The new Pipeline tool from Local Gov Digital is one more step towards improving collaboration between local authorities across the UK. The service supports the collection of information about digital services - all the way from Discovery (the initial investigation into the development of the service) to Live (where the service is fully supported and in use by the public).
The Pipeline tool was created with the aim of allowing local councils across the country to record the services they work on, so that other councils can spot opportunities for collaboration. This could include re-using open source projects, combining budgets to build a shared service, or coming together to build a single cloud service that could potentially be used by citizens in hundreds of local authorities.
The Greater London Authority has added a number of digital products to the list, including the following:
- GLA-Ops (a user-friendly online system which organisations can use to submit bids for funding)
- Customer Service chatbot (designed to help Londoners find information quicker on London.gov.uk)
- Correspondence system replacement (a system for handling queries and Freedom of Information requests from Londoners)
- London Mayoral Elections (a service which gives up to date information about the elections for the Mayor of London and London Assembly)
- Volunteering in London (a service to help Londoners find great volunteering opportunities)
Having this data available makes collaboration easier. If two or more authorities are working on similar projects, they could instead work together to build a platform that works for everyone.
It also means that before building or buying a new product an authority can see if a cloud-based or open source tool can be reused for free. A great example of this is the GLA-Ops service mentioned above, which releases its code as open source so that any local council can reuse it to save time and money.
Things are progressing fast in the local government digital space, thanks in no small part to the continuing adoption of the Local Digital Declaration and to initiatives such as the Local Digital Fund. To find out more, you can join the Local Gov Digital Slack, subscribe to the Local Digital newsletter or follow Local Digital on Twitter.
You can sign up to the Pipeline service to stay up to date on projects. You can also add projects from your organisation to share the great things you are doing and look for collaboration partners.
We look forward to seeing lots of great services there.