ICT Partnership Working in Essex
Eamonn Burnell, IS External Partnerships Development Manager, The Essex OnLine Partnership

The Essex OnLine Partnership (EOLP) was set up to enable local authorities in Essex to achieve maximum benefit from the ODPM IEG funding, through collaborative approaches. The partnership consisting of 1 County Council, 11 Districts and Borough Councils, Police, Strategic Health Authority and Fire & Rescue. Their contributions fund a small resource team and the existing infrastructure supporting partnership activities. In the last 3 years this has delivered integrated telephony, EssExtranet which provides secure e-mail and sharing of applications for the partners, collaborative procurement of e-form technology, shared research e.g. Government Connect, Priority Service Outcomes.

As well as the creation of an Essexonline Portal for A-Z of services and community websites. http://www.essexonline.gov.uk/vip8/eol/EssexOnline/display/home/index.jsp

As a First for Essex we agreed a common specification for PCs and Laptops, resulting in an e-auction by the OGC and the Procurement Agency for Essex (PAE) ensuring large savings for all partners. The future role is endorsed by the Essex Chief Executive Association (ECEA) as being in support of the shared services agenda in addition to managing the implementation of services and contracts leading to a three year plan going forward. The EOLP resource team is getting increasingly closer in supporting the pan Essex business groups, where shared services are formulated and implemented. Essex authorities are taking a strategic view of how to maximise on accommodation and in doing so, opportunities are being sought to make joint use of premises underpinned by EOLP infrastructure implemented through IEG funded investment projects e.g. Telephony and EssExtranet.

EOLP has a joint funded, small project team, of IS professionals, technical programme and project managers who work in support of the shared business opportunities.