North Northamptonshire Council utilise Microsoft Fabric to enhance Resident Experience
Background
North Northamptonshire Council was established in 2021 as the combination of four predecessor councils alongside the country council. Pulling these organisations together provided the opportunity to create a new unitary authority with services, systems and data from the previous councils.
Moving forward, the Council was focused on building a modern foundation that would combine these resources to better support services for residents and drive greater data maturity.
“It’s so easy to look at a service in isolation, but really, we need to get the whole story of what we’re doing and who we’re doing it for. That is going to help us deliver services far more efficiently.”
Amanda Davies, Customer Delivery Manager
Challenge
Following the merger, the Council was operating across a range of disconnected applications and data sources.
Without a consistent platform, it was difficult to gain a unified view of information, limiting visibility and making data-driven decisions more challenging.
North Northamptonshire Council partnered with ANS to design a modern data platform built for long-term growth.
Why ANS?
“We chose ANS because of their wealth of experience and credentials in Local Government. During the Data Navigator engagement ANS strongly demonstrated that they really understood our processes, strategic goals and had the Microsoft Fabric expertise in-house to drive our data initiatives forward.”
Tom Barden, Head of Performance Intelligence and Partnerships
The Solution
ANS carried out a Data Navigator to prioritise and roadmap the data use cases most strongly aligned with the Council’s strategic objectives. Following this process, the team implemented Microsoft Fabric, establishing a single, accessible environment for data and reporting.
In addition, North Northamptonshire Council drew on ANS’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) service, which gives the council flexible access to ANS engineering resource to deliver a variety of the Council’s data modernisation initiatives.
“We’re working really closely with ANS colleagues who are supporting in terms of showing us good practises. Over the longer run, that will help our team to become more sustainable and to take things onto our own shoulders.”
Tom Barden, Head of Performance Intelligence and Partnerships
Outcome
The positive impact was felt across departments, from customer service to adult social care, bringing greater consistency and collaboration across the organisation. The new systems were accessible to all staff and smoothly integrated with their previous processes.
Microsoft Fabric and Power BI have enabled users across the Council, from senior leaders to frontline social workers, to access trusted, up-to-date information and make better-informed decisions. Service delivery data is now being collected across the system, allowing the Council to easily highlight strengths or spot issues.
From having multiple, uncoordinated applications, the Council now have a streamlined platform which efficiently combines information to showcase where their attention is needed. Using Power BI, staff can make better-informed decisions, improve operational efficiency and deliver better outcomes for residents.
“There has been at least 60 to 70% of improvement in the performance simply by getting the data and understanding the data better.”
Boby Paul, Head of Adult Social Care Services
