It’s true to say that many Authority Public Protection releases tend to have a theme, although sometimes we manage to pack in enough items that the main theme of a release appears different depending on which of the disciplines you work in. Version 7.09 certainly has a great deal of content but for once a release is dominated by what can easily be viewed as a single enhancement, arguably the biggest single enhancement of the system in the last 10 years.

In reality however, the Client Database is a great many enhancements some of which have been ‘in the shop’ for a while and others which are bang up to date, all of which however centre around the way in which people and organisation data is collected and linked within APP.

When embarking on the task of reviewing this fundamental area of the system we were keen to build on that which was already in place and we therefore set about enhancing the names and addresses database to achieve our aims.

Listing all of the improvements provided for by the client database would take quite some time and is a job best left for the upgrade notes, however, the main improvements to the system are:

•  all name and address data in the APP system can now be linked via the client database
• name and address records can now be linked to multiple activities, each with a different “type” of link e.g. one can be linked to an ASB case as a “Suspect” and to a housing grant record as an “Applicant”
• all name fields are now split into title, forename, surname and suffix and individual systems can be configured to recognise additional titles and suffix
• versions of people records can now be maintained allowing for changes to name and address to be easily catered for within the system
• groups of name and address records can be created allowing for quick and easy investigation of activities linked to related people and/or organisations

The initial appearance of most activity update programs will remain largely unchanged as a result of implementing v7.09 but every major program has been affected and the entry of any name and address in the system will now create a new name and address record, unless, a search of the existing name and address records is executed and a suitable match found.

To simplify the process of linking name and address records to activity programs, a search utility is supplied as part of v7.09. This search utility, pictured below, is aimed at making the process as painless as possible and allows for multiple items of client information to be utilised when attempting to find a match.

Immediately post upgrade, the client database will be populated by existing v7.08 name and address records and a raft of new name and address records automatically created from all those activities into which the client database is fully integrated. This means that a name and address record will be created for every complaint, service request, sample, housing grant, building control application, planning application, sample, food premises and accident in your system. It’s therefore a good idea to spend some time preparing your 7.08 system for the upgrade to v7.09 and, in particular, to focus on ensuring that your record retention policy is fully applied. To assist in the preparation, an advice document will shortly be made available on the knowledge base section of our website.

For those of you wishing to make the most of the improvements to the system, much work will also be required immediately post-upgrade. The good news is that we’re planning to provide advice both through our support services, on the website and as part of the upgrade notes. In addition to this, a suite of utilities to assist in the manipulation of name and address data will also be provided in v7.09.

In line with the strategic thinking of many of our customers, an extended set of interoperability options will be introduced along with v7.09 which will allowing your APP system to be linked to centralised citizen and/or organisation databases.

Both 'in-house' and throughout the user community, there's a great deal of excitment about the possibilities that this significant development will provide for all APP users and I look forward to hearing from each of you as you implement our most exciting release for some time.

-Tony Hughes




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