IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

In order to comply with the e-Government requirement for all local authorities to provide online school admissions facilities for the September admissions round, the 33 London boroughs have worked together to provide a system via a single portal. The system, which is launched today, is closely aligned to the UK Government's "Transformational Government Strategy", and is compliant with the Minimum Feature List developed by the eAdmissions National Project. The National Project, which is funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government to support 150 local authorities in delivering online school admissions, has provided guidance and research results to aid development of the London system.

The idea of a single portal stemmed from the success of the Pan London Coordinated School Admissions project, which demonstrated that the London boroughs could work together, using common processes and a shared IT infrastructure, to achieve significant improvements to the school admissions service in the capital. In order to ensure that this service would translate online, London eAdmissions commissioned a feasibility study to establish whether the features required from an online school admissions system could be delivered via a portal solution. A business case was also developed in parallel with the feasibility study to assess the commercial viability of developing the system via a portal.

Based on the conclusions of the feasibility study and the business case, and following agreement from each of the London boroughs, the project was given the go-ahead to proceed into development. The system was developed in partnership with London Connects whose Your London portal (www.yourlondon.gov.uk) provides a single point of access for London's public and community services.

Peter Wylie, Director of Education for the London Borough of Croydon and Executive Chair of the London eAdmissions Programme says: "We are delighted to announce the launch of London's shared online admissions portal. We have been working towards this launch for the past 18 months to ensure that the system is not just up and running in time for September, but also supported now that it is complete. Now that we have achieved these goals, we can finally start to look forward to parents, schools and the boroughs themselves enjoying the benefits. Parents, for example, will be able to easily retrieve and amend the application as many times as necessary right up until the deadline date. In addition, they will also be able to enjoy the peace of mind that comes with receiving a confirmation of receipt via email once the application is completed."

Peter Williams, Deputy CEO of London Connects, said: "London eAdmissions' decision to use the common web services portal infrastructure of Your London as a proven delivery mechanism provides greater support to local authority web sites in the delivery of 'shared online services'. For the first time, parents can search and submit school applications online without needing knowledge of geographical or organisational boundaries."

Quelle/Source: eGov monitor, 03.07.2006