Local Digital Coalition

Local-Central Data Querying – Business Case Development


Verify, check, deliver…

This project aims to gather examples of all public services that would benefit from being able to quickly query government data. Our main goal is to identify opportunities to develop attribute exchange tools (i.e. ways of querying data rather than sharing sensitive data).

For more information on attribute exchange: ‘Can attribute provision, together with identity assurance, transform local government services?‘

Can you contribute to this initial, outline business case? We’d like to know what questions you need the answers to from central government in order to transform service delivery in your service area. In this first phase we are looking for a service, eg parking permits, the information you need to check with a department or agency, eg vehicle registration with DVLA, and an estimate of the savings your authority could make from having the capability to automatically check this information. Please contact Joanne if you can submit evidence, and circulate this link to colleagues working in other service areas to ensure that our crowd-sourced business case is as strong as possible.

 

With the advent of digital technologies we can now use open or common standards to automate the process of checking facts between different parts of the public sector: ask the right question of the right data source and get a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer in real-time.

We need now to explore the validity of this concept. To do this we need to:

  • Crowdsource the top-level business case for this approach with local and central government colleagues to map out local services against their central government data touchpoints.
  • Identify the common data checks that could deliver both the widest service improvements and the greatest savings to the public purse.
  • Explore existing and potential common or open standards across public services that would facilitate this API-driven approach.
  • Define the minimum viable digital product that would enable this checking, and the minimum viable collaboration needed to rapidly prototype this product.

 

Citizen user need: As a citizen I would like to apply for service ‘X’ either online or face to face and know immediately if I can have that service and when I will receive it.

Local authority user need: As a local authority officer I want to improve service delivery whilst making significant process and efficiency savings by checking key facts given to me by a service applicant, with the central government data source in real-time, so that I can make a decision and organise service delivery as quickly as possible.

 

Alpha: Draft business case for attribute exchange opportunities identified.

Beta publication: After inputting the feedback, we hope to launch our findings after the 2015 spending review.

Follow-through:  We’ll use relevant sections of the business case to push for development of the data querying tools required.

Continuous improvement: We’ll let you know how to update the business case after it launches.

Timeline

Discovery Done

Jan 2015 Identifying which local services require identity assurance (IDA)

Jan 2015 Identifying which local services could benefit from querying data held by central government via attribute exchange

Mar – Apr 2015: Visits to local authorities to better understand costs associated with IDA

Apr – May 2015: Crowd source cost-benefit information for attribute exchange opportunities identified

Alpha Done

Jun 2015: Produce first analysis of attribute exchange opportunities identified

Beta

Jul 2015: Produce 2nd draft business case for attribute exchange opportunities identified

Delivered

Jul – Aug 2015 Workshop to identify best applications of project findings