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Alpha phase


Duration: 8-weeks (October - December 2019)




Following the completion of the discovery phase, the project was awarded further MHCLG funding, enabling the team to continue into the alpha phase.

Our team has prioritised a focus on building a product to support the ‘assessment and recommendation’ of applications, with our main users being planning officers and planning managers.



Activities across the alpha phase included:

Prototyping and testing — creating prototypes based on user needs (identified through discovery), contextual user testing sessions with individuals across planning teams and gathering feedback based on usability



Prototype iteration — forming user feedback into tangible iteration recommendations, iterating our prototypes based on received feedback, and carrying out further rounds of user testing with planning teams to validate prototype changes

Technical exploration — exploring the wider planning application system across all emerging services, and integrating with Hackney Council’s ‘Submit my Planning Application’ system to pull planning application data into a technical prototype

Business case definition — analysing costs and benefits of the project, modelling a system rollout across local authorities, and deriving value for money

As part of alpha phase user testing, the team carried out:

  • 30 x back-office prototype testing sessions with planning team staff
  • 2 x reviews of as-is process maps developed by partner local authorities
  • 3 x planning application process shadowing sessions

The team engaged with 14 local authorities:

  • 7 x London borough councils: Croydon, Greenwich, Islington, Lambeth, Redbridge, Southwark, Waltham Forest
  • 4 x city councils: Coventry, Edinburgh, Leeds, Sheffield
  • 3 x district councils in rural areas: Braintree, North West Leicestershire, Wycombe

To conclude the alpha phase, the team tested and validated four prototypes:


See the full alpha report here and final alpha Show & Tell:




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A user-centred Back-office Planning System (BoPS) for local authorities


BoPS is a collaborative local authority project, funded by the MHCLG Local Digital Fund and led by Southwark Council & Partners.


Contents
  1. About the project
  2. Project background
  3. Our approach
  4. User research
  5. Discovery phase
  6. Alpha phase
  7. Beta phase
  8. Weeknotes and sprint notes

If you are part of a local authority team or an interested party and would like to find out more about contributing, collaborating and/or our approach, please get in touch:

Project contact
Tom Buttrick, Southwark Council tom.buttrick@southwark.gov.uk

@BoPs_Digital

Tom Harrison, Senior Delivery Manager, Unboxed
tom.harrison@unboxed.co



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