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About
Sharing information across the public sector has proven a challenging problem in recent times, with vast amounts of time spent in meetings and a constant stream of paperwork being produced. Alliantist’s flagship product, PAM, looked to resolve this issue by offering a connected cloud collaboration solution that could manage this in one central location. Once we had achieved government accreditation to host ‘Information Level 3’ data, we developed an area for managing criminal and victim details. With increasing sensitive levels of information being stored in the system, it became critical that those in control of the data- be it a police force or local probation service- had a way of managing access to that data across a multi agency environment.
The Goal
To provide the police and probation customers with a way to easily manage permissions for the offender and victim information held on the system in a way that adhered to policy and procedure within their respective sectors whilst facilitating collaborative multi agency working.
1) Stakeholder Interviews
Interviewing two expert stakeholders, the head of a probation trust and a prison rehabilitation worker, enabled me to understand the complex problem of multi agency information sharing and the government legislation that must be adhered to.
Identifying how users currently worked through a group workshop meant that I could establish which practices were vital to legal requirements and which were ‘just the way they do things’.
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2) Requirements
A solid, always visible requirements document was essential for this development, with multiple legal and stakeholder requirements being vital to the projects success. Working with the MD and other stakeholders in the team, I created a document that outlined business and user requirements and acted as a point of reference for discussion and decision making throughout the project.
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3) Mapping & Documentation
I created a relationship matrix and a visibility listing to understand how specific users would interact with various types of data. I then created a visual representation of the connections map that was used to drive discussion and decisions with stakeholders. A particularly important decision that came from this was to give optional multi- agency access to selected users which would vastly improve collaboration between government agencies.
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4) Prototype
I turned the connections map into an interactive prototype, which was used by the development team to gain understanding of the interactions, connections model and to estimate and plan the development. The sales team used the prototype to demonstrate to new customers how control over various levels of information could assist multi-agency working.
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5) Specification
A comprehensive specification was required for this project to ensure all the requirements were met and complex connection and permissions models implemented. The document was created in close collaboration with the developers and testers to ensure the team had a shared understanding and that any problems or questions were addressed and resolved.
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Outcomes
A permissions structure that integrated with the platform’s existing architecture whilst accommodating the needs of the new development lead to a consistent and understandable approach to controlling permissions across the platform. The prototype helped the sales team enter new markets and secure contracts with several police forces across the country. It added credibility to their sales pitch that the new features will help facilitate a more connected multi-agency public sector.