Herefordshire Council join the Aligned Assets family

Gazetteer specialists Aligned Assets can today announce Herefordshire Council as the latest customer of its Symphony Suite of Gazetteer Solutions.

Birth place of the historic Lady Godiva, Herefordshire boosts a population of 178,000 covering 13,000 square kilometres and is one of the most rural and least densely populated counties in England.

As a Unitary Authority the council has responsibility for the management of both Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) and Local Street Gazetteer (LSG) data with a total of 108,000 records requiring maintenance.

To facilitate this, the council have replaced their old, inefficient gazetteer management system with Symphony iManage from Aligned Assets. This technologically advanced, yet user-friendly system provides them with all the tools they require to create, maintain and analyse their BS7666 compliant Street and Land & Property Gazetteer.

They will also be using Symphony iManage for the management of Associated Street Data (ASD) that will allow them to maintain information on the ownership of the streets, height and weight restrictions, streets with special surfaces and traffic sensitive streets. Importantly, the Aligned Assets ASD module will enable the council to be fully compliant with the Traffic Management Act EToN 5 Technical Specifications and avoid any fines that come with non-compliance.

Street Naming and Numbering (SNN) plays an important role in Herefordshire Council’s Building Control Department and requires close consultation with the Parish Councils. In order to achieve significant efficiency savings in this fee-generated process, the council have chosen to use Aligned Assets’ SNN module. Fully customisable to the user’s requirements, this flexible tool will allow them to manage the complete SNN lifecycle, including the automatic distribution of letters or emails, saving considerable amounts of time and so increasing productivity.

The final piece to the gazetteer jigsaw is the installation of one of Aligned Assets’ most recent developments call the Xtended Data Module, which allows the user to add additional user-defined fields to their BS7666 gazetteer.

In the case of Herefordshire Council, they had a need to hold addresses in a way that was both suitable for internal and external uses. The use of BS7666 addresses was ideal for the internal workings of the council, but as explained by Herefordshire Council’s GIS Team Leader, Duncan Trumper, “The BS7666 address is not suitable for public interaction in all cases. We had a need for postal addresses as well since they enable better efficiency with the data exchange from the public especially in the Social Care and CRM systems.”

To achieve this they added six additional fields to their LLPG using the Xtended Data Module, which held these postal addresses, enabling them to have ‘the best of both worlds’ – fully standardised BS7666 data, plus an easy-to-use postal address, all linked with a Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN). By doing this they achieve not only the internal efficiencies that come from standardisation, but better data exchange with the public and so reducing unnecessary contact.

Speaking of their switch to the Aligned Assets system, Duncan went on to say, “We are very impressed with the level of service we have had from Aligned Assets and it makes me happy to know that I made the right decision, which was a big one to make! I look forward to a happy working relationship with Aligned Assets long into the future.”

To find out more visit www.aligned-assets.co.uk

Aligned Assets boost their customer support with new recruit

Continuing their ongoing commitment to providing first class customer support, gazetteer specialists Aligned Assets are pleased to announce the appointment of Melvin Lindsay as Support Analyst.

Having graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Information Technology, Melvin’s previous experience includes working as an IT Project Manager and IT Analyst. His new role at Aligned Assets will see him working on issue prioritization and management for the support department, as well as providing first line support for all Aligned Assets products.

He will be working closely with the internal support team and also directly with Aligned Assets’ customers including those from local government, the Fire and Rescue Service and the Police.

Speaking of the appointment, Carl Nunn, Managing Director of Aligned Assets said, “We take our customer support very seriously and I strongly believe that investment in people is key to achieving this. Melvin is a determined, helpful and focused individual and will become a real asset in helping us to provide the highest quality support and customer service.”

www.aligned-assets.co.uk

Symphony User Group turns out in force

Thursday 21st May 2009 saw the latest meeting of the Symphony User Group (SUG) with forty users of the addressing solutions provided by Aligned Assets coming together at the historic Albert Halls in Bolton.

The delegates, who came from as far south as Worthing and as far north as Perth, were treated to several presentations throughout the day as well as an opportunity to help shape the future of the Aligned Assets products.

Simon Bailey, the NSG Custodian came from Intelligent Addressing to give an update on the new DTF 7.1 standard and answer questions related to street gazetteers, EToN 5 and the Traffic Management Act.

Representatives from EADS gave a well received presentation on the FiReControl Project, explaining how local authority gazetteer data was integral to the future of the English Fire & Rescue Service. They also demonstrated the new Mobile Data Terminals (MDTs) from Imass that will give fire fighters access to the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG) whilst on call.

Showing the latest product from Aligned Assets was Cardiff Council who presented on the new Symphony Property Management System (PMS). This innovative new system that links directly with a local authority’s Local Land and Property Gazetteer allows users to manage the acquisitions, sales, maintenance and legalities involved in property management.

Phil Gee, Commercial Director at Aligned Assets speaking after the event said, “Each year the SUG goes from strength to strength and it was great to welcome some of the newest members to this Spring’s meeting. It is vitally important to us as a company to meet with our customers and hear their feedback. They use the software on a daily basis so no one is going to know better than them what we need to be doing.”

The Symphony User Group is open to all users of Aligned Assets products. They meet twice a year and are a vibrant, independent community that allows members to network, share hints and tips, and directly influence the direction of their gazetteer software.

To find out more visit www.aligned-assets.co.uk.

Aligned Assets showcasing Gazetteer solutions at BAPCO

Gazetteer specialists Aligned Assets invite members of the Police and Fire & Rescue Services to visit them on the EADS stand at the upcoming BAPCO 2009 Conference and Exhibition held between 21st and 23rd April 2009 at the Business Design Centre in London.

They will be available to demonstrate their advanced gazetteer management solutions that have been rolled out to all 46 fire services across England as part of the FiReControl project.

In addition to providing the Gazetteer solutions for FiReControl, Aligned Assets have been working closely with their clients at brigade level, including the two most recent implementations at Kent FRS and Humberside FRS, and continue to work with the British Transport Police in providing their national gazetteer solution.

Through their adoption of Aligned Assets’ Symphony Suite they can be assured that all aspects of local, regional and national operations will be speaking the same language as well as the opportunity to utilise National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG) data across their organisation.

The gazetteer management solutions offered by Aligned Assets allow for sub-second multi-gazetteer searching, the ability to add external data to your gazetteer, back-office integration, data matching and validation, and fully integrated web services.

All the solutions are designed to increase efficiency and save time by removing error and duplication, whilst all the while allowing the data to remain consistently accurate and constantly up to date.

To find out more, visit them on the EADS stand at this year’s BAPCO exhibition or visit www.aligned-assets.co.uk.

Aligned Assets bring enhanced gazetteer management to the South Coast

Gazetteer specialists Aligned Assets are pleased to announce Worthing Borough Council as their latest Symphony Suite gazetteer customer.

Representing a population of 100,000 people, Worthing Borough Council had the requirement for a robust, yet user-friendly gazetteer management system. After considering several options they decided that the solutions offered by Aligned Assets were clearly leagues ahead of the competition.

Speaking of the decision, Gill Van-Eetvelt, Corporate Information Manager at Worthing Borough Council said, “Once we had decided to bring in a new gazetteer management system we established our selection criteria including cost, integration, efficiency and expertise. Aligned Assets excelled in them all so our decision became easy.”

In addition to the iManage gazetteer management system, Worthing Borough Council also purchased iMatch to enable them to quickly and easily match all of the Council’s addresses to their Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) and assigned them all with a Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN).

iSearchWeb will offer authority-wide access to the gazetteer data, allowing people from across the council to all use the same address data. With iSearchWeb linked directly to the LLPG, changes in the gazetteer will automatically be reflected in the data being searched, resulting in it being consistently accurate and constantly up to date.

The use of iSearchWeb will also form the foundation of a Joint Working Partnership between Worthing Borough Council and Adur District Council. With the two councils working to provide more services together, the sharing of address information is critically important. iSearchWeb will facilitate this sharing by allowing both councils to access each other’s data via a simple, easy to use web service.

With a 15 - 20 year regeneration ‘Masterplan’ now in place for Worthing, accurate property information has never been more important. With the solutions provided by Aligned Assets, the Council’s LLPG can now be at the forefront of providing the essential addressing component to all of these plans today, tomorrow and long into the future.

www.aligned-assets.co.uk

Kent Fire follow the FiReControl model and adopt Aligned Assets

Kent Fire and Rescue Service is the latest emergency service provider to embrace the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG) with the announcement that they will be adopting the gazetteer solutions provided by Aligned Assets.

As the gazetteer provider into the new nine Regional Control Centres across England via the FiReControl project, Aligned Assets were the clear choice for Kent FRS to adopt at brigade level. This allowed them to use not only the same data with the NLPG, but also the same, fully compatible software from Aligned Assets.

The new system will allow for full data management with the ability to not only receive regular updates from the National Hub, but also to integrate the NLPG data into other internal systems. In addition to this, through the use of Aligned Assets’ Xtended Data Module (XDM), Kent FRS will have the ability to add additional, user-defined fields without losing BS7666 integrity, greatly enhancing the power of the data.

One of the most powerful tools to be implemented is Aligned Assets’ SinglePoint and will allow Kent FRS to search the entire 32 millions records of the NLPG in sub-second time. With the additional option to ‘plug in’ other gazetteers and its link into 3rd Party GIS applications, SinglePoint will enable the full exploitation of the data.

As one of the largest suppliers of gazetteers into local government, and as the only UK company to specialise in gazetteers solutions, Aligned Assets have both the knowledge and expertise to provide all gazetteer and GIS-related requirements. Its work with FiReControl has positioned it as an expert in providing data tools for the emergency services, keenly understanding the necessities required.

Aligned Assets offer a new way to achieve CORE compliancy

With the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) deadline for the matching of Electoral Registers to the NLPG getting ever closer, gazetteer specialists Aligned Assets are offering a new service to help local authorities gain CORE compliance.

Their intuitive data matching software, Symphony iMatch, is to be made available for loan at a price lower than the funding offered by the MoJ. This will enable local authorities to not only run the automatic matching process themselves but also can use iMatch for the process of interactive matching.

Having been the first supplier of gazetteer solutions to be granted accreditation to the BS7666:2006 standard, Aligned Assets are well known as experts in the field of data quality and compliance. They have the experience of working with over 80 local authorities and are the suppliers to the FiReControl project in which their solutions are being used to ensure that mission critical address data is accurate.

Commercial Director at Aligned Assets Phil Gee said, “After speaking with many of our clients, there was a sense that offering automatic matching services wasn’t enough since it would still leave them with a tremendous amount of manual matching to do with no easy way to achieve it.”

“They wanted a way to have the automatic matching done but also tools to make the manual matching easier, all within the MoJ’s funding. That is why we are offering iMatch in this way.”

Available for £1700, Aligned Assets are able to not only offer iMatch on a three month loan, but the offer also includes a full day of onsite consultancy to offer advice and assistance.

To find out more call 0870 750 8750, email sales@aligned-assets.co.uk or visit www.aligned-assets.co.uk/imatch.