Background
English Nature champions the conservation and enhancement of the wildlife and wild places of England. English Nature’s job is to ensure that future generations can enjoy properly functioning, diverse and attractive natural environments as a major part of their quality of life.
English Nature, as part of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), is also the Government wildlife adviser, with powers and duties to protect and enhance the natural heritage throughout England. English Nature does this by, advising, regulating, enabling and enthusing.
The Challenge
In its efforts to provide a more efficient service to its stakeholders, English Nature required a number of existing paper-based processes to be transferred to electronic delivery via the web. Two initial projects were identified for eGovernment service delivery; Protected Species Licensing and Land Purchase Grant application processing.
The projects selected involved the general public, environmental consultants and English Nature operational departments. The forms were complex and the process of completing an application required interaction with English Nature staff. Moreover, as English Nature provides its services to such a wide audience, including individuals with disabilities, web applications for both internal (staff) and external (public) use needed to be designed according to the latest accessibility guidelines and recommendations.
The Solution
After an extensive tender and vendor evaluation exercise English Nature selected Modcomp, working in partnership with BT, to design and build the applications. Modcomp and BT brought extensive transactional Web application development experience and the knowledge to build an accessible site underpinned with workflow features.
To build mutual understanding and shared objectives, Modcomp and English Nature participated in joint team meetings and maintained open communication channels at all times. To ensure gaps between the Modcomp design and client expectations were minimised, all applications were fully prototyped to provide a full working model to be tested with all interested parties.
Jonathan Budd, Information Management Team Manager for English Nature commented, “We are confident that the application delivered by Modcomp will enable English Nature to provide a better service to our customers and meet the Government’s targets for e-Services.”
The project had tight deadlines, and a high profile among English Nature Stakeholders.
“We are very pleased that Modcomp delivered the project on time and to budget. The project was funded through the Treasury’s Capital Modernisation Fund and it was critical that the targets were met” said Jonathan Budd of English Nature.
Conclusion
The application built by Modcomp supports English Nature’s fundamental role by improving the flow of information and the interaction between English Nature and the users of the English countryside. By making this interaction as efficient as possible, the application allows English Nature to protect the wild places of England, without unduly restricting those who want to live in, work or enjoy those places.
About Modcomp
Modcomp helps Government and other public sector organisations get the most from their IT investment by providing both the consultancy to help develop a strategy and the hands-on, day-to-day expertise to implement the strategy.
Modcomp has a proven track record of delivering reliable, scalable solutions backed by a comprehensive support service. Modcomp is known for delivering cost effective integrated web applications on time and on budget, and we are proud of the fact that all our customers will act as references.