Aligned Assets’ validation tool now contains over 1000 gazetteer checks

With the release of Symphony iValidate v3.1, the gazetteer validation and reporting tool from Aligned Assets now contains in excess of 1000 separate checks.

Designed to ensure that local authorities are fully compliant with BS7666, iValidate is a valuable part of the QA process for Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) and Local Street Gazetteer (LSG) maintenance as well as performing a complete ‘Health Check’ on BS7666 gazetteers.

With the value of NLPG data stemming from its accuracy, iValidate is useful not only for performing a complete sweep of the data, but as this data changes, allows for the accuracy to be permanently maintained.

iValidate was originally developed by Aligned Assets consultants to ensure that the work they did was consistent for each of their clients and fully compliant with BS7666. It has evolved into a comprehensive COTS tool to assist in reviewing the LLPG & LSG and assisting in highlighting areas of either gazetteer that could be improved.

The release of v3.1 sees a complete new set of scripts for the LLPG and LSG Health Checks, plus new validation and reporting options. These scripts were created in response to errors/warnings that the NLPG hub were providing as part of the LLPG Improvement Schedules sent to Local Authorities in 2008/09 and are used to monitor LLPG Improvements for 2008/09.

It enables the users of LLPGs to have their database comply with the NLPG Validation and Health Checks v1.3, whilst LSG users can now easily comply with the LSG and ASD – DTF 7.1 Submission Compliance Check Specification v1.2.

Speaking of the release, Head of Professional Services at Aligned Assets, Andy Hird commented, “The release of iValidate v3.1 is a big step toward ensuring our customers can avoid the frustrations involved in rejected submissions to the hub. By having the peace of mind that their data is clean and compliant, they can free up more time to make full use of that data.”

For more information on iValidate, visit www.aligned-assets.co.uk/ivalidate.

Places going fast for Gazetteer Best Practice Day

With only two weeks to go until the Gazetteer Best Practice Day in Cardiff, the list of attendees is continuing to grow.

Consisting of eight presentations on a wide variety of aspects covering the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG) and all things BS7666, there has been interest from both signatories and non-signatories of the Mapping Services Agreement (MSA).

With the use of the NLPG expanding in both the public and private sector, it has become more important than ever to explore ways in which gazetteers at the local level can be enhanced and brought to the heart of organisational working.

Organising the event on behalf of Aligned Assets is Carl Hancock, who explained the purpose of the day. “I speak with so many people who work with gazetteers both in local government and the emergency services, and they all have a story to tell. The Gazetteer Best Practice Day grew out of the concept of having people come together to share ideas, discuss best practice and their varied ways of working.”

The full agenda is available online via www.aligned-assets.co.uk/events/Agenda_22nd_Oct.pdf and to reserve a place or request further information contact Carl at carl.hancock@aligned-assets.co.uk.

The new generation of Property and Asset Management Software is released

Symphony PMS, the new Property Management System from Aligned Assets was officially launched with a glass of champagne in Cardiff on Friday 18th September.

In the waterside setting of County Hall, those involved in the project gathered to celebrate the ending of a nine month development cycle, which has culminated in possibly the most comprehensive property management system available.

After a warming cup of tea, the guests, including representatives from other local authorities, were given a presentation by Phil Hall, Property information Manager at Cardiff Council and Phil Gee, Commercial Director at Aligned Assets, about the need at Cardiff Council to bring in a new system to replace their outdated Estates Management System.

Being at the forefront of Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) development, it was explained how it was an essential component to have Symphony PMS linked to the gazetteer. Having worked hard to achieve LLPG integration into back office systems and a wider acceptance of the LLPG as the council’s central address database, Symphony PMS was therefore designed to use addresses data directly from the council’s LLPG.

The importance of this was explained by Phil Gee, “With Cardiff’s LLPG being of such a high standard, it seemed nonsensical to build a property management system in which address data would have to be manually entered, when all that property information already existed.

“By sourcing the addresses directly from the LLPG, Cardiff can now enjoy tremendous gains in efficiency though BS7666 standardisation, the avoidance of double entry and the ability to be 100% certain of the accuracy of the address data used.”

Following on from the reasoning behind Symphony PMS, the guests were treated to a full demonstration of the system’s wide and varying functionality. They were shown how it is capable of the full management of a property portfolio including social housing, schools, commercial assets, investment property, leisure centres, industrial estates and parks – it was even shown to be capable of managing farms.

Complete management of all the sales, acquisitions, maintenance and legalities involved in property and asset management were shown and how all the management features are intuitively accessible using a simple graphical user interface. Feedback indicated that the audience were especially impressed by the way that Symphony PMS can link into any mapping engine making the entire property portfolio visually accessible, utilising either points or polygons.

Phil Gee concluded by saying, “Cardiff Council had huge specifications to go alongside their huge property portfolio, so Symphony PMS is an all encompassing system designed to meet all those requirements. With its official launch, we look forward to rolling it out to the wider market.”

To find out more visit the Symphony PMS Pages