One of our major clients - The Scottish Assessors Association – has recently won not one but two awards for their SAA Portal which we built and continue to develop for them.

Both awards were from the IRRV (Institute of Revenues, Rating and Valuation). The first was for being "Best in Scotland" at the IRRV annual performance awards in Crieff on 5th Sept 2007, followed closely by the "Excellence in IT" award at the IRRV National Conference in Brighton on 11th October 2007. The Awards Panel was looking for organisations to demonstrate that they are using information or communications technology, which has generated significant organisational or service improvement. There needed to be evidence of ease of use, improved access, higher productivity and better linkages.

The SAA Team including Ian Finch (Technical Director - Connect) 3rd left and Adam Bowen (Lead Developer - Connect) 6th left

Two key members of the Connect project team, Ian Finch, Technical Director, and Adam Bowen, Senior Consultant, were invited by the SAA to join their representatives at the national awards ceremony. Ian commented ‘We are delighted to share in this recognition of the way the portal has transformed interaction between the Assessors and the public’. Les Walker, SRO for the Scottish Assessors’ Portal Project, said “These awards recognise the success of the Scottish Assessors Portal which is due to the dedication and efforts of all members of the Portal Steering Group, the Portal Board ,the Working Groups and a very successful working relationship with Connect Internet Solutions”

Members of the Connect SAA Development Team from l-r Carole Boardman (Public Services Director), Kev Cann (Developer), Ian Finch (Technical Director), Mark Caldwell (Developer) and Ian Pennington (Designer)

 

The Scottish Assessors' Portal is part of the Definitive National Addressing for Scotland initiative, a Modernising Government project funded by the Scottish Executive/Scottish local government community. As part of this project, all 14 Assessors in Scotland work in partnership to develop and maintain the Scottish Assessors' Portal. For the first time there is now single point access to all properties/subjects contained in the Valuation Roll and Council Tax List. The public interface provides online access to a range of information in addition to allowing users to interact electronically with Assessors’ offices. The emphasis of the Portal’s development has, and will continue to be, the efficient delivery of services that are customer-focused using IT and web-based tools, with the overall objective of providing enhanced joined-up government services beneficial to central and local government organisations, and citizens alike.