Digital Services Team (DST)
We use the following Netcall platforms;
- Liberty Spark is an easy-to-use online tool that helps everyone in the Council work together to create and improve processes. It lets you quickly document, analyse, and find ways to make processes better and more cost-effective. Unlike older tools like Visio, Liberty Spark makes sure that all processes are clear and easy for everyone in the Council to understand.
- Liberty Converse provides an automated switchboard, several service disruption lines and offers 24/7 automated payments. Web Agent is the application used within Converse – this the main telephony system used by the Customer Contact Centre, HR and Scottish Welfare Fund.
- Liberty Create is a low code platform that enables the DST to rapidly develop, automate, maintain and build custom complex applications. It provides tools for managing case workflows and creating integrations with existing systems.
- Liberty Robotic Process Automation (RPA) can automate routine tasks that are typically done by people. It uses software ‘robots’ or ‘bots’ to perform tasks like entering data, processing transactions, or generating reports
Oracle is used by several teams including;
- Customer Service Centre and Customer Service Points to log customer enquiries (covers a range of engagement channels including phone, face to face, email, webforms, text, letter, chat bots and social media)
- Corporate Complaints
- Education
- Roads and Amenities Back Office Staff
- HR – Flexible Working
- Councillors (Member Zone)
- Ferry Staff
Oracle BUI is the browser caseload management system version, currently used by the Short Term Lets Team.
Keep in the Loop (KITL) is an opt-in function for customers to keep up date with council news and updates. Customers sign up to get information on their preferred topics. Oracle CRM is the main tool for sending out notifications for this service.
Oracle Eloqua is a marketing automation platform used by various departments for advanced customer outreach, campaigns, surveys and consultation notifications.
Stopford is the Council’s current room booking system covering internal booking and external booking for the public. The Stopford Facility Booking System is used to book all Council Meeting Rooms, and Flex Desks for staff, and for Council Minibuses, Grass Pitches and publicly available meeting rooms for customers.
Web Team
The council website is built on a system called Drupal, which is an open source platform. We are part of the Local Gov Drupal (LGD) project. This is a version of Drupal which is developed for and in collaboration with local authorities.
We work with all departments across the council to get their content on the website, in a suitable format and assist with making the content user friendly, accessible to all, and easy to understand.
Since 2014 the Web Team have been involved in the school website programme. They were initially built on Drupal 7 but as that reached end of life, we have been rebuilding the sites on WordPress. We currently have 67 school websites. We provide training and advice to school staff to help them keep their information up to date.
My Council Works is the public facing staff website. It is used by The Communications Team as a news platform for all staff, both networked and non-networked. All the HR information has now been added to the site as well, instead of being on the intranet. Previously, this meant only staff with network access could see the HR information, but now it is available to everyone.
The council’s staff intranet, also known as the Hub, is an internally (non-public) facing website. It is built on the same platform as the external council website, so you may notice some similarities in the design. The new site went live in April 2025 and as part of the migration, all content that is able to be public facing, including all HR information can now be found on My Council Works. The Hub includes content, such as department pages and ICT guidance.
Abplace2b – A marketing website used by the Communications Team to promote living, working and visiting Argyll and Bute.
Invest in Argyll – A marketing website used to promote the economic side of Argyll and Bute. It includes the properties for sale and rent and investment opportunities in the area.
Marriage website – A website used by Registration Services to promote their wedding service across Argyll and Bute.
Helensburgh and Lomond Civic Centre Events – An events website used by the HLCC to promote their building, café and events in the local area.
Argyll Collection – A website used by the Education service and CHARTS for promoting the Argyll Collection artwork.
Additional Services
Humley AI is a conversational AI (CAI), platform supplied by Humley PLC. This is an initial one-year Proof of Concept (POC) which aims to evaluate if CAI can meet the touted benefits of enhancing customer service and reducing the cost to develop and serve. It will also allow us to path find a number of security, data protection and HR related elements of Generative AI.
The development plan for CAI has three main work streams:
- Set up of an online FAQ type CAI chat bot, using AI to do the development, both for internal HR intranet topics and for external website topics. This is Live for HR for iTrent online FAQ’s on My Council Works, and for all Visitor Levy FAQ’s on the website.
- To build transactional voice and web chat bots using Humley’s prebuilt ‘Civic Automate’ processes integrated to our Oracle CRM, starting with the high volume Missed Bin process which is Live on the website.
- To establish a voice and online HR Absence Line transactional CAI bot integrated to the iTrent system.
ADDING THE ABC VIRTUAL ASSISTANT APP IN TEAMS
Click on + (Apps) icon on the left-hand side of Teams:-
Click on Built for your organisation under Apps:-
Click on the Add button:-
Click on the Add button:-
Click on the Open button under the Added successfully! text:-
The ABC Virtual Assistant App will now be available. If you have a number of Apps, can be found later under the View more Apps menu icon on the left-hand side:-
Argyll and Bute Council has introduced a new online booking system for marriages and civil ceremonies, delivered in partnership with Zipporah. This system streamlines the customer journey by enabling users to book appointments, make secure payments, and select ceremony options through a single, user-friendly online portal. The implementation supports improved service efficiency, enhances the customer experience, and reduces administrative workload for staff. It is used by the registration team and CSP staff to take and manage their bookings and diaries.