Press Release Date: 23rd July 2007

Simple Steps Towards Electronic Working

Making The Move To Electronic Applications

Making the move to receiving and processing electronic Building Control applications need not seem daunting as it is not an overnight change. It is however it is important that change takes place, not only for increasing customer service levels but also to help the environment. Resolution has recently commissioned a Carbon Footprint study on CO2 emissions on paper based applications and the preliminary findings are alarming. Full details of this study will be released shortly.

To date, DataSpace for Submit-a-Plan has been installed in over 200 Local Authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland making it the Industry Standard LABC endorsed system to enable Building Control departments to receive view and manage electronic applications.

 

Local Authority Website Survey

The number of online applications is rapidly increasing, however after a recent web survey of Local Authorities own Building Control web pages that used Submit-a-Plan for electronic submission and processing , the results made interesting reading. A summary of the results was:

42% Had a good quality link and service explanation

6% Had a poor explanation of the service

3% Link was Difficult to Find

1% The link was broken.

49% No web link or service explanation

A copy of this report detailing the results for each Authority can be requested from Resolution.

 

New Marketing Resources

To help Local Authorities promote electronic applications there is now a new updated ‘Marketing Resources’ web page on the Resolution website which contains information enabling you to promote and explain the service to your customers. The new ‘Marketing Resources’ page contains service information, presentations and a new web friendly logo with recommended website text. All is available for free download.

 

Promoting Online Application

There are several easy steps that can be taken to increase the number of electronic applications, which include:

2) Inform your customers in all communications about the online service.

 

Get Prepared

Getting prepared for receiving electronic applications is also important so that once you have received an application you are able to process it with ease. If you need assistance processing an application then please contact our support department who will help guide you though the process. Our support department is also available free of charge to those making an online application.

Resolution also provides a full range of training courses, which will help increase your knowledge of the system.