tailored to their needs - ThoughtWorks

Previously, this was all recorded on paper and sent by
post to The Place2Be’s head office. From there it was
forwarded to an external scanning company and the
digital version was then sent to an external data handling
company. After several months the data would be
available for the statisticians to analyse. This approach
slowed down their data analysis and meant their most
recent available data was 12 months old.
The answer was to look for a different and secure way
of capturing the information from each child interaction.
Not only would this speed up the paper to statistic
turnaround time, it would save the charity money in the
long term. However, it needed to be done in a way that
was cost effective to the organisation and would not
cause too much disruption to the staff’s daily roles
with the children.
The answer was to explore a web-based data capture
format and after an introduction from a mutual friend
of the business, The Place2Be turned to global IT
consultancy, ThoughtWorks, for help in designing a
bespoke portal for capturing data. Having previously
worked on similar projects, the ThoughtWorks team
understood how important it would be to develop a
robust tool that would provide a simple, quick solution
to capturing data effectively.
“
This is a major event and something
to really celebrate. Thank you to all for their
involvement; this is truly a landmark in the
development of The Place2Be.
”
Benita Refson OBE, Place2Be Chief Executive
The ThoughtWorks solution
The ThoughtWorks team worked closely with Louisa
McCallion, Digital Media Executive and other key
stakeholders at The Place2Be, to identify the challenges
the organisation was facing and how it could develop a
cost effective portal tailored to the organisation’s needs.
Working with input from users, the ThoughtWorks team
developed a web-based application which was not only
simple to use but would have a demonstrable impact on
the business. A selection of developers worked tirelessly
over a five-month period to build the software in line with
the objectives that had been set.
Following the successful build and development of the
application, using ThoughtWorks’ Agile principles, a pilot
test was launched in Ealing, West London. For one month,
field staff inputted their data and recorded conversations
via the web-application to identify any difficulties or
problems that occurred.
Feedback from the pilot test was then taken into account
and four months later, the scheme was formally rolled
out to all 172 schools. Along with the application roll-out,
step by step online training webinars were created by the
in-house research team at The Place2Be and delivered
to all the regional field staff.
www.thoughtworks.com