Council Waste & Recycling Centre Digital Transformation

Welcome to the Cambridgeshire County Council Waste and Recycling centre Digital Transformation report. By implementing BookingLive’s waste and recycling centre online booking solution, Cambridgeshire CC saw a quick turnaround in the management of the site. With urgency and necessity as key driving forces, a very short project timescale of three days was required and followed-through by BookingLive.

Background

Cambridgeshire County Council provides household recycling centres for use by County residents. When the Covid-19 virus struck it was necessary to close all sites until measures could be put in place to protect site users and staff. Initially, when sites reopened, traffic management measures were used to deal with the expected high level of demand and maintain traffic flow around sites. This option was expensive, resulting in long waiting times for site users and considerable disruption to traffic on neighbouring roads.

Challenges and Needs

• First and foremost, reducing waiting times and traffic disruption to neighbouring roads was the biggest need
• They chose BookingLive to develop a simple to use and administer booking system
• Due to the nature of the need, the biggest challenge was the incredibly short timescale to put the system in place in three days

Outcome after Implementation

• The deadline was achieved, and Booking Live were there throughout the introduction process to guide and support staff implementing the system. The system was initially only used to manage the flow of certain types of vehicles that required permits to enter sites, but was soon extended to all vehicles at three sites with the greatest disruption
• The success at these sites quickly led to its extension to two further sites where queues were still a problem
• Since introducing the online booking system, the Council has been able to substantially scale back traffic management operations, leading to a considerable financial saving
• Waiting times for site users have improved from typically up to an hour to less than 5 minutes, with vehicles often being able to drive straight onto site
• Disruption to local traffic has been virtually eliminated, and related complaints have greatly reduced.

Implementation and System Review

Dave White, Strategic Projects Manager, who implemented the booking system on behalf of the Council said “I was truly impressed with the level of support that we received from Booking Live. We were allocated our own Project Manager to support us through the initial implementation phase. He was always available and highly responsive, nothing was ever too much trouble and the few problems we did experience were quickly resolved. After the first month, we were directed towards BookingLive’s helpdesk to resolve issues and have continued to receive the same high level of support.”

“The system itself is very logical and simple to use. It is easy to adapt to changing requirements. I made a point of speaking to site visitors about their experiences of making bookings, and the universal response was that the system was clear and easy to use.”

“I have been highly impressed by the booking system and support provided by Booking Live, and based on my experiences would recommend the company to anyone with similar requirements.”

Digital Transformation

With the online booking system in place, visitors to the council’s website are now able to book a time-slot using a multi-device platform, with the ability to book from anywhere. With BookingLive’s system, Cambridgeshire County Council is able to offer its citizens an administration-free, fully automated experience, with access to its services 24/7.

Booking Journey

When a user visits the council’s waste and recycling section of the website, they are taken to a new page where the booking journey begins. To begin with, a user has to choose which site they wish to attend and whether or not their vehicle requires a permit to visit the site. Once chosen, the user is taken to the chosen site’s calendar, where they then pick an available date and time that suits them. After confirming the date and site, they are taken to a small data capture form where they input some details, such as first name and vehicle registration number.

After this, they are taken to a basket page where they confirm all details and finalise their booking. It is then possible to set up reminder messages via email or SMS, to help ensure the time slot isn’t missed.

Our Mission

Waste and recycling online booking solutions, such as the one discussed in this report, are just one example of a digital transformation solution that BookingLive offers. We are on a mission to help public sector organisations reach their digital transformation goals. By automating any bookable service, an organisation can not only take one step closer to reaching that goal, but also significantly reduce administrative tasks, increase citizen engagement and maximise what the service has to offer.

Find out more about BookingLive’s scheduling system and its partnership with organisations going through digital transformation. To discover how BookingLive can bring its 10+ years of successfully servicing the public sector to support you with your department’s digital goals, please contact us via email, or call +1 (0)117 933 8632 to speak with one of our public sector solutions specialists.

To see a live demonstration of this booking software solution above and others click the link below.