The first Show & Tell since the completion of the initial Discovery Phase, and the final of 2016, with the Digital Team at Newham Council.

With the Digital Customer Programme now entering into the Alpha Phase, it’s a very exciting for the team as these key residential services have successfully passed through the first milestone of the GDS Service Standard. Not only a first for the Digital Team, but also the council, as we work towards delivering the first set of user-led digital services for the residents of Newham.

Digital Customer Programme - Sprint 11

Show & Tell duration: 20 minutes

Led by Boris, Ikramul and Soraya of the Digital Team, progress made since Show & Tell #10 includes:

• Completing the initial Discovery Phase of the Digital Customer Programme
• Extending the Discovery of the Housing Account service
• Forming the plans for further Discovery Phases of other residential services
• Preparing for the launch of the upcoming Alpha Phase surrounding the Homelessness service

Homelessness service

The first service to enter into the Alpha Phase is the Homelessness service, providing help and advice for residents in avoiding facing homelessness. As well as preparing to take this service through the next phase, the team have been shadowing assessments at the Homelessness Triage Centre, using these sessions to capture key metric and insights, including:

• Footfall through the centre per day
• Number of assessments per year
• The different types of required documentation by residents
• How homelessness assessments are currently scheduled
• The current systems in place

An Alpha planning workshop carried out during Sprint #11

Housing Account service

Further exploration is being taken into the Housing Account service, extending the initial Discovery Phase of this service. Further engagement with a wider range of residents has included:

• Stakeholder mapping to address questions such as “Who are the residents using this service?”, “What is their current user journey?” and “How does the council currently interact with these residents?”
• Communicating through a series of interactive exercises, compiling a prioritised list of the services within housing that residents find to be most important to them
• Interviewing these residents to uncover how they are accessing and using the current housing system

Prioritising current service offerings with local residents

What’s next for the team?

With the Show & Tell for Sprint #11 almost wrapped up, the roadmap was shared for what the team will be covering across Sprint #12, with some main planned activities including:

• Creating concepts and user stories for the Housing Account service
• Continued preparation in the lead up to the Alpha Phase launch for the Homelessness service
• Soft market testing for Alpha and Beta phase procurement

Sharing progress updates around the Newham Council Dockside building

A short break for the festive period, then the team will be pioneering on with these activities during Sprint #12.

Attend a Show & Tell

If you work within a local government team and would like to come along to a Show & Tell session with Newham Council, get in touch with Martyn (our Head of Product) at martyn.evans@unboxed.co to attend as our guest.