It's a good piece of e-Government which uses IT to further the strategic goals while delivering real benefits both to users and to the planning professionals. The aim is a single point of access to a comprehensive range of accurate and up-to-date information, which has been built using Rightnow Service, which it's hoped will make it easier for citizens to use the portal, because the intelligent, citizen-driven knowledge base made available.
At the pilot stage of the programme more than 99% of citizens were able to find the answer to their enquiry without the need for support from the Planning Portal. Previously, assistance was only available via the phone or email with no out-of-hours support. Now citizens can use the knowledge base to ask a question in their own words and find the answer to their query at the click of a button. This empowers them to complete accurate planning applications online or to find information specific to them.
243 local authorities have already linked to the portal with the remaining 167 due to link up in the next 12 months. This rise in traffic will inevitably lead to an increase in the number of questions asked. However, by implementing RightNow Service, the Planning Inspectorate has ensured that the level of service provided will be of a consistent and comparable quality and that a linear increase in support staff will not be needed.
“Our work with RightNow Technologies means that we are consistent with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister’s recent consultation paper on ‘Defining e-Government Priority Services and Transformation Outcomes in 2005’. By enabling customers to ask questions and receive an answer 24x7, at the click of a button, we are increasing the accessibility of services,” said David Jemitus, Technical Operations manager at the Planning Portal. “Likewise, the ability to self-serve online, whether it be for a question or to submit an entire planning application, means we are facilitating a high take-up of web-based transactional services,” he added.
Visitors access the service by clicking on a link within the left hand navigation panel or the ‘Help’ button at the bottom of the Portal, and are initially presented with the current list of the top ten most popular and relevant knowledge base questions for the Portal. The knowledge is grouped into user-friendly sections relating to the Portal itself - planning appeals, planning applications, planning permission, planning other and building regulations. If visitors are unable to find an answer they can ask a question directly, using the in-built query facility that submits the new query to the support team for an answer. Any unique questions arising from this process are then added back into the knowledge base, deflecting repeat enquiries.
“Tasked with the target of reaching 100% e-enablement of Government services by December 2005, more and more local and central government operations are talking to RightNow about the most cost effective and easiest way of complying,” said Sean Forbes, vice president of marketing and business development at RightNow Technologies. “By deploying our solutions, government offices like the Office of The Deputy Prime Minister have proven that we make a tangible difference in improving access to online services, making them easier to use and increasing the take-up of these services by citizens.”
The Planning Portal is the first point of call for anyone who wants to find out about the planning system in England and Wales. It is aimed at everyone, from central government and local authorities to planning professionals and the lay person.
Each of the seven sections of the Planning Portal offers information on a different aspect of the planning system. You can navigate between these sections yourself or follow links that will take you to related pages across the site or to other sites that contain relevant information.
You can also specify a location on the Planning Portal. This allows you to view information specifically designed for your area as well as giving you local contacts which you can use to gain further information. You can also try searching the Portal for the information you require.
Quelle: PublicTechnology, 24.05.2004
