27. Develop a training guide
We recommend spending time developing training, guidance and support for potential users of the tool. This training could be delivered face to face, via a written training guide, or through e-learning packages.
The capacity you have available to support the operational tool will largely determine which training package you are able to offer to frontline staff but if ‘static’ training packages are chosen, such as e-learning or training guides, make sure to update these at regular intervals to ensure that their content matches the tool as it develops.
Areas your training should cover include:
All Local Authorities are already delivering mandatory information governance training so you may be able to reuse this content.
28. Increase the regularity of data flows and automate
For a tool to be fully operational, you need a means of regularly sharing data so that practitioners are not viewing out-of-date information. Work with the providers of the data to agree the frequency of which data is transferred (with our prototype, we agreed one-off transfers of data on a specific date).
The regularity will be influenced by the capacity of business intelligence teams and technical considerations, such as whether live server connections can be established.
If you do not have a data lake in place for internal, council-owned datasets, consider live server connections between host databases and the database you are using to feed the Family Context tool.
For external datasets, you could consider setting up:
You should seek to limit the number of manual processes that need to be performed by a data team and automate these where possible.
29. Increase the range of data flows
The aim of our prototype approach was to prove or disprove the concept of the tool and its efficacy in practice. This meant that it focused on a subset of the datasets identified as important by practitioners in our user research phase.
The limited capacity of a short prototype project was also a consideration in this. It takes time to undertake careful engagement and align thinking with partners regarding data sharing.
Use the prioritised list of data sources that you produced during the research phase to prioritise which datasets should be added to the tool once it becomes operational.
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30. Increase the number of users
Once the tool is operational, you could consider growing the user base. The addition of any new users should be reflected within your DPIA and DSAs with partners.
New users might involve new internal council teams who have a legitimate business need to access the platform or you could consider using Microsoft Active Directory to allow access to external partners. You should carefully work through with your Data Protection lead about whether access is appropriate for these new roles.