E-business

"It's not about the technology, it's about the customer."

This has been the overarching theme in the newly formed Strategic e-Business Development Unit (SBDU). To achieve it the Agency is focusing on four main issues:

• Enterprise Architecture – the design of minimal, flexible and portable systems that focus on the wider business requirement;
• Programme Management – the development of a thematic approach to project implementation and prioritisation;
• Culture – working with the change and training teams to ensure all staff are aware of the impact of e-business on their field, and preparing by training to deal with the change; and
• Quality – the development of quality systems and processes to manage the diverse range of customer communication methodologies.

Like most businesses, we have internal and external customers, but to serve our customers properly we need to have appropriate mechanisms in place first. To achieve this, the first stage of the e-business plan involves working with the various business areas within the Agency to deliberate and negotiate the required changes.

This process will be complete by summer 2002, and will result in an implementation plan backed by the Management Board.

E-licensing

Licensing is one of the Agency's core business processes, and the e-licensing and administration programme aims to improve this process for our customers and to streamline internal operations. Customer benefits will include speed, accuracy, improved transparency, self-management of licensing procedures and access to spectrum information.

The first stage of the e-licensing programme was completed at the end of October 2001, and an e-business launch held at the Agency's HQ in November announced the first three e-customer services going live on the Agency's website. These are:

• e-Flatco, the co-ordination and clearance tool for transportable satellite earth stations;
• online application and payment for Private Business Radio paging licences; and
• Sitefinder, the online register of cellular telephone masts, which has proved a huge success with the public and has helped in the understanding of cellular telephone operation and the impact of masts on local communities.

The second stage of the programme started in December 2001.

This stage will take the Agency further towards meeting the Government target to provide all its services online by 2005. It will include:

• the creation of a single "intelligent" online application form for all the Agency's "high volume, low value" licence products;
• the provision of the R&TTED compliance notification process as a fully electronic process;
• online domestic TV and radio interference reporting; and
• a new Private Business Radio data-only product: IR 2008.

Licensee satisfaction survey

The Agency carried out an extensive licensee satisfaction survey programme in summer 2001. With over 3000 interviewees, we had sufficient responses to be able to compare views from all licence product groups and performance across all our local offices. Qualitative interviews were also undertaken with RA staff, individual key customers and licensee representative bodies. The survey was carried out by telephone interviewing, and by completion of a questionnaire on the internet.

The survey results showed that satisfaction levels are generally high; the Agency compared well against the benchmark levels for overall customer satisfaction, speed of licence delivery and ease of application. However, customers have identified room for improvement in the "softer" service provision areas: giving advice which is easy to understand, staff helpfulness and keeping customers informed of progress.

We compared the customer satisfaction levels with published public and private sector service quality benchmarks, and used key driver analysis to establish customers' priorities. The information gained from the survey will be used to review business processes, improve performance measurement and establish an ongoing survey programme.

The Agency appreciates the contribution made by those licensees and organisations who took part in the survey.

Communications Audit

The Agency carried out an audit of its external communications during the year. The results of this showed that RA is generally perceived to be good at communicating with its customers and keeping them informed of current issues, with information sheets, newsletters and leaflets being cited as the most important and useful sources of information.

Areas of concern raised by respondents focussed on the targeting of information and the technical nature of literature which some respondents and interviewees found difficult to understand.

As a result of these findings and our internal communications audit in 2000, RA Communications Unit has developed a communications strategy for both internal and external customers. The objective of the strategy is to establish a framework for planning and managing the Agency's communications with stakeholders, which meets their needs and takes into account the Agency's wider strategic objectives.

Consultation

The Agency complies with the Cabinet Office Code of Practice on Written Consultation, which sets standards for consultation documents issued by the government. It aims to increase the involvement of people and groups in public consultations, minimising the burden it imposes on them, and giving them a standard minimum period of twelve weeks to respond.

Not all RA consultations fall within the criteria of this Code; those that form part of a series of iterative consultations on one topic and those that are directed at a very narrow sector of customers are excluded from it and are treated in a less formal way.

All the Agency's consultations, whether or not they fall within the Code, can be found on the website at www.radio.gov.uk/publication/consult.htm

Table 6: One of the findings of the external communications audit

The three new e-services launched on the Agency's website in Autumn 2001

Open Government

The Agency operates under the Code of Practice for Access to Government Information, which commits us to:

• supply facts and analysis with major policy decisions;
• open up internal guidelines about departments' dealings with the public;
• supply reasons with administrative decisions;
• provide information under the Citizen's Charter about public services, what they cost, targets, performance, complaints and redress; and to
• respond to requests for information.

The Agency is preparing for the implementation in 2005 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, which gives a general right of access to recorded information held by public authorities, sets out exemptions from that right and places a number of obligations on government departments.

A target for all government departments and agencies, set by the Cabinet Office, was to publish their Information Asset Register (IAR) by December 2001. The Agency met this target in October 2001. The IAR is a catalogue of unpublished information resources available through the web interface: www.inforoute.hmso.gov.uk /inforoute to identify what information the government holds and find a contact point to whom requests for information may be made.

Access to assignment information

The Government is committed to securing greater openness in the public sector. Currently most licensing data is held in confidence, but a number of recent developments have led the Agency to re-examine its current policy. These include:

• the requirements of the European Union (EU) Telecommunications Licensing Directive to be open and transparent about the award of licences;
• the proposals in the new EU package of measures – the Electronic Communications Directives and the Spectrum Decision;
• interests from major radio network operators to have more data for engineering reasons, particularly as many now "self-assign" frequencies at station sites within national allocations;
• the proposed move to electronic licensing and potential online assignment; and
• the implementation of spectrum trading as foreshadowed in the White Paper: A New Future for Communications which will require publication of more information about spectrum use to facilitate the development of a secondary market.

The Agency has continued its dialogue with industry through the Mobile Services Committee (MSC) sub-group on frequency and assignment data, to find out what information its members would like to see published to help them make better use of the radio spectrum.

The dialogue culminated in the Agency publishing a public consultation document in January 2002 on disclosure of Wireless Telegraphy information on frequency and assignment data. The consultation period will extend until April 2002 and all non-confidential responses will be published on the RA website.

Local frequency assignment

Applications for paging, marine coastal radio, private business radio and common base stations are all dealt with by the RA local licensing centres. RA local office staff assign frequencies in a tailored and customised way, using their engineering skills and local knowledge.

Customer panels

The eight local licensing centres and Baldock each have a customer panel to help guide them in their activities. The panels are a valuable forum for explaining the reasoning behind Agency policies and for obtaining customers' views on local issues. The local offices set aside resources in their work programmes to respond to specific needs identified by the panels. Local offices organise customer panels according to local needs; the London region has two, one on enforcement issues and the other for business users, allowing each customer panel to look at issues of interest to its own members. A panel on aeronautical and maritime issues has been set up, jointly hosted by the London and Bristol regions, and in Northern Ireland the panel has split its specialist sectors to look both at military interference and common base stations.

Spectrum Quality Management (SQM)

SQM is an information, case management and time allocation system which is designed to provide business benefits for the Agency's Customer Service Executive (RA3) in the areas of efficiency, open and modern government, procedural consistency and professionalism. For RA3 field staff working away from the office, it provides remote access to the information and the support systems they need for their work. Case management is supported by a workflow system which will help to bring about improved control and visibility of RA3's customer service operations.

Customer management system

The Agency aims to put the customer first in the provision of all its services and information. The Customer Management System (CMS) is a new business development project which will provide, for the Agency and for all our business customers and contacts, coherent, accurate, visible and readily retrievable customer information. The CMS project will specifically support the development of new e-services by the Agency, and will allow a greater degree of openness and transparency in our management of customer information. The project will involve the cleansing and rationalisation of existing customer records, along with a review of the various business processes and practices relating to customer liaison and contact management. Appropriate standards and targets will be introduced to underpin and monitor these business processes. Work on the business process analysis has been started, and the data cleansing and rationalisation work is also well under way. The IT system development timetable is still under consideration, but it is expected to take between 12 and 18 months, with the new system expected to be ready for service around September 2003.

Modernising Government and reforming the Civil Service

The Agency continues to work towards the achievement of the Government's objectives in this area. An intranet-based database, drawing information from the across the Agency on individual projects, is being developed to provide a comprehensive picture of the various initiatives under way in support of the Modernising Government agenda. These include areas such as the Agency's e-business programme and our work on customer satisfaction surveys. This database, when operational, will significantly enhance our knowledge management capability and help to further improve our levels of customer service.

A Leeds customer panel meeting held at York EMC Services Ltd

Business Excellence Model

To support our work on Modernising Government, the Agency is working towards the introduction of the European Quality Foundation's Business Excellence Model. During the past year the model has been successfully piloted in three business units across the Agency. As a result of this introduction, these units have reported significant improvements in key business areas, such as communications, understanding of business processes, and use of customer survey data and feedback information. Over the coming year the model will be introduced more widely across the Agency. Plans are in place to integrate this work with our wider performance management initiatives, such as the Balanced Scorecard, which is a widely used top-down approach to performance measurement.

RA website – www.radio.gov.uk

The RA website continued to be the Agency's principal medium for providing information to our customers. The aim is for the website to present a comprehensive, attractive and accessible site which is up to date and accurate, easily navigable and a benchmark for other Government websites. We are also developing its interactive capabilities with the Agency's first three e-services having been launched in November 2001.

Customer surveys this year confirmed its value to our customers; 100% of those who use it rate is as either "good" or "very good", and the site was one of three shortlisted for the Central Office of Information award for Best Department or Agency Website, in March 2002.

The trend away from paper and towards electronic provision of information continued, as can be seen below. This year's website usage was 11.8% up on last year and 219.8% up on three years ago; paper publications sent out this year were 7.7% down on last year and 36.4% down on three years ago.

Roadshows

The Agency is committed to meeting its customers in person wherever possible, not only to share information about the Agency's plans, but also to learn about customers' concerns and to answer their questions. The 2001 series of RA roadshows, Joining In 2001, was held at Belfast, Durham, Falkirk, Rotherham, Manchester, Southampton, Bristol, Birmingham and London. The programme was felt by speakers to be successful and worthwhile, and comments from attendees show that our customers continue to appreciate these events.

Attendance was 17% up on the previous year, and 93% of the delegates who filled in the exit questionnaire rated the roadshow as either "good" or "very good".

The 2001 RA Roadshow – Julia Fraser demonstrates SiteFinder to delegates

David Hendon addresses the audience

Publicity activities

During the year the Agency attended 25 events, ranging from large-scale exhibitions such as the London and Southampton Boat Shows, to radio amateur open meetings in Blackpool and Northern Ireland.

On 12 December the Agency took part in celebrations to mark the 100th anniversary of the first transatlantic radio transmission. Events took place in Poldhu, Cornwall and in RA's headquarters in London. In Poldhu the Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall, Lady Mary Holborow, sent a message on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen over a radio link to the Governor General of Canada. At RA's London headquarters, Douglas Alexander MP, Minister for e-Commerce and Competitiveness, hosted celebrations for about 100 guests from the radio community, with a live link-up to Poldhu.

Amateur radio

There have been major changes in the structure of amateur radio licensing this year.

The key event was the introduction of the Foundation licence as the new entry point into amateur radio. A new syllabus has rationalised the technical requirements and focussed the practical assessments on safe and competent operating.

Together with this, the Novice licence has been re-named as the Intermediate licence, and work has started on updating the Intermediate syllabus. The new syllabus will be very different to the Novice syllabus, launched ten years ago, as many of the original topics are now covered in the Foundation licence syllabus. It is intended that the new Intermediate syllabus will come into effect in January 2003 and that a pass in the Foundation assessment will become a pre-requisite to taking the Intermediate exam.

Maritime licensing

During the year the Agency introduced two new maritime radio licence products to meet customers' needs.

The first, the Ship Portable Radio licence, replaces the Maritime Transportable Radio licence. The new licence enables the use of newly introduced hand-held Digital Selective Calling (DSC) VHF radio units, intended for use on board smaller vessels which are not able to use fixed radio equipment due to restrictions of space or power supply. The new licence also covers the use of an associated Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) or a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB).

The second, the Maritime Radio Suppliers licence, was developed with assistance from the British Marine Electronics Association (BMEA). It enables those businesses involved with the sale, installation and repair of vessels and radio equipment to carry out their business in situations where the equipment is not covered by a customer's licence. This licence also makes it possible for companies to demonstrate maritime radio equipment at shows and exhibitions whilst helping the Agency to respond quickly and efficiently to any interference issues.

Aeronautical licensing

Arrangements were finalised during the year for the delegation of Aeronautical radio licensing to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The contract was signed in December 2001 and the CAA's Radio Licensing Section became fully operational on 14th January 2002. The Agency will retain overall responsibility for Aeronautical licensing policy, but CAA's day-to-day licensing role will enable joined-up regulation and improve the speed and accuracy of the licence issuing process. Initial indications suggest that users have welcomed this change.

Amateur radio in action at the "100 Years of Radio" celebrations at Poldhu in December 2001

Ocean Village, Southampton