Software consultancy - supporting Birmingham Changing Futures Together

Birmingham Changing Futures Together is a city wide project that aims to support people with multiple needs. It's coordinated by Birmingham Voluntary Services Council and brings together a network of supporting agencies who together will deliver joined-up targeted support to more than 1000 clients.

SkillsLogic was asked to provide software consultancy services in the early stages of the project. BVSC and its project partners - the No Wrong Door Network - wanted to understand the business requirements for a project wide case management system that would support referrals between project partners and a joined up picture of the client. The overarching requirement was that clients receiving support from the network wouldn’t have to "tell their story more than once".

The highlights of our approach included:

1. A series of visits to project partners across the city.
2. A focus in on high priority core requirements - important when detailed business processes are not yet established.
3. Requirements written down as simple user stories in plain English; busy people just don’t want to read long specifications.
4. Some wireframing/mockup screens to encourage discussion and tease out more detail around requirements. This turned out to be valuable - less abstract than discussing business requirements for processes that were still not operational.

SkillsLogic has continued to work with BVSC and Birmingham Changing Futures Together through the subsequent supplier procurement. The project is a good example of SkillsLogic providing expert software consultancy advice to a network of stakeholders. We provide impartial advice on the latest web application technologies and can share a wealth of project experience with clients who are about to procure and implement new systems.