Forces to expand shared services

The Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire police forces are to implement shared back office technology from next year to streamline key finance and HR functions as part of a drive to reform service delivery.

The three forces have been collaborating since 2011 in a number of areas, including armed policing, roads policing, major crime investigation and scientific services. They are now looking to share back-office functions, with an integrated system for HR, finance, payroll and duty management, as well as frontline services. The project will also enable the three forces to eventually adopt a single, shared finance department.

The systems are expected to go live in April 2017 as part of a plan to share 50 per cent of all services by the end of next year.

The three-force strategic policing alliance is deploying the eFinancials financial management suite, the Collaborative Planning budgeting and forecasting solution, and mobile approvals tool Advanced Air Approvals from Advanced Computer Software, as well as HR and payroll technology from Midland HR and duty management software from Northgate.

Chief Constable Alec Wood of Cambridgeshire Constabulary, the lead force for the project, explained: “Police forces, like all public sector organisations, are under pressure to be more resourceful, so having efficient back-office functions with single ICT systems, along with the mobile self-service element, ensures that we maintain a strong frontline presence and give confidence to the communities we serve.”

The forces are currently using individual disparate systems. They are embarking on this significant IT transformation project with the aim of streamlining back-office systems and achieving efficiency savings across force boundaries. Mobile and self-service access will be enhanced by enabling all 8,000 staff across the three organisations to obtain information from the system.

Philip Wells, assistant chief officer of Bedfordshire Police, said: “Up until now, our police forces have been using a number of different IT systems to deliver the same services. Having a single way of working, a single integrated system and access to data across forces will enable us to operate more efficiently and productively, meaning that staff will be spending less time on administrative tasks and more time on the frontline.”

The eFinancials suite includes the eProcurement module, invoice management and cloud invoicing modules to automate and simplify procurement and invoice processing. Bedfordshire Police is already using eFinancials but the solution will now be shared across the three counties for accounting processes.

Meanwhile, Collaborative Planning will enable the forces to gain greater control of budgeting and generate further cost savings by replacing spreadsheet-based processes with an automated system. It will also give them a consolidated view of data across the three organisations while retaining the ability for each force to separate its own data. Air Approvals integrates with eFinancials and enables transactional functions to be delivered from a mobile device.

The software was procured using the Crown Commercial Service agreement and was selected from a shortlist of five suppliers.

Mr Wells said they had been “looking for a partnership rather than just a traditional customer-supplier relationship”, and the solutions will provide a platform to enable the forces to “completely restructure and transform the finance, HR and duties management activity and departments”.