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Stopford Information Systems

Stopford, agenda - MOT Appointment Booking System

Stopford's online appointment booking and diary management system allows councils to offer online appointment booking for council services, including MOT appointments.

As a bespoke solution, the system can be configured to the requirements of the organisation, enabling custom admin features, diaries, calendars, and online fields.

Features

  • Online appointment booking for MOTs
  • Customisable appointment calendars
  • Self-check-in software (tablet & mobile)
  • Automatic correspondence generation (SMS, Email & Print)
  • Staff Allocation
  • Automatic survey functionality
  • Built in reporting tools
  • Service specific functionality
  • KPI tracking for Arrived, Seen & Completed
  • Postcode diary restrictions (service specific)

Benefits

  • Streamline service functions and increase efficiency
  • Reduce costs through channel shift
  • Offers an online facing platform for customers to engage with
  • Reduce missed appointments & wasted time
  • Reduce human error and automate functions
  • Quickly react to service or council changes
  • Increase accountability & managerial insight
  • Reduced carbon footprint
  • Scale with your services
  • Seamless integration for improved data sharing

Pricing

£8,000 to £30,000 a licence a year

Service documents

Request an accessible format
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at info@stopford.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 13

Service ID

9 7 7 6 9 3 8 3 9 1 4 9 7 7 7

Contact

Stopford Information Systems Scott Graham
Telephone: 01244319144
Email: info@stopford.com

Service scope

Software add-on or extension
No
Cloud deployment model
Private cloud
Service constraints
The system will require the buyer to submit their own styling templates to ensure that the online booking side is in line with the buyer's branding.

Stopford can provide additional services for clients that are unable to meet this requirement.

For service areas that require payment, clients will need to provide their own payment integration, any relevant documentation, and support any on-going costs issued from your payment provider.
System requirements
Internet access

User support

Email or online ticketing support
Email or online ticketing
Support response times
Target response time is 2 working hours for SLA 1-4 and 40 working hours for general queries. All response times are for working hours and therefore do not include weekends
User can manage status and priority of support tickets
Yes
Online ticketing support accessibility
WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
Phone support
Yes
Phone support availability
9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
Web chat support
No
Onsite support
Yes, at extra cost
Support levels
Stopford have a single support level that is detailed as part of Stopford's SLA held within the service definition. Each issue or query raised is assigned an Impact level that is used to prioritise incidents and assign target response and fix times.

Stopford have a help desk that act as an account manager for all jobs and can be contacted at any time for updates or pass on any additional information relevant to the job.
Support available to third parties
Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

Getting started
During the customisation meeting Stopford will provide examples of best practice to help guide users. Users are provided with onsite training after the system has been customised and sent electronic user manuals after their training session.
Service documentation
Yes
Documentation formats
PDF
End-of-contract data extraction
Stopford provide a SQL database backup of the data if the contract ends. Stopford can also provide CSV versions if necessary.
End-of-contract process
Within the cost of the contract is: Site license for the agenda generic, One year support, One year hosting, Customisation and 1 day of Training.

Additional/optional costs include: CRM integration, SMS integration, Access Management integration (Azure Active Directory), Postcode lookup integration, BA consultancy and UX consultancy.

Using the service

Web browser interface
Yes
Supported browsers
  • Internet Explorer 11
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
Application to install
No
Designed for use on mobile devices
Yes
Differences between the mobile and desktop service
The system is mobile responsive and as such has full functionality on mobile devices.
Service interface
No
User support accessibility
WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
API
Yes
What users can and can't do using the API
Third Party Account Login
CRM Integration
API documentation
Yes
API documentation formats
PDF
API sandbox or test environment
Yes
Customisation available
Yes
Description of customisation
The web templates for the customer facing booking pages are provided by the buyer and can be customised in line with their branding.

During the implementation process, the customer will be able to make decisions on what options are presented to customer during booking, communication channels available (Email, Letters, SMS) and payment methods.

Users are able to customise how their service operates within the backend of the system, with options for setting opening times, adding suppliers and more.

Buyers can optionally expand on functionality using various add-on modules, including self check-in options and Contact Centre solutions.

Scaling

Independence of resources
We utilise load balancing application servers so that demand is spread across multiple resources.

Because virtualisation is utilised, resources for peak demand can be added as required

Analytics

Service usage metrics
Yes
Metrics types
The system allows for reporting on a number of data points across the system including the number of couples using the system and their completion progress. Reports on payments can also be generated.

Analytics codes can also be embedded in the web pages.
Reporting types
Reports on request

Resellers

Supplier type
Not a reseller

Staff security

Staff security clearance
Other security clearance
Government security clearance
Up to Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS)

Asset protection

Knowledge of data storage and processing locations
Yes
Data storage and processing locations
United Kingdom
User control over data storage and processing locations
No
Datacentre security standards
Managed by a third party
Penetration testing frequency
Less than once a year
Penetration testing approach
‘IT Health Check’ performed by a Tigerscheme qualified provider or a CREST-approved service provider
Protecting data at rest
Physical access control, complying with CSA CCM v3.0
Data sanitisation process
Yes
Data sanitisation type
Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation
Equipment disposal approach
Complying with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v.30, CAS (Sanitisation) or ISO/IEC 27001

Data importing and exporting

Data export approach
Reports can be exported to Excel
Views are created for third party reporting tools
Data export formats
CSV
Data import formats
Other
Other data import formats
The system does not require data upload

Data-in-transit protection

Data protection between buyer and supplier networks
  • Private network or public sector network
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • Legacy SSL and TLS (under version 1.2)
Data protection within supplier network
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • Legacy SSL and TLS (under version 1.2)

Availability and resilience

Guaranteed availability
Stopford offer 99% up time on all products and have exceeded this up time on all products for all clients for the past ten years.
Approach to resilience
Available on request
Outage reporting
Email alerts

Identity and authentication

User authentication needed
Yes
User authentication
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Username or password
Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels
Within the management interface users can be assigned functions that they have access to, allowing for a wide variety of user levels and ensuring user access to areas of the system and particular functions are restricted.

If Access Management integration is part of the project (e.g. Azure Active Directory), then this can be used to centrally manage staff access outside of the system.

Support channels are not restricted as part of the support provider is user help. However changes to the system do require authorisation by a named client.
Access restriction testing frequency
At least once a year
Management access authentication
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Username or password

Audit information for users

Access to user activity audit information
You control when users can access audit information
How long user audit data is stored for
User-defined
Access to supplier activity audit information
You control when users can access audit information
How long supplier audit data is stored for
User-defined
How long system logs are stored for
User-defined

Standards and certifications

ISO/IEC 27001 certification
Yes
Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001
ISO Quality Services
ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date
06/05/2015
What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover
N/A
ISO 28000:2007 certification
No
CSA STAR certification
No
PCI certification
No
Cyber essentials
Yes
Cyber essentials plus
No
Other security certifications
Yes
Any other security certifications
Self Assessment for PCI Compliance

Security governance

Named board-level person responsible for service security
Yes
Security governance certified
Yes
Security governance standards
ISO/IEC 27001
Information security policies and processes
Policies and processes form part of our accreditation to ISO27001.

We are able to supply our statement of applicability and any of our process documentation upon request.

In line with ISO 9001 Stopford audit their processes and audit a random selection of jobs within the system to ensure that processes are being followed. If a process is not followed then a non conformance is raised, the member of staff informed and their performance reviewed. All non conformances are reviewed as part of the regular management review meetings.

Operational security

Configuration and change management standard
Supplier-defined controls
Configuration and change management approach
All Stopford products are regularly reviewed and thoroughly tested before release. Details of testing procedures can be supplied upon request.

Any changes made to the system are reviewed by staff internally in line with ISO 27001 and the risk of security issues from appropriate changes are assessed by high level developers before release.
Vulnerability management type
Supplier-defined controls
Vulnerability management approach
Stopford undertakes risk assessments as part of ISO 27001 certification and routinely reviews these assessments at management review meetings. If a vulnerability is identified and is classed as a major risk to client data then Stopford move to implement a fix to the software or server with 1 working day. Stopford assess risks through a variety of industry magazines and IT security news feeds.
Protective monitoring type
Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
Protective monitoring approach
All servers utilise monitoring software, firewalls and antivirus software that should register compromises to the server. Stopford's immediate priority is ensuring that the compromise is contained and stopped. Once the incident is no longer ongoing Stopford will look to find the area of ingress and secure the server against a similar incident. If a compromise is identified then Stopford will look to secure the server within 1 hour of the compromise being identified.
Incident management type
Conforms to a recognised standard, for example, CSA CCM v3.0 or ISO/IEC 27035:2011 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
Incident management approach
In line with ISO 27001 standards Stopford have a full business continuity plan that can be provided upon request.

Secure development

Approach to secure software development best practice
Conforms to a recognised standard, but self-assessed

Public sector networks

Connection to public sector networks
No

Social Value

Fighting climate change

Fighting climate change

Our suite of online booking systems help to facilitate carbon reduction for organisations on a day-to-day basis by reducing the need for paper-based records and shifting engagement online. This includes reducing paper waste through automated emails and SMS, the production of digital reports, and a reduction in visitors travelling to offices directly by car for queries and bookings. Our cloud hosting provider is environmentally friendly as Stopford has selected hosting providers that meet or exceed our environmental policies. Stopford’s hosting provider uses 100% renewable energy sources and are ISO 50001 certified for energy management.

Outside of direct product use, we as a company are conscious of our environmental impact and have adapted our internal practices to reflect our ambitions. We encourage public transport use by our employees when attending the office, and when travelling for corporate purposes, the company employs a public transport first policy, emphasising public transport use if possible and only use of private vehicles if transporting goods or equipment. In this regard, we invest in railcards for frequent travel to mitigate the CO2 emissions as a product of our activities. We have also invested in our team to support work-from-home practices, promoting our hybrid work approach to minimise travel emissions and offer greater flexibility to our staff. As with most software companies, we ensure that all staff duties can be performed electronically and do not require printing or physical copies, this includes our contracts which have all been digital in nature since 2016.
Covid-19 recovery

Covid-19 recovery

A number of Stopford systems are instrumental in the delivery of registration services functions in over 100 local authorities throughout the UK. During the pandemic, we took several actions to support the registration service at a time when the number of deaths was higher than most services could reasonably cope with. We adapted our systems to provide emergency functions, enabling registrars to manage the influx of deaths and to help with tasks such as cancelling or rescheduling thousands of weddings. We introduced functions in line with legislative changes brought in, such as telephone death appointments, and improved our online processes to reduce the strain on staff during an extremely busy time, including the creation of a mobile check-in option for appointments to reduce direct contact.

In addition to supporting our existing clients, Stopford also provided COVID test centre bookings systems to a number of councils to help those authorities engage with members of the public more easily, reducing the admin and staff time involved in the process.

Beyond our direct work with clients and non-clients alike, with COVID regulations now reduced, we are acutely aware of the benefits we can offer local client communities and their teams. Stopford have been offering all existing clients free online training to help introduce new staff to our systems and have been holding in-person training and events, which in turn, are generating secondary benefits to local economies. We run various in-person regional training sessions, which involve bringing together clients to a neighbouring district, helping invest in local hospitality and transport up and down the country. Our annual User Group is also held locally, helping support event venues, AV companies and caterers in a one-off event, benefiting the local supply chain.
Tackling economic inequality

Tackling economic inequality

In terms of direct product use, our booking and management solutions enable services to offer customer self-service via the organisation's website at a fraction of the cost per transaction of phone, letter, and face-to-face interactions. From booking acceptance, automated email distribution and real-time reporting, our bespoke solutions generate new efficiencies that benefit the wider community through cost savings that can be redistributed, while also providing an accessible platform for members of the public on mobile devices.

Outside of direct product use, we work hard to support our team and those looking to gain skills in the local community. For existing staff, we pay above the National Minimum Wage, while also dedicating funding to upskilling staff members to support both their growth in their roles and future job prospects. For the wider community, we routinely offer work experience placements at Stopford, helping job seekers develop their CV, gain new skills, and build confidence in the workplace with the goal of improving their chances of landing their next role.
Equal opportunity

Equal opportunity

Our suite of solutions aim to simplify accessing public services for all, regardless of ability. With each system, our online processes are carefully tested for accessibility to ensure WCAG 2.1 AA standards are met, demonstrating our commitment to supporting an inclusive service for the entire local community. In addition to this, as a browser-based solution, our systems are not restricted to specific computers or require downloads to use, supporting any work from home policies and assisting those who are unable to travel to work for any reason.

Pricing

Price
£8,000 to £30,000 a licence a year
Discount for educational organisations
No
Free trial available
No

Service documents

Request an accessible format
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at info@stopford.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.