The system, which includes desktop and Intranet solutions, will enable the council to integrate its business systems, creating joined-up working leading to improved service delivery to citizens and helping meet national e-Government targets and priority outcomes.

With the help of an independent consultant, the council assessed which business systems needed to be integrated to provide citizens and staff with access to its various services. These included planning, property and land management, environmental protection, housing, waste and recycling, parks and highways. The ESRI solution was chosen for a number of reasons as Jonathan Swaddle GIS / LLPG Manager at Harrogate Borough Council explains;

"We were already using CAPS Solutions' Planning and Gazetteer Management System modules, two of the key areas which needed to be integrated with the GIS.  The tight integration between CAPS and ESRI software means we won't incur the cost of developing bespoke links from our existing GIS. Additionally, ESRI provides off-the-shelf integration with a number of other back office systems in use across the council, enabling us to support our ongoing development more easily and cost-effectively."

The ESRI GIS is now used right across the council and has already achieved some great results.

Staff in the public protection team have used the ESRI system to facilitate a contaminated land inspection strategy. Spatial information from a number of sources has been collated, categorised, risk assessed and mapped to show the priority for inspection of individual sites and also to give access to information about sites to a wide range of clients from staff in other departments to members of the public and external agencies.

Within the community safety team, ESRI's Spatial Analyst is being used to hotspot crime and disorder, inline with integrated census data and crime figures. The trend information created is used directly in the delivery of the team's key objectives.

The roll-out of the ESRI corporate GIS lays the foundations for Harrogate's ongoing GIS Strategy. The next stage will involve updating the council's data in line with Ordnance Survey's Positional Accuracy Improvement (PAI) programme, followed by migration to OS MasterMap®.

Finally, to improve business processes, meet e-government targets and achieve Access to Services requirements, several data capture projects have been identified and Harrogate will be looking to ESRI's mobile solutions to achieve this.

Jonathan added: "GIS is an essential tool in modern government, highlighted by its inclusion in 65% of the ODPM's priority outcomes.  For us, the use of GIS is growing at a rapid pace, with planning staff successfully building their key business objectives around this tool. GIS is critical in sharing information amongst staff and will soon deliver key data to citizens and customers via our website.  Future project work will look at making the flow of spatial information more efficient between other local responsible bodies such as the police, fire service, the NHS and social services.

Now that our GIS Strategy is firmly underway, the implementation of ESRI software has formed the cornerstone for on-going development which will support the council's long-term objectives."

About ESRI (UK)
ESRI (UK) is part of the global ESRI network. With the single, largest pool of GIS expertise in the UK, the company is the technical authority on GIS. ESRI (UK) provides solutions, technology and services including off the shelf applications built on the ArcGIS software suite and an extensive range of consulting and training services.

Its offerings meet a range of business needs in different markets including Business, Local & Central Government, Public Safety, Utilities and Telecommunications, as well as catering for system integrators and application developers through the ESRI Developer Network.

ESRI (UK)'s customers include North London Strategic Alliance (London Boroughs of Enfield, Haringey, Barnet & Waltham Forest), Sevenoaks District Council, Leeds City Council and Birmingham City Council.