Developing Hackney Council's Here To Help Approach

Tender description

Summary of the work To effectively iterate Hackney Council’s existing Here To Help case management system and the Better Conversations product to meet user needs and improve the services. In the initial phase, we will be improving Better Conversations' search functionality and integrating the product with Here to Help. Expected Contract Length 24 months Latest start date Monday 10 May 2021 Budget Range The procurement is up to a total value of £400,000 over the period of 2021/22 and 2022/23. The initial phase of work is expected to be around £40,000. Further work will be agreed in phases. We cannot guarantee investing this amount. Why the Work is Being Done The Council is developing the Better Conversations tool to support resident-facing professionals help vulnerable residents and prevent them from reaching crisis. The vision for this product is for it to be used by Council, health and voluntary sector professionals. We want professionals to feel empowered to have quality conversations with residents and support them to access the services they need. This is what we mean by the Here To Help approach. We have developed this product over two phases of work and have added key features to support professionals to help residents access the services they need. Better Conversations has been developed alongside the Here to Help product which is the case management system for services relating to the Council's Covid-19 response. Some work in this brief will involve developing both products. However, our initial focus is on Better Conversations. Better Conversations also supports local strategic goals towards greater integrated working between health, council and voluntary sectors as well supporting efforts to take a preventative approach to supporting residents. This procurement is designed to expand the development capacity needed to implement our latest user-tested designs and continually improve the product over several phases. Problem to Be Solved The vulnerability experienced by many of our communities is being exacerbated by the pandemic. To support our residents effectively we need all services to work on a model which is: preventative, strengths-based and in partnership with partner organisations. We know from research with staff that they struggle to work in this way due to: Lack of easy access to information on the full range of council, health and voluntary sector services which are available Challenges making good quality referrals and following up on these Confidence talking to residents outside of their own areas of expertise Better Conversations has been developed alongside the Here to Help case management system to address these problems; and we have a live version being used by teams currently. However there are user needs emerging which will shape the first phase of build under this brief. The immediate issue to solve is the search functionality on the tool. We plan to develop our tested designs into the tool and validate these designs with users and iterate where necessary. A successful project will mean that we have more users confident in using the tool, driving up the number of residents who are accessing services. Who Are the Users As a frontline staff member I need to: access information about services available on a variety of needs so that I can support residents access guidance around how to have quality conversations with residents on a wide range of issues so that I can support residents’ wider needs easily share quality information with residents about our conversation so that the resident can access the services they need easily make referrals to services in the borough so that residents receive the right support that they need The users are a wide range of resident-facing professionals in public and third sector organisations in the London Borough of Hackney. They need to be able to quickly access information on topics and services to give residents the best possible support. A specific type of user in this phase will involve users on the Council’s coronavirus helpline. These users need to be able to have a seamless journey between their own Here To Help case management system and the Better Conversations product. Individual user needs will be detailed at the start of the phase of work, in collaboration with the agency. Work Already Done Our recent show & tell can be seen here - Project update #4 - https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1eK6tThMqY81cmoYQd17d62rd_IE7N2KbxyVJY8Cuerg/edit?ts=6059c382#slide=id.gc5f147f61d_1_21 A show and tell on Here To Help's development can be found here - https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1rtGEXqoAvl0z8UZfAsQ65IDu7zEzx9wb7hOlTF1c0JQ/edit?usp=sharing Github documentation on Here To Help tool - https://github.com/LBHackney-IT/cv-19-res-support-v3 Github documentation on Better Conversations tool - https://github.com/LBHackney-IT/coronavirus-frontdoor-snapshot Outputs from current discovery process with LOTI and LB Newham: https://app.mural.co/t/healthcaredesignmsc4915/m/healthcaredesignmsc4915/1615285653147/2be1d0ffe61a0102d7fec847d832916f39a23175 Existing Team We will operate a blended team from HackIT and the successful bidder. From Hackney we have the following roles to support this work: delivery manager, user researcher, service designer. We will have wider support from project stakeholders including information management; security; data & insights to support the project’s work. Current Phase Live Skills & Experience • Demonstrate a track-record of user-centred design and Agile approaches to delivery • Experience of developing applications to meet a Government Service Standard. We require the project team to participate in a Service Assessment as well • Experience of working collaboratively with an in-house team, building skills and capabilities to support a smooth handover • Have experience of working with .NET core, Docker, AWS and Terraform • Have experience of developing ‘in the open’ - using tools such as Github • Have experience of designing and developing minimum viable solutions • Have experience of designing to meet the public sector accessibility guidelines Nice to Haves • Demonstrate an understanding of Hackney’s approach to technology and data • Demonstrate how they provide opportunities for and upskill apprentices Work Location Remote working initially. If we return to working in the office it will be at: Hackney Council 1 Hillman Street London E8 1DY Working Arrangments This work can be done remotely but will require attending and contributing to team meetings and fortnightly reporting (eg via show & tells) to involve key stakeholders. We will provide access to key systems to project team members where required. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria • Understanding of the brief • Clarity of the approach and how it meets user needs • Experience from a similar project • Team structure, including skills, experiences and relevance of individuals • Identification of risks and plan to mitigate them • Blended day rates of the team Cultural Fit Criteria • Work as a team with our organisation and other suppliers • Be transparent and collaborative when making decisions • Share knowledge and experience with team members and the wider service • Hackney Council is a diverse organisation, reflecting the diversity of our borough. Describe how you would successfully work as a team with Hackney and other suppliers in a diverse environment. Payment Approach Time and materials Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 5% Price 35% Questions from Suppliers No questions have been answered yet.