Roll-Out

Early Release

In order to encourage channel shift early and to de-risk deployment-to-live, we released an early version of the service at the end of October. This allowed a small group of named agents to use the new CRM and interface to send out emails and SMSs via Gov.Notify. This was a really useful opportunity to test and hone our processes at low risk and to a small audience. This approach also had the parallel benefit of gaining real feedback from agents on their experience of the site and embedding early adopters within the service to spread the benefits to their colleagues.

The release was demonstrated to the Head of Service, Service Manager and an agent in advance of this first roll-out.

NCC Training

Now

We have trained the Agents and Team Leaders with the initial release of Gov Notify functionality. This was done with a walkthrough and hands-on trial session, where users could try a few journeys for themselves with guidance. They were also left with print and PDF guidance documents which follow step-by-step on how to navigate the interface.

Next

We plan to have an online version of our guidance so that files don't get lost. This will make it easy to find for users so that they don't have to wait for an expert to show them.

MVP Release

We are almost finished the MVP and will deploy-to-live after we have fully tested the service and trained the agents. As there is a live service already in operation at the NCC, we have a number of criteria to consider in rolling out this new service to avoid disruption. Our aim is to introduce as many agents as practical to the new service so that we can:

• gather feedback on usability from a variety of perspectives
• generate sufficient real data for building reports
• get the new way of working on peoples' radar

To achieve this, our roll-out plan is:

1. Train 8 agents on the rent service i.e. not just sending out links but taking payments, looking up balances, etc.
2. Set up the agents' CRM logins.
3. NCC will run a rota of one trained agent in the morning and a different one in the afternoon, who will take rent calls only.
4. Rent calls will be directed to the appropriate agent by creating a Rent profile. The agent will log into this profile on the half day they are taking Rent calls, and their normal profile the rest of the time.
5. Could potentially set up a calendar or email alert to the appropriate agent so they are doubly sure that they know when they are covering Rent.
6. This will run Tues to Fri only as Mon is very busy.
7. We will see how it is running after a day and after a week and ascertain if we need to make and changes to the roll-out plan.