Land Registry
Land Registry, the government department responsible for maintaining the Land Register for England and Wales, provides the service for guaranteeing ownership of land and facilitating property transactions. It currently holds over 19 million titles, manages over 32 million applications annually and processes approximately £1 million worth of property every minute.
ERMS system
In 2002, having completed the massive task of computerising almost 18 million registered titles, Land Registry turned its attention to establishing an Electronic Records Management System (ERMS) in line with e-Government policies and targets. The aim of the project was to make available electronically millions of supporting administrative documents, from application forms to personnel and procurement records, to around 8,000 Registry staff.
Terry Hewins, Technical Solution Lead at Land Registry, takes up the story: “We weren’t looking to put the 19 million registered titles onto the ERMS, but rather the millions of supporting administration and application documents. We had been using disparate desktop applications with people creating material in different places. Essentially, we didn’t know what we had, what it was about and where it was held.”
Consultants were involved in the original work for the project, but, as Hewins explained, “when it came to implementing the system, we realised we didn’t have any information management processes or business benefits analysis, so we ended up asking ourselves, ‘Why should we bother with this project at all?’”
Business benefits realisation
In 2006 it was decided to re-define the business case for the project, effectively closing what had gone on before and starting a new project. “We brought in information management consultants Bramble.cc to help identify the business benefits that could be derived from an ERMS implementation. Their consultants came in to meet our senior executives and other stakeholders, gathered information and came up with a report which effectively outlined the business benefits of the system going forward.”
The strategy involved managing processes around the Registry’s existing Meridio Records Management. “We didn’t really have any electronic records management experience, whereas Bramble.cc had been there and done it. They were very precise about what they were doing and why,” added Hewins.
A combination of inertia and changing priorities meant that the report, and a subsequent pilot of the system, went nowhere, and the project languished. However, knowing how things can change in government, the project board asked for roadmap for possible future implementation should Land Registry decide to pick up the project again.
Road maps
In summer 2007, Bramble.cc was asked to review the ERMS, this time the challenge was to produce evolutionary ‘road maps’ from which Land Registry business units could quickly justify and implement ERMS services. The road maps were constructed around scenarios based on both resource availability and critical paths. In this subsequent phase Bramble.cc provided Land Registry with an overarching planning guide, enabling senior stakeholders and decision makers to understand what would be involved in delivering an ERMS implementation within business units. “They defined what the business benefits would be and provided several tools we could use, validating what we had originally considered in the business case earlier,” said Hewins.
“The business had changed dramatically since the start of the original project,” said Hewins, “and in the intervening year the Registry has gone through a business transformation process. Bramble.cc effectively redefined the benefits to the transformed business. Their consultants provided an ERMS strategy and outlined the strategic business case, as well as a benefits realisation management tool that anyone could pick up and work with. All users have to do is put in the relevant figures to get a reasonable estimate of financial benefits from implementing an ERMS system.”
Results and benefits
Land Registry now has the ability to assess at any time the benefits of the ERMS system and move it forward.
A presentation introducing the scope of records management within the business, identifying the statutory, regulatory and governance environment, together with the local advantages and benefits for ERMS adoption. “Bramble.cc’s approach was very focused and responsive to our particular situation,” said Hewins. “The results provided Land Registry’s decision makers with the right information to take ERMS forward. The work revealed to us many important and valuable areas of benefit which we had not previously considered.” From Bramble.cc’s initial work, it was possible for Land Registry to illuminate the vision for the project by aligning business benefits to strategic business requirements, identifying how ERMS would enable the move towards electronic ways of working.
“Bramble.cc was also able to support the vision, and backup the business case, by quantifying over £3 million of tangible, cash benefits over five years, with a further potential £10 million in value flowing from intangible benefits, such as efficiency gains,” added Hewins.
He concluded: “Bramble.cc’s consultants are extremely knowledgeable in information management and have practical experience of implementing systems. They are also very friendly, very approachable and explain what they are doing at every stage. With other consultants I was always made to feel that they were the experts and I was just paying them to get the job done. Bramble.cc wanted to get me to a level where I could take over from them – there was a lot of knowledge transfer.”