Further to our previous post about applying to be an exemplar project as part of the Local Digital Fund, we’re delighted to announce were were successful! Our application was one of 16 to be awarded funding, out of 77 full applications.
You can read a copy of the application and the feedback we received.
Being assessed
MHCLG have posted an excellent blog on the assessment process which shows the amount of work that has gone into this. We even get a bit of free publicity here too.
What we liked was the constructive feedback everyone got as part of their applications. This line was particularly appreciated;
This is a fantastic example of digital leadership, its open to failure, learning and putting users first
Making good on our commitments
We were clear as part of our application that we would commit to the Local Digital Declaration, so for us this will mean;
- Working collaboratively with our excellent partner authorities; Hertsmere Borough Council, Cheltenham Borough Council, Doncaster Council, Preston City Council, North East Derbyshire District Council, Bolsover District Council, Calderdale Council, Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, Bromsgrove District Council, Redditch Borough Council, Surrey County Council, Adur and Worthing Councils
- Sharing the outcomes of our work - we’ve set up a project website that will deal with all joint blog posts on progress and be a place people can find the deliverables. We use GitHub Pages for our Digital Team site, but just for us, so this new site using the same platform we’re going to explore using Forestry as a way to provide a common CMS for partners without having to work directly on GitHub.
- Using new ways to procure - although we’ve used the Digital Marketplace before, this will be our first time using the Digital Outcomes and Specialists framework to find a digital agency that can help us deliver. It’s a bit of a cultural shift, but the Marketplace was set up to help the public sector spend less time and money in finding solutions. We particularly like the way opportunities are presented as problems to solve - for this project it meets our needs exactly
- Promoting greater collaboration - we’ve already published our project on LocalGov Digital Pipeline as a way to do this, and we’re encouraging other to do the same
- Using Agile techniques - the Local Digital team is lining up the GDS Academy for successful applicants to use, so we’ve been invited to undertake Agile for Teams training at the end of January. While we delivered our Intranet project as a semi-agile one, this will be the full-fat version.