Digitising via Power Apps

The Integrated Digital Service (IDS) has taken another huge step forward in our efforts to make staff lives easier with the launch of five new apps. Allowing for less paperwork, simpler processes & hundreds of hours saved, the apps will ensure more time spent on the things that matter most.

I am delighted to be able to announce that earlier last week five new apps, built within the Microsoft Power Apps platform, are to be piloted by a select group of colleagues within the organisation.

Earlier this year IDS dedicated itself to using the Microsoft Power Apps tool to assist in streamlining some of our staff’s more time-extensive and repetitive processes.

The Power Apps tool gives users the power to build bespoke digital applications which will act to speed up and centralise some of the more time-consuming administrative tasks, many of which are traditionally paper based.

Following a period of training, IDS now has a team of colleagues in place who can use the tool to create these specified apps, which will afford colleagues more time to dedicate to the tasks that matter most and make more efficient use of their time.

The five apps that will be part of this live test phase include:

• My Work Miles – will help simplify and standardise the recording of work-related journeys which currently see 30,000 claims raised a year, each taking 20 minutes to submit.
• Automation of Court Documents – will help reduce time taken for documentation to be produced from 20 mins to 30 seconds, saving 400 hours per year.
• Blocked Chutes – will reduce the unnecessary use of paper in the process and help the service save thousands of pounds per year across both blocked chutes and confidential waste.
• Confidential Waste - (as above).
• Vehicle Check – will allow for automatic issue logging and submission of results for the 786 vehicles that are checked daily.

The pilot will be run to test their functionality in real world situations and ensure any issues are tracked and ironed out before they’re made available to the rest of the organisation.

I would like to offer huge thanks and congratulations to those colleagues that have worked tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure we’re in a strong position to roll these apps out more widely in the new year.