Southwark's digital journey

The development of our Modern Data Platform has enabled better use of data across our departments. There are now 15 data sources from across the council uploaded to a new data lake, including datasets for Supporting Families (Childrens), Building Safety, Public Health and Planning. We're using this data data to enable early intervention and predict future council services.

We have delivered on existing and future legislative requirements placed on the council in relation to data integration and maturity in Children’s Services.

Working with our Microsoft delivery partner, Hitachi, we have trained 150 members of staff to enable the organisation to deliver 144 Power BI dashboards from 949 datasets with 924 user reports. There are now 900 active users of Power BI.

To improve the user experience of system we have utilised the Microsoft Power Platform in the following areas: Planning applications, housing applications and supporting families dashboards. We have created a Centre of Excellence based around Microsoft Power Platform technologies and plan to use this technology in other services.

We have implemented Microsoft Dynamics 365 technology to improve case management across front line services and to implement chatbot technology in housing repairs and for the Homes for Ukraine scheme. A longer term strategy is to create a single view of the resident and key systems such as NEC for housing will be improved using this technology.

Wi-fi and networking infrastructure has been updated in Tooley Street with other keys sites being completed as part of the new strategy 2024 – 2026. This is to enable the workforce to benefit from the latest technology to enhance the experience of working from office locations on wireless devices.

We successfully insourced Leisure services from an external provider including implementation of new network, infrastructure and hardware across 8 leisure centres.

We supported the opening of the new Una Marson Library, Kingswood Library and refurbished Peckham Library. We replaced 180 PCs across 12 libraries and upgraded the infrastructure across all of the public libraries.

63 meeting rooms across the Southwark office estate have been updated with Hybrid Microsoft Teams Technology. There is an ongoing programme of work to include Queens Road and other sites.

The implementation of Microsoft collaboration tools including optimising the use of Microsoft Teams and SharePoint for seamless communication, file sharing, and collaboration for all users.

We have implemented security desktop features and compliance measures provided by F5 VPN, for threat protection, and security compliance.

Introduction of Microsoft Intune compliance application, to manage and secure mobile devices enabling Bring Your Own Device for all employees including Front Line Workers.

We have developed a Business Partnering Function to create a collaborative relationship between Technology and Digital Services (TDS) and service areas within Southwark. Business partnering ensures that TDS initiatives are closely aligned with the overall business strategy and objectives.