Director’s weeknote
Atika Mohammed, DDaT Luton Director
In between complaining about the heat, grabbing glasses of water and sitting in front of the fan, I also had my first monthly coffee and chat session with Viraj and Iftikhar, which I really enjoyed. I am looking forward to keeping these up, getting to know more of you better and answering any questions you have!
This week we said goodbye to Dave Briggs, who has helped us on our journey of transforming from a traditional service to a modern DDaT one. We had a SMT lunch to say goodbye before Dave and I joined Jayson Sandiford to present at Luton Leaders on what Resident Experience is and run a session on user centred design. It went down very well!
I had multiple conversations about DDAT, transformation and data – the alignment, the priorities, the strategy and approach and how we can work together. Kevin Rowe and Nicola Egan are looking at how we can support the Unified Debt transformation project and Joe Bedingfield is working with Rosalind Jeffrey and Kevin on a joint triage process and multidisciplinary teams.
I had an interesting networking call with other CDOs (Chief Digital Officers – my equivalents) to talk all things enterprise resource planning (ERP) as we start to think about what is next in this space for us. Lots of us are at the same stage, so there’s an opportunity to combine forces in some way, but also how no-one in government has yet found a solution that really works!
Really enjoyed the Microsoft Ride-a-Long day yesterday where Microsoft came to Luton. They spoke to a few services about specific manual-heavy processes and, within hours, created some amazing prototypes of what we can do with the tech we already have. It’s now all down to Richard Pacheco to make this happen!
Digital Development team
Kevin Rowe, Head of Digital Development
Good progress is being made on the complaints app. The project multidisciplinary team is starting to come together to make sure the right UR, UAT and go-live preparations are in place. Getting in meetings with stakeholders to get feedback on the first iteration.
Our senior developer has started this week, James Coleman, who has already hit the ground running and is helping to finalise the first draft of the complaints app build.
Lots of interesting conversations at the Leaders conference, helpful to understand the corporate priorities.
On the Drupal side of things:
- a draft vanity URL governance policy was out in place
- Inaya responded quickly and handled the school closures tasks well
We also:
- drafted user personas for the DDaT intranet site revamp
- completed all skill stats submissions
- launched the new DDaT on boarding experience (change agent action)
Records management
Carol Osborne, Project Manager, DDaT Luton
Overall status
- Initiation / planning phase ongoing
- Progress steady but dependency‑led
- Procurement completed for SharePoint integration partner, enabling next phase progression
Progress
- RAID and action tracker actively updated and maintained
- Key initiation and planning actions remain open (IG sign‑off, retention mapping, migration criteria)
- FileSmart solution approach now moving from concept into active technical validation phase
- Progression from procurement to technical engagement with integration partners and system owners
- Backlog remediation and data readiness activity continuing in parallel
Key activities
- Technical engagement initiated to define integration approach between systems
- Planned technical call to review integration options, confirm viability, and agree approach
- Workshop planning continues, including scheduling of future integration and handover sessions (July / August)
- Alignment activity progressing to ensure consistent SharePoint integration approach across corporate systems
- Continued progress on data remediation activities, including approach to assess and reduce legacy document sets
Risks and issues
- Delay to workshops introducing short-term impact to integration timeline
- Dependency on technical design decisions before workshops and build activity can proceed
- Integration complexity across systems remains a key risk
- Dependency on alignment with external systems to confirm viable integration approach
- Large volumes of legacy data continue to present quality and migration challenges
- IG sign‑off remains a gating dependency for migration decisions
Dependencies
- Completion of technical design decisions following upcoming integration call
- Agreement of SharePoint integration approach with external system provider
- Rescheduling and completion of integration workshops post technical alignment
- IG agreement prior to migration, retention, and disposal decisions
- Supplier mobilisation and continued engagement to support delivery
- Data readiness activities (mapping, retention alignment, backlog review) required to enable next phase
Key actions
- Schedule and complete technical integration call to confirm approach
- Define and agree integration model
- Replan and confirm dates for configuration and integration workshops
- Continue backlog remediation and data assessment activity
- Progress retention alignment and obtain IG sign‑off
- Maintain procurement closure follow‑up and ensure supplier mobilisation continues
- Finalise integration planning and confirm sequencing for delivery phase
OneDrive user adoption
Carol Osborne, Project Manager, DDaT Luton
Overall status
- Status: Amber / Green
- Deployment remains complete
User adoption snapshot (week on week)
Based on the latest data from 16 to 21 June 2026.
- Active file viewing / editing decreased by 2.2%, from 2,169 to 2,122 users
- File syncing activity decreased by 3.5%, from 1,548 to 1,494 users
- Internal file sharing decreased by 5.2%, from 694 to 658 users
- Overall adoption remains broadly established, but the latest week shows a small dip across core OneDrive usage measures
Key progress this week
- Continued weekly adoption monitoring using the latest OneDrive usage data
- Maintained visibility of user engagement trends across core adoption measures
- Latest data has identified a week-on-week reduction in active usage, supporting the need for continued monitoring
- Adoption reporting continues to support the transition into BAU ownership
Risks and issues
- Latest usage data shows a reduction in active engagement across key OneDrive measures
- Internal sharing has declined, which may reflect lower collaboration activity or changed usage patterns
- Continued dependency on BAU transition arrangements to maintain momentum beyond project-led support
Dependencies
- Continued access to accurate weekly OneDrive adoption data
- BAU ownership model to maintain adoption monitoring and user guidance
- Ongoing reinforcement of OneDrive usage expectations, particularly around file access, syncing, and collaboration
- Continued support for users who remain outside active usage cohorts
Actions / next steps
- Continue weekly adoption monitoring to check whether the latest decline is a short-term fluctuation or emerging trend
- Track the increase in users not viewing / editing files and assess whether further user engagement is needed
- Continue reinforcing OneDrive good practice, including syncing and collaboration behaviours
- Maintain reporting during the BAU transition period
- Review next dataset to confirm whether adoption stabilises or requires further intervention
Frontline Services
Ian Pavitt, Project Manager DDaT Luton
The project status is green now that change of scope is in motion, service request are being developed by Bartec and the low code platform work is due to commence in the next few weeks.
Key outcomes in last period
- Waste module specs – workshops – Ongoing
- Clinical waste meeting with service – Received ‘as is’ process mapping
- Signed off specs going into development – Ongoing
- DPIA process for back end – Ongoing
- Transformation team – meeting – Decision to proceed with newsletter entry
- Low code portal update – Start work in next two/three weeks – planning/timeline
- Building data migration strategy doc
Key activities in next period
- Signed off specs going into development – Ongoing – Testing
- Continue work on domestic waste specifications
- DPIA process for back end – Ongoing
- Set up kick off meeting with street cleansing (awaiting A/L info)
- Engage relevant teams about standardised council comms to residents (emails/texts)
- Building data migration strategy doc
- Transformation team – Provide details for future transformation newsletter
Regulatory Services
Ian Pavitt, Project Manager DDaT Luton
The project status is green as the procurement process is at the contract stage.
Key outcomes in previous period
- Tender contract – Contract signing – Query about implementation milestones
- Data cleansing – Final runs (Parks data issue resolved)
- Data migration strategy planning – Ongoing
- Services activity planning – Ongoing
- Wider comms plan – Ongoing
Key activities in next period
- Tender contract – Meeting with supplier to finalise contract in relation to implementation
- Services activity planning – Ongoing
- Data migration strategy planning – Ongoing
- Data cleansing meeting switching to data migration meeting going forward
- Wider comms plan – Finalise
- Building data migration strategy doc – Identifying all applications/services
Workplace experience
Ben McCartney, Head of Workplace Experience
This week has been a productive mix of engagement, project progress, and supplier activity, during which, I:
- attended the Luton Leaders session on Monday, followed by a leaving lunch for Dave Briggs.
- finalised and tidied up the OCA documentation, ensuring it’s ready for wider use
- met with Dell on Wednesday to review their latest product suite and infrastructure software.
- caught up with 365Tribe to finalise details for the upcoming waffle launch
- held the first integration session with Alemba – a strong start with good early progress
- took part in a Microsoft Ride-Along Day, which was really promising – particularly around using AI tools to optimise processes
- supported recruitment by interviewing with Danyal for the temporary desktop analyst role
MFD print estate refresh
Archana, PMO Analyst
Summary
- Rollout of devices commenced on Friday 26th June, and will be continuing all this week.
- Targeted completion by end of July, subject to timely delivery and minimal delays
- DDaT Technical and desktop teams have been crucial with supporting delivery, Facilities Team are also very proactive
- Intranet communications is now live: Ricoh guidance, FAQs, consumables and usage support
- Affected services have been proactively engaged – feedback received ‘The logistics were always going to be tricky, but it has all been very well planned for and communication excellent.’
- Enhanced monitoring processes will be introduced to ensure adherence to Print Policy, focusing on high, low, and colour usage on a defined, case-by-case basis
Risk
Early delays in order placement and pending confirmation of delivery dates have reduced planning certainty. However, with orders now placed, focus is on securing confirmed timelines to support delivery planning.
Impact
- Potential delay to deployment schedule and go-live
- Reduced ability to plan resources and logistics effectively
- Risk of project overruns
Mitigation
Deployment planning is already underway to ensure readiness ahead of confirmed delivery dates.
Ongoing engagement with supplier stakeholders is supporting order confirmation and timeline clarity, while interim planning outputs are being leveraged to maintain momentum and minimise any potential downstream impact.
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