Eliminating the great paper chase

Citation

(2002), "Eliminating the great paper chase", Work Study, Vol. 51 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ws.2002.07951caf.007

Eliminating the great paper chase

Eliminating the great paper chase

If the UK public sector is going to meet its e-government targets it must eliminate the use of paper. Being able to do business on the Internet will not give the desired benefits if the back office continues to rely on paper-based manual processes.

Change management specialists Q2 have helped South Staffordshire Council Housing Benefits Department to stop the paper chase by managing the implementation of a new document-imaging project, which has eliminated an estimated five tons of paper each year. In addition to saving time and money, the project has meant that those claiming benefits can be helped more quickly. All the case files are now held electronically and can be quickly accessed to process claims and deal with claimants' queries. This project has also prepared the ground for e-government by giving the Council future options to accept and process applications and enquiries over the Internet.

Like many public sector organisations, South Staffordshire Council knew that delaying such a project would cost it dearly in terms of lost savings, but it also recognised that it did not have the time or internal resources to implement the project on its own. So the Council turned to Q2 to assist it with:

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  project feasibility and business case generation;

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  defining the detailed business requirements;

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  supplier selection;

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  business process redesign; and

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  project management throughout, from design to implementation.

Head of Benefits at South Staffordshire Council, Lynn Hall, said: "Under the leadership of Principal Project Manager, Steve Taylor, Q2 were able to provide a focus and bring experience to the project that was unavailable within the Council. The project was delivered on time, within budget and, more importantly, has delivered the promised benefits within the first year of operation."

For each month of delay, the savings for that month would be lost for ever, making the use of external resource to reduce delay easily justifiable. Commenting on using external resources, Lynn said: "Ensuring the project was implemented as early as possible more than paid for Q2's services."

Q2's recipe for project success includes:

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  involving everyone affected by the change from the start;

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  ensuring that the proposed business benefits and costs are realistic and clearly understood;

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  taking a pragmatic approach and focusing on delivering the business objectives;

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  changing business processes to make the most of the technology.

This is the approach that Q2 have successfully adopted for public sector projects such as those at Solihull MBC, Wyre Forest DC and Bolton MBC, among others – to successfully turn their ideas for change into reality.

See http://www.q2.ltd.uk