How we created a user centred, data driven back-office planning system (BOPS) to help provide a better, simpler and more transparent planning service for councils.
MVP approach
transformed planning application processing time from days to minutes
20% reduction in time
projected when application and assessment services are used together
The BOPS product is part of the Department of Housing, Levelling Up and Communities (DHLUC) open digital planning (ODP) programme. ODP's ambition is to ensure that its products are commercially viable, comply with government legislation and support simpler and more transparent planning services.
For BOPS, this means making planning data open and accessible to support a modular system through integrations (using both current and new systems).
This will help planning officers in councils spend less time searching for information, giving them more time to use their expertise on higher value work.
Stephen Barnes | Product Owner | Open Digital Planning
"Unboxed have done really impressive work fostering an environment on this project where councils work together effectively to make an innovative product framed around their exact needs."
DHLUC funded a number of councils through the Local Digital Fund to partner with Unboxed to design and build a more innovative back office product. This product has become part of the wider ODP programme to transform the UK planning eco-system as a whole, from how people apply for applications to how they are assessed and granted.
BOPS has been designed in collaboration with planning officers for planning officers. So far we’ve delivered:
In line with the above, we've followed the GDS Service Standard.
Relationships are essential in a complex project of this nature to keep focus on the desired outcome.
We're able to work collaboratively with a large number of product owners, subject matter experts, stakeholders and delivery partners across multiple organisations and workstreams.
We are also able to manage the political, legal and commercial challenges in planning from subject matter experts and use this as an opportunity to re-imagine and co-design worthwhile solutions.
50+
beta MVP testing sessions, in public beta with three councils
19
council teams engaged with new service delivery environment
After designing and launching a beta version of the case management system to validate, assess and review applications (currently being used by Buckinghamshire, Lambeth and Southwark Councils), we’ll be working with more councils to see how we can make the product adoptable on a larger scale.
You can find further details about the project on the ODP website. We're always happy to talk about our work at conferences and events.