Automated access to Tunbridge Wells Borough Council and OS data better serves contractors and staff, and presents future benefits for planning collaboration with Kent Connects

Birmingham, UK, 07 October 2010 – Dotted Eyes, the market leading GeoData and information software specialist, today announces the deployment of its Contractor Portal data sharing system by Tunbridge Wells Borough Council (TWBC).  Completed on time and on budget, the system is already meeting the Council’s need for a low-cost solution to providing automated data access to contractors, partners and internal planning staff.

TWBC identified Contractor Portal as the optimum system to accommodate its data sharing requirements late this summer. The system was quickly deployed; immediately facilitating self-serve access to Ordnance Survey data licensed under the Mapping Services Agreement (MSA), whilst delivering automated compliance and critical audit trails.

In line with the simplicity of the Contractor Portal system, TWBC just authorizes data access for contractors working on behalf of the Council (including individuals, charities, town and parish councils, other agencies and private companies), the data is then cut out, distributed and charged directly to the respective contractor by Dotted Eyes.   

“Contractor Portal has quite simply alleviated a significant time, cost and resource- intensive responsibility for TWBC staff,” said Peter Wain, GIS Manager at Tunbridge Wells Borough Council.

“We have some 25-plus key contractors as well as planning staff and engineers needing critical data access which previously would require manual servicing to identify the mapping data, write DVDs and post off individual packages – each request often taking half a day at a time.  Quite frankly, it’s a low investment with potentially very high returns.

“Encouragingly, partners within the Kent Connects network have already shown interest in adopting the system which would be of huge benefit to all parties in collaborating on joint planning projects – such as the current A21 development.”
 
“Self-service and simplification is key to opening up important data access as it enables more people in more organisations to make better and faster decisions,” said Ben Allan, Managing Director of Dotted Eyes.

“We’re really pleased that Tunbridge Wells identified the benefits of Contractor Portal so swiftly. We’re keen to hear how Kent Connects responds to TWBC’s initiative as we believe that the partnership has much to gain in realising low-cost, accessible data sharing.”

With a long heritage as innovators of software, data and information solutions developed for some 900-plus public and private sector customers in healthcare, local government, not-for-profit and the commercial sector, Dotted Eyes’ mantra is to ‘simplify, automate and integrate’  data and information.  This approach uniquely equips senior and departmental levels of organisations to access, visualise, analyse and share complex data in simple, useable formats to make more cost-effective, locally-relevant decisions.