Worcestershire County Council has launched five new apps as part of its ‘Here 2 Help’ COVID-19 response program. The apps were designed, developed, and deployed in just two weeks using the OutSystems low-code app development platform.
Designed to allow Worcestershire County Council’s teams to respond more effectively to the ever-changing situation, the five apps rapidly developed by the Digital Delivery Team are:
- Community response app – This “Here 2 Help” external app matches requests for help from vulnerable residents with individuals, businesses, and volunteer organisations who have offered support.
- Volunteer redeployment app – This internal app is aimed at understanding employees’ previous experience and additional skills outside of their current roles to help the authority more effectively redeploy them into areas where support is needed.
- Absence from work due to coronavirus app – This internal app allows employees to instantly report absences from work.
- Existing medical condition declaration app – This internal app enables employees to inform the HR team about any underlying medical conditions that could put them at an increased risk of complications.
- Previous care experience app – This internal app enables the HR team to find out if employees have previous care experience, in order to supplement existing care staff, should additional capacity be required.
Jo Hilditch, Digital Delivery Team Manager at Worcestershire County Council said, “we’ve been able to get increasingly critical apps related to our COVID-19 response deployed in record time - some in under 24 hours,” said. “This has enabled us to help both vulnerable individuals across the County and our teams get the help they need in this unprecedented situation. Our community response app, in particular, has been very popular and we’ve currently received 1,445 volunteer offers and 1,623 requests for support. We’ve worked with OutSystems for a number of years, and its platform has allowed our developers to work in an incredibly agile way.”
The Digital Delivery Team has also developed an additional two apps to help support the Coronavirus testing program in both Worcestershire and Warwickshire.
Having worked with OutSystems for more than five years, its low-code platform, designed for the development of web and mobile applications, has already been used to develop a range of apps to support Worcestershire County Council’s digital presence, underpinned by a dedicated team of six developers in three workstreams.
Now that the apps are deployed, members of the relevant teams can update them in order to collect the information they need. For example, HR can change the skills or experience fields in its volunteer redeployment app quickly and easily, as new skills are required for contingency planning.
Willem van Enter, VP, EMEA, OutSystems added, “Worcestershire County Council had to deliver critical apps in a very short timeframe, and our platform has helped the team to design and deploy them faster and more efficiently than ever before. This has enabled a range of teams across the authority to connect volunteers with those who need additional help, safeguard vulnerable members of staff and better plan the redeployment of employees, based on skills and experience, as the situation develops.”
Further details about OutSystems, can be found here.
