Lincolnshire County Council

Lincolnshire County Council has a long history of working with Abacus, from the very early days of information kiosks through to major intranet and internet projects, and implementation of innovative new technologies and new design concepts. According to Peter Barton, Head of Web and Information Service at the council: “We are extremely heavy users of Webstructure, and we are constantly demanding more of both the product and of Abacus. Neither has been found wanting. In fact, one measure of the success of our site is the number of other councils who contact us wanting to have a site exactly the same.”

Both the Council’s web and intranet sites, the contract for which Abacus won following a competitive pitch, are based on Webstructure. As is the case with many county councils, Lincolnshire works in partnership with a number of district councils. An agreement has been established whereby district councils are able to license a version of Webstructure at a much-reduced rate together with web design work. In addition, Abacus’ Recruit product underpins Jobs In Lincs, a portal for managing jobs across the County.

In 2007, Abacus undertook a major redesign of the Council’s site to include personalised navigation, Google search and a My Lincolnshire section, all presented against a backdrop of an inviting, contemporary design. A recent Socitm annual survey ranked the site in the top ten best county council sites. The ‘My Lincolnshire’ search facility was highlighted for specific commendation, together with the online payments and registration pages.

In the same year, and using the flexible e-Government Framework which Abacus had used as the basis for the new site, Lincolnshire launched what is believed to be the first example in the public sector of full-scale professional third party advertising on its site. The site design supports a wide range of different types of online advertising including messaging plus unit (MPU), skyscrapers, banners and leader boards. The Council, in common with other local authorities, is seeking to reduce its annual costs: introducing advertising onto the web site could, over time, provide a significant source of revenue for the County Council.