Fishery Protection Officers save time & cost by switching to digital pens

The officers have swapped the traditional forms they fill in on a daily basis as part of their jobs in favour of a digital pen and paper system developed by public sector ICT specialists Innovation Leeds.

East Riding Council, a member of the Committee, provides IT and administrative support for North Eastern Sea Fisheries and is at the forefront of introducing technology based methods of improving efficiency.

The state of the art system allows the officers to fill in a paper based form as usual using the special pen. A tiny camera within the pen captures what is being written so it can be digitised and integrated directly into back office systems at East Riding Council – meaning that no time has to be spent re-inputting the information at a PC.

The officers are using the pen as part of their regular duties monitoring the catches of fishing fleets across the north east of England, both on the dockside and offshore. Data captured using the system can be transmitted back to the central database

Innovation Leeds, which is part of Leeds City Council's ICT department, works exclusively within the public sector to develop and supply digital pen and paper applications to clients in Local Government, Youth Justice and Housing Services, as well as specialising in wireless networking and Bluetooth broadcast solutions.

Ian Jones, Senior Consultant at Innovation Leeds said:

'Innovation Leeds is currently working with over 50 organisations on digital pen and paper projects and the efficiency savings the system brings are immediately obvious. Where this system is unique is the way that it is deployed in the field.'

'The user can be anywhere from the quayside, to actually out on the boat and instantly send the data captured on a form back to the central database using a combination of Bluetooth technology and a standard mobile phone.'

Councillor Mark Harris, Deputy Leader of Leeds City Council said:

'This is another example of Leeds sharing its experience as a leader in the field of ICT innovation.'

'We believe that developing and proving these technologies in Leeds before making them available across the public sector, we are providing a sound demonstration of their value to an organisation and the efficiency savings that they can bring.'

Andy Mays, ICT Programme Manager at East Riding Council said:
'One of the beauties of the system is that it allows data captured using the digital pen to be integrated directly into our existing back office systems with minimal hassle as well as providing evidence of the completed form as a visual electronic image.

Giles Bartlett, Environmental Officer with North Eastern Sea Fisheries said:
'North Eastern Sea Fisheries were looking at looking at modernising our approach to data capture and had been considering the use of PDA's when we started working with Innovation Leeds. For ease of use and serviceability in the unusual environmental conditions in which fishery officers worked the pen solution seemed ideal.'

'The efficiency savings that the digital pen and paper system brings are obvious and it's implementation means that our Fisheries Protection Officers can spend more time in the field rather than completing paperwork.'

Leeds will play host to some of the UK's most innovative minds at a prestigious public sector conference taking place next month. The day will feature keynote speeches from the former head of the European space programme Professor Heinz Wolff and ex head of online services at the BBC Euan Semple.

Innovation Leeds is a specialist part of Leeds City Council's ICT department. It was set up in 2006 to promote innovation and forward thinking in the field of ICT in order to bring benefit to the residents of Leeds and the wider population of the UK.

Working in the fields of digital pen and paper, wireless technology and Bluetooth, Innovation Leeds is at the forefront of developing successful public sector ICT solutions within the city of Leeds and rolling them out to other local government and public sector organisations across the UK and Europe.

Related links to this article:
Leeds City Council

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