Hillingdon Council Cabinet Member and Officer Decisions
Legal Case Management System Upgrade & Migration
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Executive Decision Notice – 10 December 2024
This notice is a public document also available to view on the Council's website www.hillingdon.gov.uk
OFFICIAL EXECUTIVE DECISION NOTICE
PUBLISHED BY DEMOCRATIC SERVICES
Notice is hereby given that the following decision(s) have been made today by
Cabinet Members at the London Borough of Hillingdon:
Title of decision LEGAL CASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM UPGRADE &
MIGRATION
Reference No. 1262
Date of decision Tuesday 10 December 2024
Call-in expiry date Tuesday 17 December 2024
Relevant Select
Committee
Corporate Resources and Infrastructure Select Committee
Relevant Wards N/A
Decision made
Cabinet Members
making the decision
Councillor Martin Goddard , Cabinet Member for Finance &
Transformation
Decision Approved
That the Cabinet Member for Finance & Transformation
accepted the direct award with Iken Business Limited for
the provision of Iken Cloud system to the London Borough
of Hillingdon for 1+1+1 years (totalling 3 years) from 01
December 2024 and at the value of £128,583.40.
Reason for decision 1) A mini review of the current legal Iken Case Management
system within the Service was conducted in partnership
with Legal, which found that the current Iken Desktop
application was no longer fit for purpose and there is an
opportunity for improving the processes, functionality and
build workflow processes with the migration to the Iken
Cloud Case Management Solution.
2) Having an effective case management system is critical
for complying with DPA/ GDPR obligations in the conduct
of legal work, and in particular in managing and securing
considerable amounts of sensitive personal data. Non-
compliance can lead to significant
fines and reputation
damage. It is also essential to driving “soft” efficiencies
throughout the
organisation to ensure the efficient
handling of legal case work and client portal access to
case data and self -help materials, reducing
administrative burdens and costs and freeing up lawyer
time to refocus on objective delivery. Also, the time-
recording element of the software is essential in order to
be able to accurately capture time costs and enable
recharging on a commercial basis whether externally or
to grant -funded or ring -fenced accounts, thus reducing
Executive Decision Notice – 10 December 2024
This notice is a public document also available to view on the Council's website www.hillingdon.gov.uk
pressure on the general fund. It enables better capture
and so management of external costs incurred all of
which is critical to meeting the circa £1.2m of MTFF and
star chamber savings/income expectations in 24/25 and
beyond, making a significant direct and direct contribution
to meeting the overall significant budget pressures LBH
currently faces, in common with most other local
authorities.
3) Iken Business Ltd is a leading supplier offering 25 years
of experience across both public and private sectors
providing a fully scalable, highly configurable, feature-rich
legal case
management platform supporting
collaboration and increased productivity. The Iken Cloud
Solution will empower the Legal team to manage their
complex and diverse workloads more effectively. It is fully
hosted by Iken and offers a user -friendly portal solution
which is streamlined, easy-to-use and accessible on any
device. Iken Cloud integrates with several third-party
technologies including Microsoft 365.
4) This new contract (direct award) with Iken Business Ltd
will provide the software licences
as well as the
associated hosting, annual support and maintenance for
the Legal Case
Management system. The Council's
current contract with Iken Business Ltd expires 31
December 2024 so we will be working the supplier to start
to implement Iken Cloud project
before the end of this
current contract. The new contract provides opportunities
to build a stronger strategic partnership with the supplier
by working collaboratively to formulate a
joint plan of
improvements to the Iken Cloud system that will benefit
both Corporate Services and the wider Council.
5) The Council’s Legal Services team has been using Iken
Desktop for over 11 years. The
migration to Iken’s
Software as a solution (Saas) product, Iken Cloud, fits in
with the
Council’s Digital Strategy whilst continuing to
meet the practical needs of the Legal service and
continuing long- standing relationship with a trusted
supplier.
6) The current Iken Desktop application and database is
hosted in the Council’s Microsoft Azure tenancy. The
migration to Iken Cloud solution is more than simply a
database migration because it represents a change in
working practises which supports secure access to Iken
from anywhere with an Internet connection. The breadth
of functionality,
levels of security and intuitive user
interface also supports the Council’s Digital Strategy
objectives.
Alternative options
considered and
rejected
1) Option 1: Do nothing. This is not a viable option as the
Desktop application is no longer meeting the needs of the
Legal service. Furthermore, the supplier has advised
Executive Decision Notice – 10 December 2024
This notice is a public document also available to view on the Council's website www.hillingdon.gov.uk
Microsoft will likely not support the desktop application
after 31 December 2025, so they recommend that
migrations to a cloud solution take place sooner to ensure
a proactive approach rather than a reactive one.
2) Option 2: Procure a new system. Whilst there are other
suppliers of Legal systems, the current contract with Iken
Business Ltd expires 31 December 2024 and a full tender
exercise would take 9-
12 months to complete. Soft
market testing was undertaken, which gave staff an
opportunity to view demos of other legal supplier
systems, and it was found that Iken Cloud was the best
product for the Council’s legal services as a lot of the
functionality in other systems wouldn’t be required.
Furthermore, the costs associated with a whole system
change would be significant, from reviewing current
processes and integrations, writing requirements,
running the procurement process to final implementation
impacting the Legal services so this option is not
recommended.
Classification Part II – Members Only and Not for Publication
Link to associated
report
That this report be declared as exempt from publication as it
involves the disclosure of information in accordance with
Section 100(A) and paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12 (A) to
the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended), in that the report
contains information relating to the financial or business affairs
of any particular person (including the authority holding that
information) and that the public interest in withholding the
information outweighs the public interest in disclosing it.
Relevant Officer
contact & Directorate
Helen Vincent, Corporate Services
Any interest declared
by the Cabinet
Member(s) /
dispensation granted
N/A
Implementation of decision & scrutiny call-in
[Internal Use only]
When can this
decision be
implemented by
officers?
Officers can implement Cabinet Member decision in this notice only
from the expiry of the scrutiny call-in period which is:
5pm on Tuesday 17 December 2024
However, this is subject to the decision not being called in by
Councillors on the relevant Select Committee. Upon receipt of a
valid call-in request, Democratic Services will immediately advise
the relevant officer(s) and the decision must then be put on hold.
Executive Decision Notice – 10 December 2024
This notice is a public document also available to view on the Council's website www.hillingdon.gov.uk
Councillor scrutiny
call-in of this
decision
Councillors on the relevant Select Committee shown in this notice
may request to call-in this decision. The request must be before the
expiry of the scrutiny call-in period above.
Councillors should use the Scrutiny Call-in App (link below) on their
devices to initiate any call-in request. Further advice can be sought
from Democratic Services if required:
Scrutiny Call-In - Power Apps (secure)
Further information These decisions, where applicable, have been taken under The
Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access
to Information) (England) Regulations 2012.
This is the formal notice by the Council of the above executive
decision, including links to the reports where applicable.
If you would like more information on this decision, please contact
Democratic Services on 01895 250636 or email:
democratic@hillingdon.gov.uk.
Circulation of this decision notice is to a variety of people including
Members of the Council, Corporate Directors, Officers, Group
Secretariats and the Public. Copies are also placed on the
Council’s website.
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