Richard Tyndall, Project Manager for the National Smartcard Project, highlights the support available to councils looking to implement smartcard schemes.
As this phase of the National Smartcard Project comes to a close (March 31, 2005) we are able to look back over the past 30 months and say with satisfaction that we have achieved our objectives and can wrap up the project in the knowledge that we leave a legacy of experience that will help to shape a smart future for England’s local authorities.
That’s not to say that the project has nailed the nitty gritty of implementing multi-application smart card technology in order to provide a successful citizen card. Rather it has produced a framework and foundation upon which local authorities can build.
What the project leaves behind is the experience of authorities and individuals at the forefront of the game and some guidance for others to follow.
When the chips are down
For local authorities there is no escaping the implementation of smart cards with Priority Service Outcomes G12 and E9 requiring access to leisure and library services and stored payment systems by 2006. While many of us might want to bury our heads in the sand and grumble about box-ticking it’s worth bearing in mind the real reason for implementation – to improve citizens’ experience of government services.
For local authorities multi-application smart cards bring a host of citizen-centric benefits to the business process which improves access to and in some cases delivery of frontline services.
Amongst others, schools, social services, car parks, trading standards and leisure services can use multi-application smart cards to:
- Reduce duplication of cards, schemes and databases
- Provide a portable, verifiable identity token
- Target and de-stigmatise welfare benefits
- Permit e-transactions
- Reward desired behaviours
- Facilitate marketing and data usage.
Nowhere more so than in the smart card arena does the saying ‘no pain, no gain’ ring true! To achieve these benefits local authorities face numerous practical and operational challenges which require serious consideration to overcome.
Not least of these of these are:
- Corporate integration of citizen identity management, including central CRM and service specific systems;
two-tier integration at county and district level;
cross-government links with health and higher education for example;
regional and sub-regional co-operation.
And of course funding – the ‘upfront’ investment costs and the realisation of ‘efficiency’ savings.
Help is at hand!
There’s no doubt that at some stage in the process implementing smart card technology will feel like pulling teeth – without the anaesthetic.
But rest assured, for all the blood, sweat and tears you are about to shed someone, somewhere has shed them before and it is their experience which is going to help soothe some of that pain.
The outputs of the National Smartcard Project by no means hold all of the answers. What they do contain is the expertise and experience of local authorities and other agencies that have taken the plunge and felt that pain so that others might learn from their successes and avoid their mistakes.
Starter Pack
A complete step-by-step guide to implementing smart cards is included in the project’s Starter Pack. The comprehensive pack is based on experience from the project and includes technical, legal, and financial advice as well as business cases and can be found in Smart Store on the project’s website.
While the project has no sanction over which direction local authorities choose to go – we hope that the guidance in the Starter Pack provides them with a route map for the easiest possible journey.
For more information visit www.nationalsmartcardproject.org.uk
Software
The project’s software provides card management ability for deployment of card schemes within local authorities and covers:
- The creation of database records
- Storing digital photographs
- Storing scanned paper applications, including data protection contents
- Interfaces with card printers for full colour printing of white cards or overprinting of branded cards
- Initialisation of Mifare or JCOP 30 16k chips
- Revocation and reissue for lost or stolen cards
The first version of the software is currently being used by early adopters in Cornwall, Mid Suffolk, Chester and Bolton and is being updated with release of the second version expected at the end of March.
Commercially restricted open source licence options for the software are:
- Observers’ Licence – free for local authorities and commercial organisations to view and evaluate the software
- End-user Licence – £5,000 per annum for local authorities looking to deploy SmartStart
- End-user Supplier Licence - £10,000 per annum for commercial organisations looking to offer the software and deployment services to local authorities
- Purchase Licence – for commercial organisations looking to purchase the source for the software
For more information email wendy.reddington@bolton.gov.uk
SmartCard Networking Forum
The SmartCard Networking Forum (SCNF) is an independent, not-for-profit forum run by local government for local government covering the wide range of smart card issues. Membership is free for public sector organisations and provides a forum for sharing smart card knowledge and experience. Formed in 2001, SCNF has members from 283 public sector organisations from across the UK and, as a well established forum, provides an ideal vehicle to take forward debate and dissemination of smart card best practice.
Visit www.scnf.org.uk for more information.