working solution that has initially been targeted at incidents related

to environmental crime and abandoned vehicles. The project is intended to replace the current

procedure in which street wardens complete handwritten forms or writing details in notepads

and then return to their offices to re-key that information into the database.

The two major elements of the project are firstly:

“…to implement a solution which enables the identification of vehicles at the

earliest stage of the life cycle of abandonment (and associated crime) and take

appropriate action to interrupt it”.

(Senior Manager: 21 July 2004)

And secondly;

“…to focus on gathering and sharing information about environmental crimes which

have a significant impact on citizens’ quality of life which if unattended create the

conditions that encourage crime”.


This project allows wardens to electronically capture information in the first instance and transfer it wirelessly back to the office, to a hosted managed server. XDA2 smart phones with mapping software (developed separately) and dropdown forms are used.

2.2 Project savings

Project savings anticipated from the introduction of mobile data technology include the following:

• A reduction in re-keying information and the reading of hand-written reports.

• A reduction of 20% in warden’s time in report writing.

• Avoidance of legal costs and claims through the provision of date and time-stamped

photographic evidence.

• Savings in abandoned vehicle costs to each council.


NLSA Street Scene

2.3 Technical Overview

The project is not restricted to one communications vendor because the four participating

boroughs each have corporate contracts with different telecommunications providers. The

mobile hardware platform based on XDA2 (but also marketed under different names i.e. SPV

Orange), MDA (T-Mobile), XDA2 (O2) and iMate (Generic-unlocked) has the following

application capabilities:

• Mobile phone

• E-mail

• Digital camera

• GPRS with Internet connectivity

• GPS with Bluetooth connectivity

• Microsoft Office (Word, Excel. PowerPoint Viewer)

• Mapping software

• Multi-functional capture incorporating dropdown forms

The integrated environment requirements include the ability to:

• Transfer data to the central server

• Web reporting for data access

• Integration with other systems, including GIS

• Data download

2.4 Hardware

The installed hardware consists of XDA2 or equivalent devices (as detailed in Section 2.3), PDA with Bluetooth, satellite-enabled receivers.

2.5 Software

This consists of ‘ArcPad v6’ mapping software for the PDAs, Windows-based Pocket PC 2003 and the browser is Internet Explorer.

2.6 Communications

GPRS is used for sending and receiving data.


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2.7 Software modifications

The software was extensively modified to the requirements of the authorities. It pushed the boundaries of the Arcpad software and the device during the course of the project. The modifications included dropdown forms and the integration of camera, phone facilities and Bluetooth into one package.

K eywords

Abandoned Vehicles, ArcPad, Bluetooth, Dropdown Forms, Environmental Crime, GPRS, GPS, Mapping Software, XDA2


NLSA Street Scene

3 STRATEGIC CONTEXT

3.1 Project Objective

Enfield Council, as the lead authority for the bid for ODPM funding, was looking to move forward with E-government projects. This project provided an opportunity to tackle environmental issues and the problem of abandoned vehicles within the four councils in a working partnership, which also enabled economies of scale.

3.2 The impact on the organisational structure

Because of the nature of this pilot project it was reported that the potential impact on the organisational structure had not been a major consideration for the senior decision makers in each of the authorities.

3.3 Partnerships

Enfield council reported that the project generated a huge interest that far exceeded its original

expectations. Because the project is far-reaching, partnerships are currently being developed

with the following organisations:

• O2

• T-Mobile

• Orange

• Handheld PCs

• Genesis

• Octavia

• Metropolitan Police

3.4 Strategic decision criteria

The decision to proceed with the project was taken at the ‘Assistant Director’ level. It aimed to address the problems of street scene and abandoned vehicles, which are high on the list of issues identified by the Council for attention. As a result, both the senior management board and a focus group held meetings to discuss the decision.

3.5 IT Department involvement

The I.T. department has not been involved in the project primarily because it uses an externally hosted service with financial support taken from within the overall project funding. Secondly, it has not been involved with the project because retrieval of information is Internet-based so it


NLSA Street Scene

does not affect the current I.T. infrastructure and does not require active involvement of the IT department. And finally outsourcing is generally an expensive but quick option, especially considering that it was difficult the IT department to coordinate across the four boroughs.

3.6 User community involvement

Representatives from each Council have been involved in all aspects of the decision making process, including the user interfaces, the type of data captured and the ‘look and feel’ of the capture mechanism that was eventually used.

3.7 Citizen impact

Initial research on the impact this project may have on citizens, as ultimate customers, has not been conducted. The project’s main aim is to assist with internal processes and working practices, to enable faster reaction to issues of street scene and abandoned vehicles. The main objective has been an operational requirement that ultimately affects customer service.

Keywords

Genesis, O2, Octavia, ODPM Funding, Orange, T-Mobile


NLSA Street Scene

4 PROJECT OVERVIEW

4.1 Key incentives for the project

The major incentive for the project was the opportunity to improve the level of internal service.

4.2 Project risks

Project risks were not part of the decision making process and were dealt with as they arose during the pilot. Please refer to paragraph 6.4 for detailed information on risks arising during the project.

4.3 Project management team

After the project had been agreed it was delegated to a project management team. Because this is a pilot project there is negligible impact on the organisation. At the time of release of this report the project is in an initial testing phase for the concept.

4.4 Impact on employees

Because this is a pilot there is only a low impact on the organisation and only the individual wardens have been directly affected. Senior management were involved in various training sessions with the team of twelve street wardens. Initially there was a mixed response to the technology. Some of the wardens were favourably disposed to the project, whilst others were unfamiliar with IT technology and therefore required additional coaching. All team members deemed the training sessions a success.

4.5 Impact on citizens

For this pilot project there is a negligible impact on citizens.

4.6 The anticipated impacts on employees

Enfield, as lead authority, has performed an assessment of health and safety only, as this is still a pilot project. The software has been designed to be simple to use and training has been taken into consideration. Thirty minutes to one hour is regarded as sufficient time to train the wardens on the new system.

4.7 Motivation to maintain the project

The emphasis was to promote the project internally. The authorities identified those groups most interested in adopting the equipment to test in the pilot phase of the project.


NLSA Street Scene

4.8 Performance metrics

It is intended to monitor the use of wardens’ time over the project to look at trends. The project’s data gathering should highlight local activity “hotspots” over time. In the future the Councils could also provide access for citizens to these performance metrics on their individual websites. However, as this is currently an internal project the authorities are not monitoring citizen reactions.

4.9 Impact on the authorities’ organisational structure

There is a negligible impact on the organisational structures since the authorities are providing the same service but using different tools. The project’s impact on behavioural issues of autonomy, empowerment and trust is low.

4.10 Resistance to change

The authorities reported that there has been no resistance to change in the pilot. See also section 4.4 above.

4.11 Conflict

An advantage of the project is that the transfer of data is improved. Therefore, it is anticipated that any conflicts arising from a lack of accurate data will be reduced by this project.

4.12 Cultural issues influencing the success of the project

The authorities reported that there were no specific issues arising from the internal culture that

influenced the success of the project. However, operationally, they advise that having an

Assistant Director (or equivalent) join from another Council with previous experience of mobile

working helped to promote the pilot.

Senior manager stated that the assistant director had successfully implemented a mobile data

capture solution on noise controls in another borough. This was seen as leading edge

technology at the time. The project at NLSA involved similar concepts to the noise control

project. Realising that the NLSA project was going to be larger the assistant director used his

experience to promote and develop the applications relevant to the operational requirements.

The four participating council’s provided mobile devices for use by senior managers to promote the project and help to demonstrate the equipment’s potential.


NLSA Street Scene

4.13 The influence of GPS on HR issues

There is a concern about the capability of the equipment in that it has the potential to track the position of each warden. This had not been developed fully, but it does have employee and Union issues. The equipment was developed for security reasons and to provide a better service. However, it is recognised that it could also be perceived as being used to watch and track staff. Thus, there are potential HR issues that might need to be addressed if the project is developed further. Part of the solution is that the pilot can be used to break down the barriers of reluctance to new technology by those who might simply fear it.

4.14 Organisational capabilities

It is not possible to identify the full affect on the organisational capabilities of the Council other than the anticipated efficiency savings reported earlier because of the ‘pilot’ nature of the project.

4.15 Employees directly affected by the project

This is reported to be approximately twenty people in each Borough.

4.16 Citizens affected by the project

This is reported to be negligible at the time of the release of this report. In Barnet the technology is used to generate mail-shots for violations relating to bushes and trees that overhang public highways. Information captured from the XDA2s is manually extracted for inclusion in formal letters to citizens. This includes photographic evidence, which is time and date-stamped and which is anticipated to have greater influence on the citizens’ behaviour by making them aware that violations of this kind does affect them. It is estimated that up to one hundred citizens have been affected by this element of the pilot in Barnet.

4.17 Project teams

A senior management team was assigned to monitor all aspects of the project. The Mobile Data Capture Project uses a focus group with a team of representatives from each Borough including Warden Representatives and Project Managers. Staff responsibilities included decisions relating to suppliers and, at warden level, training issues and any ‘problem reporting’ back to the senior management team.

4.18 Key milestones used in the project

The pilot included significant software development and, therefore, the project was based upon

software releases from the developers. The standard project life cycle was divided into the

following elements:


NLSA Street Scene

• Costing

• Specification approval

• Delivery

• Testing

• User acceptance testing.

Implementation (the stage being conducted at the time of the release of this report).

4.19 Critical path analysis

The Councils reported that the time from costing to development was approximately four months and the development stage lasted approximately six months. There was no use of critical path analysis as the project, (which ended in July 2004), was regarded as ‘linear’ with a lack of multiple dependencies.

Keywords

Autonomy, Empowerment, Hotspots, Key Milestones, Project Life Cycle, Street Wardens, Training, Trust, XDA2


NLSA Street Scene

5 TECHNOLOGY

5.1 Hardware selection criteria

This process was led by the GIS mapping software, which needed to be “Pocket PC” compliant. The hardware also had to act as a mobile phone and required an inbuilt camera of a pre-determined specification.

5.2 Software selection criteria

The specification was to use mapping software for each Borough that could provide information on the full area to a street level with individual addresses. Therefore, the application software had to support this and also some form of data entry. The application software had to be extensively modified and mapping layers had to be included. The entire ‘drop-down’ forms and metadata had to be included and integration of the data being captured locally for transmission to the remote database had to be developed. Pocket PC WIN2003 version 4 is used as the operating software.

5.3 Communications selection criteria

The pilot did not identify any specific carrier for the mobile phone, as it has been designed to operate with any and because there was likely to be better coverage in different boroughs through different carriers. The four partnership authorities also recognised the need to avoid compromising existing corporate contracts. Thus, each council is free to use any carrier.

5.4 Change management plan

The authorities reported that there was no change management plan for the pilot. However, informally, they reported that they recognised the factors of process, organisation, technology, and culture, but a change management plan embodying these elements was not formally created.

K eywords

GIS Mapping Software, Pocket PC


NLSA Street Scene

6 PROJECT MANAGEMENT

6.1 Realisation of the project

The Councils reported that the development of the software was not as stable as expected. It

was not as robust as expected and required user feedback to enhance its capabilities to the

point of user acceptance; also the software did not initially map coordinates accurately until this

was further refined by the software developers.

Current problems include: the software does not multitask well, the GPRS connection

sometimes ‘drops-out’, and the hardware battery life needs to be improved.

The tracking software, which was only partially developed, was technically a distraction to the

final solution. The authorities conceded that they should have concentrated on the core product

rather than develop this as an extra ‘proof of concept’ adding more functionality.

6.2 Risks managed successfully

The Councils reported that they had sufficient time to concentrate on improving the releases.

The ODPM extension to the project of three months was unexpected and allowed for a more careful development, rather than having to rush development which would otherwise have been required under the original funding.

6.3 Sustainability

In order to ensure sustainability of the pilot project the partnership between the four Boroughs was essential. This allowed for a collaborative effort to generate enough interest across the Boroughs, which contributed directly to the economies of scale with suppliers. The software provider has recognised this developed product as IPR they can potentially sell to other Boroughs. This also has benefits for the continued support of the NLSA pilot.

6.4 Material risks identified and managed in the project

On each release of the software development costs were closely monitored to prevent the

budget being exceeded. Significant risks were dealt with, as they became an issue and where

only a limited number of choices were available. The key to mitigating risk was to be kept

informed at all times. For example, the XDA2 hardware unit was so new that there was a risk

that these units would not be supplied in time.


NLSA Street Scene

The 512mb SD memory cards in the XDA2 units had not been shipped into the United Kingdom

and the project team was required to replace these with smaller cards than had originally been

specified.

6.5 Internal changes arising directly from the project

At this stage it is difficult to identify the impact on the internal organisations of each local authority. Between employees there is additional interest because of the project and, indirectly, the project has generated greater interaction between staff because other departments within the four boroughs were able to discuss directly with their colleagues and see for themselves the hardware and software in a working operational capacity.

Keywords

Battery Life, GPRS, Tracking Software, XDA2


NLSA Street Scene

7 BUSINESS CASE

7.1 Financial Goals

As this is an ODPM-sponsored pilot there is, as yet, no post-implementation budget.

7.2 Allocation of budget

Funding was allocated from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and because this is a relatively straightforward pilot project that met its targets this, and other ODPM-funded partnership projects will each be subject to external auditing.

7.3 Efficiency savings

Efficiency savings are difficult to estimate until the pilot is actually used operationally. There are anticipated savings in wardens’ time, savings because of the photographic capture of evidence, and savings through avoiding litigation. Savings are anticipated through cost avoidance, and in addition direct savings through cost reduction may be achieved.

7.4 Indirect savings

The project will help to improve the identification of graffiti and poor street lighting. The presence of which tends to encourage anti-social activity. Therefore, other secondary effects and benefits are yet to be realised from the project and will be difficult to quantify until after implementation.

K eywords

Anti-Social Activity, Cost Avoidance, Cost Savings, Graffiti, Litigation Savings, Photographic Evidence Street Lighting


NLSA Street Scene

8 FINANCIAL ASSESSMENT

There are no direct financial goals arising from this initial pilot project. However if the Councils

decide to implement it on a wider basis then it would be necessary to conduct an audit of a

given area to identify and quantify potential benefits from reduced anti-social behaviour or lower

levels of abandoned vehicles.

Because this is a pilot scheme there has been no impact on other financial strategies deployed by the Council.


NLSA Street Scene

9 ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE

9.1 Working practice changes

Working practice has not changed dramatically as the wardens are simply using a different tool,

except that there is now no need for wardens to return to the office to record information.

However, for the authority, the increase in accurate information improves the intelligence

available, the ability to act on incidents, to record incidents and to monitor issues. It also

improves the perception of the authority as a by-product and the Metropolitan Police also have

expressed an interest in adopting a similar scheme.

Some of the major benefits of the project are that wardens can be on the street longer; information can be gathered more accurately and acted upon more quickly. Information, over a longer period of time, could be made available between authorities and to the public.

K eywords

Accurate Information, Information Exchange, Working practice


NLSA Street Scene

10 LEARNING POINTS

10.1 Core functionality

“Establish exactly what your requirements are: new technology can impose

restrictions that you may be unaware of at the time. It is necessary to identify the

required core functionality.”


10.2 Expansion

“The project should be modular to allow for expansion.”


10.3 Battery life

“Battery life is limited and staff must be aware that units must be charged daily. On one standard battery the wardens should achieve a day’s work. Additional batteries are issued, but the back-up battery has a very short life-span and the unit needs to be charged to preserve data and programs as the units do not have ‘non-volatile’ memory.”


10.4 Compatibility

“Compatibility with other devices needs to be considered. Currently only the XDA2

compatible devices can operate the application. As newer devices come on to the

market they will need to be tested for suitability and compatibility.”

(Senior Manager, 21 July 2004)

10.5 Simplicity

“The simplicity of a project should not lead to its impact being underestimated.”

(Senior Manager 21 July 2004)


NLSA Street Scene

10.6 Over-engineering a solution

“There is always the danger of taking on too much. Taking on too much with new

technology can be dangerous. Due to culture change and adoption of new technologies

it is preferable to keep the application and hardware as simple as possible and limit the

impact. As the needs of the project grow and interest becomes more widespread the

solution will be able to grow and become a complex as required. To over-engineer a

solution from the start has proven to be a precarious venture when dealing with new

technology.”

(Senior Manager 21 July 2004)


Contacts

Project Nomad

Contact: Info

Address: Cambridgeshire County Council Shire Hall Castle Hill Cambridge CB3 0AP

Tel: 01223 717697

Email: [email protected]

Web: www.projectnomad.org.uk

North London Strategic Alliance: Enfield Borough Council

Contact: Paul MacGechan

Address: Enfield Borough Council

5th Floor, Civic Centre

Silver Street

Enfield EN1 3XY

Tel: 0208 379 3686

Email: [email protected]

Web: www.enfield.gov.uk

Leeds University: AIMTech Research Group

Contact: Dr David Allen

Address: AIMTech Research Group

Leeds University Business School

Maurice Keyworth Building

The University of Leeds

Leeds LS2 9JT

United Kingdom

Tel: 0113 3437015

Fax: 0113 3434885

Web: www.leeds.ac.uk/lubs


mailto:[email protected]

http://www.enfield.gov.uk/

http://www.leeds.ac.uk/lubs

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