Digitized social services for 80 municipalities
Cipal Schaubroeck selects Ometa for implementation of Digital Social File solution
As a result of a succesful Proof of Concept (POC) at the Social Housing Service from the city of Mechelen, in which we disclosed data towards a userfriendly collaboration environment by using a case driven system, Cipal Schaubroeck has now selected Ometa as a partner for the further implementation of its Digital Social File solution.
Beyond mid-office
Within local authorities, we are observing a comparable separation of information into different types of storage where we like to refer to as “silos”. For many years now, cities and municipalities are having several ideas of implementing optimizations to bring together all these silo processes into a case driven system. This has led to what we know as mid-office.
In fact, these mid-office applications ask for a new set-up of the current processes, while a whole range of applications is already being rolled out to support the most complex government systems and taking legislation into account. Obviously, changing these processes would demand a huge investment in terms of time, adaptation and money.
Therefore, thanks to Ometa’s expertise in integrations, we make sure that mid-office is no longer needed. This means that the existing processes and applications do not have to be changed. Instead, they are being extended with a collaboration layer. This collaboration layer enables the front-office employees to collaborate on several topics, using the information stored in the existing applications. Important to note is that the users do not need any technical knowledge of these applications, since they are enabled to collaborate in a user-friendly Microsoft front-office.
Keeping existing applications
There are some great advantages to this new approach. First of all, the existing applications do not have to be migrated, which means that the big investments over the years in these products don’t have to be cut down. The processes don’t have to be changed, so run times are limited. Not only in terms of implementation, but also in user experience this is a true relieve. The back-office world of information that employees have built up through the years, can now be consulted directly through the glasses of a new front-end. This results in a faster user adaptation.
To show these advantages in a real life situation, we started with a Proof of Concept (POC) with the City of Mechelen. Their IT department was able to do the configuration completely independent, with Ometa only playing a guiding role by giving support. Next to Mechelen, also the OCMWs (Social Houses) of Hasselt, Turnhout, Genk, Brasschaat and Sint-Pieters-Leeuw were involved.
Proof is provided
The result of the POC is very much appreciated. Not only the result that processes and existing applications do not have to be changed, but also the fact that the Ometa framework is easily configurable and very flexible, made it clear to Cipal Schaubroeck that this way of working could be interesting for other municipalities as well. Therefore, Cipal Schaubroeck will offer this solution to its customers. The solution will be available in two versions: in the cloud and on-premises. That way, other local governments will be able to enrich their application for social services and improve their service towards citizens.
As a result, about 80 municipalities will start using the DSD solution in the upcoming two years. Moreover, the solution was nominated for the Belfius Smart City Award for municipalities with >30,000 inhabitants. Read the article here (Dutch read).
