Norfolk and Suffolk transform back office
The police and crime commissioners (PCCs) of Norfolk and Suffolk have signed a £3.75 million agreement to implement enterprise resource planning (ERP) and duty management systems that will help drive savings across the two forces.
The systems will deliver efficiencies through back office and support services at Norfolk and Suffolk constabularies, as well as more effective cross-border collaboration and the combining of the forces business support departments.
The seven-year agreement with Capgemini will involve the companys transformation solution, Transform Police (t-Police), designed to help police forces deliver necessary back office savings and service delivery improvements.
t-Police is integrated with the duty management and rostering solution Crown Open Options to provide visibility of available skilled officers on duty, compliance with police time regulations and standard police reporting requirements such as the MG10 Witness Availability form.
Phillip Clayton, assistant chief officer for Suffolk Constabulary and the senior responsible officer for the joint programme, said: As well as the cost savings, this agreement will also improve the quality of frontline service delivery as it will help reduce the time our officers spend on admin.
Stephen Bett, PCC for Norfolk, said: Anything that cuts down on administration and process and frees up police time has to be a good thing. This is yet another example of collaboration between our two forces in action and will help both be more effective and more efficient.
Suffolk PCC Tim Passmore added: This new system will positively redress the balance of staff time spent on the front line and administration tasks. This is a good example of the benefits of collaboration; the two constabularies working together to provide the very best value for the people of Suffolk.
Cheshire Constabulary and Northamptonshire Police were the first to implement t-Police in 2012, where it has delivered a 38 per cent cost saving via efficiencies from adopting leading business processes and practices, as the platform for the Multi-Force Shared Service (MFSS), the forces collaboration for back office shared services.
The system expands on the traditional back office shared service focus areas of HR, payroll, finance and procurement, towards a shared service solution that also includes IT transactional services and more of the frontline support functions, such as training, estates and stores management and logistical support.
Nick James, vice-president of public sector at Capgemini, said that with police forces under huge budget pressures this solution could help reduce those pressures and ultimately allow more effective frontline service delivery.