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Case Studies -> Department of Health - MEDS |
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MEDS
for e-Filing at the Department of Health
Charles McKenzie Consulting help the Department of Health move
their filing into the electronic age and to prepare for the
Freedom of Information Act. |
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The
Department of Health
- Leads
and drives forward change within the NHS
- Continually
improving standards of public health
- Must comply with the Freedom of Information Act by 2005
-
Adopting eGovernment initiatives
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Solution
Offerings
- Ease
and speed of electronic filing
-
Fast searching facilities
- Acts
like a virtual directory with 'favourites' to speed the
filing process
- Transfer
emails directly into MEDS
- Establish workgroups for document sharing
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Background
The Department of Health (DH) has record keeping obligations under
the terms of the Public Records Act and is aware of the impending
impact on its record keeping of the Freedom of Information Act.
Because of these, as well as the Modernising Government eBusiness
directives and its own internal efficiency objectives, DH has developed
an inhouse electronic record keeping solution, MEDS (Management
of Electronic Documents Strategy). This is not a department-wide,
‘one size fits all’ solution, but one that is rolled
out on a team by team basis. This enables each team to have control
over their own file structure and the security of and access to
their own virtual filing cabinet. MEDS is a server based solution
with direct functional links from the user’s mailbox to his/her
MEDS file office.
Project objectives
DH’s objective was to implement MEDS in each section of the
Department by the end of 2003 in order that users felt comfortable
and on board with this way of working by the time the Freedom of
Information Act is fully implemented by January 2005. The in-house
team were facing a tough challenge in meeting this target and additional
resource and experience was felt necessary. The task of giving a
MEDS solution to each of the many teams in the Department is a large
one, involving an understanding of DH culture and practice, an analysis
of record keeping requirements, the inter-personal skills required
to get people on board with new ways of working, and the communication
skills needed when training groups of new users. All this was to
be achieved in parallel with managing the Change Programme, the
most radical overhaul of the Department’s structure and working
practices in its history.
Why
Our Consultants?
Why Our Consultants? Although this was not primarily a technical
project, Charles McKenzie Consulting’s background in client/server
applications gave them a unique insight into the functionality of
MEDS, which has been a valuable addition to the DH MEDS team. However,
fundamental to the success of this project has been the ability
to assess and analyse the requirements of each team, deliver a satisfactory
solution, and train the team members to be comfortable users of
the system. It is these largely non-technical skills which have
enabled Charles McKenzie not only to get up to speed with all the
requirements very quickly, but also to be invited to extend the
contract and undertake additional evaluation and audit responsibilities
within the project.
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