Joint intranet will drive collaboration between forces

The Sussex and Surrey police forces are looking to establish a joint intranet that will “help drive greater collaboration, improve internal communications both within and across both police forces and enable access from any device, from desktops and laptops to tablets and smartphones”. Sussex police and crime commissioner (PCC) Katy Bourne has issued a £120,000 to £150,000 tender for the development of the intranet solution that will provide single point of reference for applications, information and internal communications. The Sussex PCC, who is also chair of the Police ICT Company board, said in the tender notice for the 24-month contract that it will be “the first port of call for employees to access corporate or bespoke messages, applications, directories, policies and operational information, etc”. It is seen as a natural development for Surrey Police and Sussex Police, which are increasingly working collaboratively to achieve financial savings and operational efficiencies in policing the two force areas to benefit taxpayers in both counties. Currently both the forces have separate intranets. According to the notice detailed on the Government’s Digital Outcomes and Specialists marketplace, Sussex’s is built on a 15-year-old CMS (content management system), which is no longer supported and “requires intervention by the joint ICT team”. It is considered “unstable, cannot be accessed effectively through mobile devices and is poor at delivering internal communications”. While Surrey’s intranet is relatively new it was built on a “poor implementation of SharePoint and has architectural issues”. It is also not responsive, which is a “desirable” feature of the new solution. The new intranet will need to enable both organisations to “direct, inform and advise employees about a range of topics and matters ranging from advising on organisational transformation and priorities to promoting operational outcomes and good work”. All employees will require access to the joint intranet, particularly those in collaborated roles, says the notice, and “all are required to read routine orders as a minimum”. However, the intranet will also be a one-stop online portal to “receive messages from senior leaders, access core police applications, directories, policies, HR advice and guidance, and feedback dynamically about articles, issues and blogs/vlogs”.