1. Background and InPhase

Over the last couple of years North Norfolk District Council have been integrating a piece of software called InPhase into their management processes and software systems. A key objective of this work is to improve accessibility of their performance information and data to Members, staff and the public. As part of this project, they trialled the LG Inform Plus developer tools to construct a custom view of Covid-19 data using a combination of metric types, areas and time periods specific to their need.  They built a data dashboard in InPhase to display cumulative cases, weekly cases, daily cases, rates, ranks and deaths, using easy to read and visual graphics. It was set up at the start of wave one of the pandemic to illustrate and track the spread and containment of the Covid-19 virus in their district, and identify timings for intervention methods such as employing community officers, sending out advice leaflets and putting up signage.

2. Applying the LG Inform Plus API

All the data coming into this single dashboard is automated using nine Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to allow two pieces of software to talk to each other via the internet. All but one of the APIs are coming from the LG Inform Plus developer tools function. After attending a training webinar, they found the developer tools really easy to use. It has made tracking the Covid cases in North Norfolk very quick and easy for all staff members, with minimal data maintenance. This frees staff up to concentrate on responding to what the data is telling them rather than using their time crunching the numbers.

3. North Norfolk’s Performance Portal.

North Norfolk District Council’s trial of the API functions went so well they are now fully signed up members and plan to continue building further InPhase dashboards using the LG Inform Plus APIs to streamline access to data within the Council and to help monitor the district’s recovery from Covid-19. In addition, the APIs will also feed into their Performance Portal, also hosted by InPhase, to measure the success of their objectives in their Corporate Plan.

For more details on this story or about the LG inform Plus API contact Lucy Wilshaw: Lucy.Wilshaw@north-norfolk.gov.uk or our support team: support@lginform.local.gov.uk