Edinburgh City Council has been named as the best local authority site in Scotland, and in the top 2% in the UK by SOCITM (The Society for Information Technology Managers). The site was designed and is powered by Jadu, the UK’s leading content management system vendor in the public sector.

“Better Connected”, SOCITM’s annual report on the usefulness and usability of council websites, cited Edinburgh City Council’s website (www.edinburgh.gov.uk) as providing “clear, simple, helpful and excellent online functionality...”

The website was awarded the maximum ‘4 star’ rating by SOCITM, who conducted detailed reviews of every local authority website in the UK. Edinburgh was one of only nine websites to be awarded the ‘4 star’ rating and the first council in Scotland ever to be awarded this accolade.

Andrew Unsworth, the Council's Head of e-Government, said: “We are thrilled to have achieved this accolade from SOCITM. It is a milestone for the partnership and close working relationship we have established with Jadu. The Council has put the web at the centre of its strategy for making savings and we have worked very hard to deliver the maximum value for our customers.”

Sally Kerr, the Council’s Web Manager, said: “We are delighted by SOCITM’s rating of the Council’s web site reported in the Better Connected report. This has been achieved by utilising the great potential of the Jadu system and our new web governance and content approaches, to create a website which better meets the needs of our service users and the wider community.”

Jadu provides its customers with specialist consulting services and products to encourage channel shift. This is assisting it’s Local Authority customers to make the substantial savings that all Local Authorities must now deliver.

“This accolade is very well deserved by Edinburgh”, says Suraj Kika, CEO of Jadu. “The spirit of partnership they have demonstrated, together with content governance and project delivery expertise, has certainly made the best use of the Jadu CMS, Jadu XForms Professional and Jadu ePay software. A truly transactional content management system and beautiful and engaging website for a stunning city.”

Along with Edinburgh, dozens of other councils using the Jadu CMS were also cited in the report as examples of good practice in specific areas such as mobile presentation. Wandsworth Council was cited as being an “Example of good practice going mobile”. Other good examples included Rugby Council, North Warwickshire Council, Monmouthshire Council, Manchester City Council, Lichfield Council, Cheltenham Council, Southend Council, Harrow Council, Southwark Council and many others using the Jadu Content Management System.