Toplevel Computing is delighted to announce that the London Borough of Havering is now using Toplevel's OfficeForms package to help them meet their e-Government targets and has moved onto the second stage of implementation.

The London Borough of Havering decided that, in order to fulfil their electronic government requirements, they needed a top of the range electronic forms package. Recognising that this is a field of new and sophisticated technologies, it was important to them that they got the right product to facilitate a successful e-Government solution. In order to ensure that their money was spent on the best possible solution, they hired an independent IT consultant to spend 6 weeks hands-on testing the e-forms products that are on the market at the moment. It is a measure of the importance to the Borough of their e-Government project that such rigorous testing was undertaken.

The OfficeForms Form Designer was a particular influence on Havering's decision to go with Toplevel's solution. They needed a form designing program that was easy but powerful, so that IT staff and non-technical staff could collaboratively produce forms. For example the accounts office could design a payment form, and build the citizen interactions it would need to perform, and the IT department could use the rapid development e-forms integration facilities to transfer data electronically into back office systems.

Since purchasing the product six months ago, Havering has designed around 90 citizen-facing forms to go online shortly, which will help them meet their IEG targets for transactional websites as set by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

The borough are now planning to begin the second stage of implementation, which includes harnessing Toplevel's self-service module to allow visitors to register on its website, full integration with the council's e-payments supplier and harnessing the LLPG database to assist users in the form-filling process.

On Havering's purchase of the product, Jane Roberts, Toplevel's Marketing Director, said "It is particularly nice to win this order, because it was won after such a thorough competitive evaluation: it speaks volumes about the merits of OfficeForms, as well as the importance that Havering attach to their e-government programme. We are very much looking forward to working with the London Borough of Havering to make this a successful project."

About the London Borough of Havering: Over half of Havering, London's third largest borough, is protected countryside, parks and open spaces. The borough has the UK's top performing local education authority with an all comprehensive based education system. 94% of residents feel safe during the day. The borough boasts a huge selection of shops – Romford town centre alone draws over 250,000 regular shoppers. The massive regeneration projects of Thames Gateway and London Riverside will soon bring even more jobs, business and affordable housing to the area.

Nowadays the Council is firmly on the route to meeting e-government targets, though electronic government at Havering is a means to an end. They won't invest in technology for its own sake, but rather in support of local and national aims for improving access to, and the delivery quality of, their services.