Sprint 8 Update  

This sprint the team have been mainly focused on building the front-end forms, as well as continuing with the integration work - updating the connector for the Echo waste management system and confirming which methods to use, for all of the various service calls that are needed for each of the back-office systems. Once this work has progressed further, we'll be able to start showing some functioning end-to-end processes.

Despite a few 'Show & Tell gremlins' coming out to play at our last sprint review session, our Technical Architect, Dave, was able to demo one of the latest forms, currently still in development, which was 'Book a Bulky Waste Collection'. A couple of queries were raised about the current functionality (i.e. the ability to weight items to help inform the collection vehicle load capacity usage as well as how/where the form retrieves some of the postcode lookup data and therefore the available collection dates in that area) so these will be investigated by the team in the next sprint.

Our User Research Lead, Bal, has drafted the User Research Review / UX Insights Report, detailing the approach we've taken to this work in this phase and summarising all of her findings and recommendations. The draft report will be peer-reviewed in the next sprint and then circulated to the wider team / stakeholders for their review and feedback. 

We had a few challenges with people's availability and getting time in diaries, however some of the lead reps from the partner LAs met briefly, to start discussing the available options for a possible Phase 2 of the project. These discussions will be continued in the next sprint (diaries allowing!)

Our plan for Sprint 9 (which is a 3 week sprint, due the extended bank holiday) is to:   

• Continue building, and iterating, the front-end forms for the various prioritised waste services.    
• Continue building the integration connectors for Echo and Mayrise and confirming the methods used/required. 
• Review the draft User Research / UX Insights Report and circulate for feedback.
• Continue discussing and developing our 'Project Impact Monitoring & Evaluation Plan' for Phase 1 (following review of some example plans which have been shared by other similar funded projects).
• Continue discussing options for a potential Phase 2 and development of a proposal for further funding from the Local Digital Fund. 

Our next Show & Tell update session will be held online at 2pm 14 June, so please get in touch if you would like to attend this. You can also follow our Twitter account for regular project updates.

Mike Connell (Chief Officer - Digital and Communications, Rugby Borough Council and our Project Lead) is presenting a talk on 'Finding resources when you haven't any - a funding story', at the upcoming 'Digital Leaders Week 2022' event. He will be sharing his thoughts and experiences of being able to achieve more, by collaborating with others to identify and solve shared problems. You can sign-up for his session, which is at 2.30pm on 22 June, here.

This project has been funded by the DLUHC Local Digital Fund.