Rochdale Appoints Cave Tab Ltd for Conversion of Child Services Records

Article from the Records Management Society Bulletin

29/08/2008 16:00

Leading records management specialist, Cave Tab Ltd has been awarded the contract for the conversion of Child Services records into electronic documents for Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council Social Services Department as part of the Authority’s migration towards Electronic Social Care Records (ESCR). 

Rochdale is one of 150 Councils with Responsibility for Social Services (CRSS) adopting electronic records under the Department of Health’s ESCR programme which aims to bring together all relevant information for a social care user in one place, enabling organisations to work together more easily and provide improved service to citizens.

Under the contract, Cave Tab will be responsible for bringing together current and archived Child Records, including the auditing and re-indexing of previously scanned records to provide a fully integrated view of each case.

The confidential nature of the records and the need for them to be accurately cross-referenced to family members and others meant that the highest standards had to be applied. Cave Tab and Rochdale staff therefore worked closely together on a pilot system, in which each file was registered into a file tracking system and tracked through the scanning process, ensuring that everything that went into the process came out of it.

File content sections were identified to correspond with Rochdale’s existing electronic document management system file plan, so that the electronic version of the file replicated its paper equivalent. A freestanding document image viewing system was also produced.

In addition to putting the system through its paces, the pilot scheme highlighted areas of process improvement which could be applied to the main project. At the same time, with *82% of CRSS believing that the cultural issues of moving from a paper to an electronic records environment needed to be addressed in order to build an effective electronic social care records system, the pilot scheme helped to promote early understanding, acceptance and ownership of the new system amongst agencies, suppliers and end user departments.

Rochdale Programme Manager, Simon Watton said:

“Cave Tab were not only able to demonstrate their understanding of our requirements and their ability to meet them, but also clearly understood the importance of overcoming the fear of cultural change. Thanks to their expertise, meticulous planning and team-based approach we are proceeding with the main file conversion with confidence.”
 

News category: About Cave Tab, Digital Records Management, Specialist Sectors


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