Dudley's Digital Business Change team provides a range of programme and project management, as well as business analysis functions, across the whole of Dudley Council, and is a merger of our previously separate Business Engagement and Business Change teams, providing a smoother transition from the engagement function into the change function.As a Manager within the Business Engagement team, I work across all areas, and currently have specific responsibility for the delivery of projects to provide major system upgrades and the introduction of new modules into the Council's SystemC Liquidlogic/ContrOCC, and Access Group Synergy solutions, covering the breadth of Adults and Children's Social Care, and Children's Education. My team of project managers and analysts also support and deliver a range of other projects across the whole Council.I also work with both our own PMO and the Council's Corporate PMO to ensure that all programmes and projects are delivered to the Council's standards, and to an agreed Digital Roadmap, ensuring that the use of limited resources is optimised to support delivery of identified improvements, benefits, and savings.As well as working closely, and maintaining relationships with the various services' senior management, I also work alongside the Council's Technology Systems and Services functions, to ensure that all technical aspects of digital change programmes and projects are resourced and delivered to plan.

Led a team of Business Analysts to redesign online services being moved onto our Microsoft Dynamics based Digital Platform, alongside strategic and delivery planning for the migration programme.Led on Service Redesign and Business Analysis for the Council's corporate Service Centre programme, producing both individual and overarching Business Cases for a range of potential Service Centre services.Responsible for the leadership and delivery of the corporate portfolio of programmes and projects, managing and deploying a team of Programme Managers, secondees, and external contract/consultant capacity on priority efficiency and change management activities. Including the design and implementation of a Council-wide approach to improving efficiency and management of change.Programme lead and Board member for the implementation of the Council's Digital Platform, replacing the existing outdated CRM, and online forms, with a modern, fit-for-purpose set of products to enable major savings through personalisation, channel shift, integration and automation.Strong experience of contracts, and contract management, including holding suppliers to account, and formal rectification processes, Programme lead for wider Digital Transformation, and responsibility for the Council's tri-themed corporate Transforming for the Future Programme. Member of the Chief Executive-led Transformation & Delivery Board, reporting on a range of strategic transformative programmes.

Leading on the Council's Digital Transformation Programme, with a focus on connecting with both external and internal customers through digitally enabled service and information provision, including provision of Business Intelligence.

The role included acting up for 15 months for responsibilities of the Assistant Director while other arrangements were made, and I continued to lead the CATS team and programme with a significant degree of autonomy after this. Leading a team of Business Analysts responsible for facilitating improvement to (and where appropriate, transformation of) end-to-end service delivery across the Council, under the Customer Access to Services banner. We use a range of approaches, with a strong emphasis on systemic methods, and the use of data and insight to inform the improvement and redesign processes.Initially the team's role was to re-engineer business processes to enable the front-end transfer of customer access to the Council's new Dudley Council Plus customer contact centre (contacts via phone, F2F, e-mail, etc); we were instrumental in the successful implementation of DC+ and continued our work in relation to both service transfer and continuous improvement.

A member of the above Corporate Groups, which had responsibility for steering the direction of Improvement, Change, and Transformation across the Council, working with Assistant Directors and alongside other programme leads.Responsibility for the monitoring, approval, and delivery of committed returns for Dudley's share of the regional improvement budget, used to part/match fund 15 different transformation initiatives.

Additional responsibilities as a member of the newly formed Change Management Team, which was responsible for the implementation of the Council's 3 year Town Centre Accommodation Strategy and the Transforming Our Workplace programme, including physical technical and cultural change at the organisation and individual service level.

Corporate positions inc prog/analysis roles moving into Business Consultancy/strategic focus, defining business needs & id'ing best use of technology with strong trouble-shooting skills.Managed/implemented a range of systems and applications, inc: land & property systems, GIS & spatial analysis, LAMIS, PLANES, Land Charges, Housing Repairs & Rents, NNDR (BRATES), Planning (PACIS/BRACIS/APAS); introduction of alternative payments (PAYPOINT, Post Office) with mag-cards/barcodes; implementation of OfficePower across large Directorates, and smaller divisions & teams; major upgrades to EDM systems (at a time when confidence in the supplier was very low & any problem would be seen as 'terminal'); produced (& implemented) ICT Strategies for large multi-function Directorates; produced requirement specs/designs for major new systems (e.g. Land Charges, Asset Management), and too many other things to mention (or remember!).

Started as a Trainee DME/VME COBOL Programmer following successful completion of an NCC Threshhold training course; quickly moved up to programmer, working in both development, and support and maintenance roles, including leading a small team on one significant development.