ADDRESS-POINT Compatibility Still Possible Through Aligned Assets

AddressBase specialists Aligned Assets are offering a solution to both the private and public sector that will allow them to migrate to the Ordnance Survey’s new AddressBase Premium product whilst retaining compatibility with the older, soon to be discontinued ADDRESS-POINT legacy product.

With the Ordnance Survey withdrawing ADDRESS-POINT from the Public Sector Mapping Agreement (PSMA) and One Scotland Mapping Agreement (OSMA) in October 2014, this will leave many organisations, including the Police, NHS Trusts, Fire & Rescue Services and utility companies unable to update many of their frontline and back office systems as they are not compatible with the new AddressBase format.

Without the ability to update, the address data they use will quickly go out of date, particularly with regard new housing developments, resulting in errors that will affect their ability to safely and effectively carry out their operational duties.

With the Aligned Assets solution, they will be able to keep these systems updated with all new-build properties, changes to property addresses such as houses divided into flats and also those properties that have been demolished.

Available as a standalone product or as a part of the Aligned Assets corporate gazetteer system, the solution works by feeding updates to AddressBase Premium into a central database, with these updates then automatically converted into the ADDRESS-POINT format and sent out to all recipient systems.

A tried and tested solution with numerous UK implementations, this conversion process will keep an organisation’s address data accurate and up to date whilst allowing those organisations sufficient time to invest in new systems rather than be forced into rushing upgrades that can incur additional costs and sacrifice core functionality.

“AddressBase Premium is the address data of the future, with a higher level of accuracy and coverage than anything that’s come before it,” explained Andy Hird, Managing Director of Aligned Assets.

“It is clear though that many organisations are going to struggle in upgrading all their systems before the October 2014 deadline and it is our solution that can give them that precious time in order to make the necessary changes, all the while continuing ‘business as usual’.”

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

Shared Services See Cost Savings at Christchurch and East Dorset Partnership

Gazetteer specialists Aligned Assets are pleased to announce that they are now supplying a shared service gazetteer management system to East Dorset District Council and Christchurch Borough Council.

The two councils will be using Symphony iManage with its specially designed shared service module to manage all address and property data across both councils – data that is an essential component in the delivery of council services.

By having one team, working across both council areas, using a single software interface as opposed to the two that were used previously, working practices will be simplified, accessibility will be increased, time will be saved on switching between software and money will be saved on training costs. Additionally, there will be savings through reduced licence fees and moving data to a single database will enable far better data management.

Future plans involve integrating the address data into other council systems as those departments also migrate to new software packages and through the use of a single system, East Dorset data and Christchurch data can more easily be shared.

This integration will most likely be achieved through the use of Aligned Assets’ Symphony iExchange module, which is currently being assessed by the shared service team. By allowing address data to be automatically exported to other systems, departments throughout both councils will be using the most accurate and up to date addresses, which will reduce errors and de-duplicate workloads, all without requiring additional resources due to the software’s automation.

Speaking of the purchase, Andy Hird, Managing Director of Aligned Assets explained, “Christchurch was an existing Aligned Assets customer, whereas East Dorset used another supplier for their gazetteer management. We’re delighted that the partnership opted for our solutions, which we believe demonstrates that we offer the best shared service options in terms of both functionality and price.”

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

ABOUT ALIGNED ASSETS
Aligned Assets are an industry leader in AddressBase, gazetteer and address management solutions. They supply software across the public and private sectors including over 100 Local Authorities, Fire & Rescue Services and Police Forces. In addition to software and data solutions, they offer a complete range of consultancy, training, bespoke development and project management.

Aligned Assets Publish Two Case Studies on Local Authority Use of Business Data

Aligned Assets are pleased to announce the publication of two new case studies that focus on the use of business data in local authorities to drive efficiencies and increase revenue.

In addition to demonstrating the councils’ own use of innovation, both involve Aligned Assets’ business database, which is widely considered to be the most detailed and accurate one currently available.

The first case study focuses on Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council and their work surrounding the Government’s business rates retention policy that sees councils now able to retain up to 50% of all business rates revenue they collect.

In addition to a review of their existing processes and a project that saw council departments sharing data more efficiently, the Aligned Assets business database has been used to identify business premises that are potentially going unbilled for business rates. The case study shows that information provided exclusively from the business database has provided an annual revenue gain of £15,021, with a total revenue gain of £70,137 when including the retrospective collection of previously owed charges.

The second case study is about the London Borough of Harrow and the work they have done to counteract the common problem of seldom having the capacity or infrastructure to process the extremely high rate of change relating to business premises and names.

The work focused on using the Aligned Assets business database to supplement their LLPG (local land and property gazetteer), which is used to feed numerous council systems and projects with the most accurate address data available. Through the use of the Aligned Assets business database, the Council saw an increase of 128% in the amount of validated business name entries and with that an inferred saving of over £25,000.

Like Barnsley Council, Harrow will also be using the business database to aid in the detection of businesses unknown to, and therefore potentially unbilled by, their Business Rates team.

Andy Hird, Managing Director of Aligned Assets explained that, “Our business database has uses across the public sector, from aiding the emergency services in mobilisation through to helping local authorities in identifying unbilled business rates.”

“These applications are only possible due to the unique way our data is sourced, including a call centre of 65 people, which shows why it’s also the business data of choice for 118 118, Bing and the BT Phone Book.”

Both case studies are available for free download from www.aligned-assets.co.uk/clients/localauthorities

ABOUT ALIGNED ASSETS
Aligned Assets are an industry leader in AddressBase, gazetteer and address management solutions. They supply software across the public and private sectors including over 100 Local Authorities, Fire & Rescue Services and Police Forces. In addition to software and data solutions, they offer a complete range of consultancy, training, bespoke development and project management.

South Wales Police and Gwent Police Purchase Symphony Bluelight From Aligned Assets

After due consideration, both South Wales Police and Gwent police have opted for the corporate gazetteer management system from Aligned Assets

Gazetteer specialists Aligned Assets are pleased to announce both South Wales Police and Gwent Police as the latest customers of their AddressBase Premium compatible Symphony Bluelight corporate gazetteer management system.

South Wales Police is an established user of the Niche Records Management System and following a decision by Gwent Police to adopt the same system, ground-breaking work has been undertaken to create a single common Niche platform, hosted by South Wales Police, and accessible to both Forces.

An early requirement was for a common gazetteer service that underpinned the collaborative system and allowed migration to Ordnance Survey’s AddressBase Premium product – the UK’s most accurate and up to date address dataset. Through the use of Symphony Bluelight, the two Forces will both have access to AddressBase Premium and will be able to easily integrate it into both frontline and back office systems, including a dedicated web service into their collaborative Niche Records Management system.

The Symphony Bluelight Gazetteer, which sits at the heart of the system, will give the two Forces complete control over the address data they use. This will ensure that their address management processes, undertaken by Gwent Police's ICT collaborative provider, the Shared Resource Service, is not only structured and standardised, but also intuitive to use.

Populated with AddressBase Premium, the Symphony Bluelight Gazetteer will enable them to quickly import updates to this dataset, as well as build upon it with ‘local records’ such as motorway marker posts and other non-addressable locations. Each record can then be extended using Aligned Assets’ new Xtended Data Module (XDM) Police Template, which allows each property record to be appended with information such as the presence of a gun license, as well as bringing GIS layers into the gazetteer, so that each record can be enhanced with information such as the associated police beat.

Data integration will be achieved via Symphony Bluelight iExchange and Symphony SinglePoint, both of which are designed to enable all people, departments and systems within an organisation to access and use the address data from the shared, corporate gazetteer.

Through these products, the two Forces have the option to give access to the gazetteer via the SinglePoint web services, which is the preferred option of Niche, and also automated updates through iExchange, which is ideal for systems such as command and control that require an additional level of resilience.

In addition to the corporate gazetteer system, South Wales and Gwent Police have also purchased Aligned Assets’ business database, which will complement AddressBase Premium by providing information on the names of business premises i.e. the sign above the door.

Speaking of the new system, Martin Smedley, Assistant Director of Information Services at South Wales Police said, “After identifying the requirement for a corporate gazetteer management system, we studied the market and the software available from Aligned Assets was the clear industry leader.”

“They were the only company that could fulfil our requirements and we have been highly impressed with both the software and support services.”

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

ABOUT ALIGNED ASSETS
Aligned Assets are an industry leader in AddressBase, gazetteer and address management solutions. They supply software across the public and private sectors including over 100 Local Authorities, Fire & Rescue Services and Police Forces. In addition to software and data solutions, they offer a complete range of consultancy, training, bespoke development and project management.

Aligned Assets Announce AddressBase Webinar For Ambulance Services

On Thursday 28th November 2013, Aligned Assets will be hosting a webinar for the UK Ambulance Services on the Ordnance Survey’s AddressBase Premium

Gazetteer specialists Aligned Assets have announced an upcoming webinar that is to be held in association with the Ordnance Survey and North West Ambulance Service.

Focusing on the Ordnance Survey’s AddressBase Premium addressing product, the webinar will cover what it is, how to use it and how it is currently be used within the UK’s ambulance services. It is to be held on Thursday 28th November at 11am and although open to all, has been written for those working in the ambulance service.

As the most detailed of the product range, AddressBase Premium provides a complete view of an address or property, including its full lifecycle from creation to retirement. It contains all current addresses, alternative addresses, provisional properties and even historic property information where available.

With an unprecedented level of detail, AddressBase Premium is most suited to the emergency services for whom this level of detail is essential, but also for the utility companies who will benefit greatly from the prebuild, provisional addressing information.

Within the ambulance service, AddressBase Premium can be integrated and used in all frontline and back office systems including 999 and 111 computer aided dispatch systems and patient transport systems. Not only will it mean that operators and paramedics will be accessing the most accurate and up to date address data, but through the use of the UPRN (unique property reference number), data can be linked together to provide easy access to additional, vital information.

Speaking of the webinar, Managing Director of Aligned Assets, Andy Hird, said, “We already work with a large number of the emergency services in the provision of AddressBase Premium compatible gazetteer management systems, and along with the Ordnance Survey and North West Ambulance Service are looking forward to passing this knowledge onto to all people who can benefit.”

For more information about the webinar, visit www.aligned-assets.co.uk/events

Aligned Assets Customers Win Again at the 2013 Exemplar Awards

Aligned Assets customers have once again had a day to remember after collecting three of the major awards at the 2013 Local Government Exemplar Awards.

The big winners of the day were Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council who won the Local Government Association sponsored Improvement and Efficiency Award. The winning project involved a review of their internal business processes to ensure that they were maximising revenues ahead of the implementation of the Business Rates Retention Scheme that sees local authorities directly retaining up to 50% of all business rates revenue.

A key component of the project was the introduction of the Aligned Asset Business database, which they used to identify potentially unbilled properties, which could then be sent to the Business Rates team for investigation.

Also picking up major awards were Martin Laker of Bath and North East Somerset Council who won the Custodian of Year Award and Keith MacBean of Inverclyde Council who collected the Scottish equivalent.

Both Martin and Keith were nominated by their fellow Authority Address and/or Street Custodians and were recognised for their contributions to the community and achievements within their respective local authorities.

In addition to the major awards, Aligned Assets customers received 45% of the ‘Best in Region’ Awards and over one quarter of all councils awarded Gold Status were users of the Aligned Assets gazetteer management system.

Speaking of the success, Andy Hird, Managing Director of Aligned Assets said, “We provide market leading gazetteer management software, but these awards reflect the hard work and determination by the users of that software.”

“I’d like to take this opportunity to personally congratulate each and every winner and thank them for continuing to show what those in the public sector can achieve.”

To find out more, visit Aligned Assets

Two Dorset Councils See Cost Savings and Efficiency Gains Through Shared Service Gazetteer Management From Aligned Assets

West Dorset District Council and Weymouth and Portland Borough Council have recently moved to a shared service platform using a gazetteer management system supplied by Aligned Assets.

Remaining as two sovereign councils whilst utilising one staffing structure, the councils are taking advantage of Aligned Assets’ Symphony iManage, which is the only gazetteer management system with components specifically designed to enable shared services in the creation and management of address data.

In addition to Symphony iManage, the two councils have elected to also use Symphony iExchange from Aligned Assets, which will enable them to integrate their Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) data into other council systems, and through that recognise additional savings and gains in efficiency.

Although working within the one team, each council will retain a dedicated LLPG custodian whose local expertise will be essential in ensuring all addresses are accurately created and maintained. However, by utilising Symphony iManage’s shared service functionality, all staff, irrespective of which councils’ gazetteer they are accessing, will be working through one system, seamlessly switching between gazetteers via a simple drop-down menu.

Not only will this reduce infrastructure costs and allow the team to work in a more efficient manner, but has the additional advantage of enabling team members to easily cover each other’s work during holiday periods or when site visits are required.

Whereas Symphony iManage will dramatically improve the gazetteer management functionality across both councils, Symphony iExchange will see these benefits shared across council departments. Previously having to manually update other systems with the latest address data, Symphony iExchange will automate this process, whilst its intuitive data transformation process will allow for many more systems to be integrated.

This will enable departments from council tax to refuse and recycling to access the most up to date address data and begin to utilise the UK’s definitive property identifier – the UPRN (unique property reference number).

“We are delighted to welcome West Dorset and Weymouth and Portland Councils onto our shared service platform,” said Andy Hird, Managing Director at Aligned Assets. “As local authorities continue to try and find savings where they can, Symphony iManage is ideally placed to allow these savings to be recognised within gazetteer management.”

To find out more about how Aligned Assets shared service software can help, visit www.aligned-assets.co.uk/imanage

ABOUT ALIGNED ASSETS
Aligned Assets are an industry leader in AddressBase, gazetteer and address management solutions. They supply software across the public and private sectors including over 100 Local Authorities, Fire & Rescue Services and Police Forces. In addition to software and data solutions, they offer a complete range of consultancy, training, bespoke development and project management.

ABOUT WEST DORSET DISTRICT COUNCIL AND WEYMOUTH & PORTLAND BOROUGH COUNCILS SHARED SERVICE
The Shared Services Partnership between West Dorset District Council and Weymouth & Portland Borough Council has created a single workforce serving two sovereign councils covering 165,000 residents. Over the past two years a new staff structure has been agreed, senior management appointed and over 600 staff transferred to a single host employer. New office accommodation has been built in Dorchester to facilitate new ways of working and a similar approach taken in Weymouth. The partnership has already enabled over £2.0m of savings to be realised and was key to the successful hosting of the 2012 Games Sailing Events at Weymouth and Portland.