Ofsted
Helping Ofsted work more effectively
Client overview
The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial UK government department responsible for inspecting a range of educational institutions, including state schools and some independent schools, as well as child care, adoption and fostering agencies and initial teacher training.
Key Deliverables
Vision
Digital Strategy
Digital Experience
The challenge
Ofsted had no consistent approach to evidence gathering and they were not making the best use of available technology during either the inspection process or in the storage and retrieval of data.
Their challenge was to modernise their systems so they could take advantage of 21st Century innovations. And the first phase of the solution was to implement electronic evidence gathering (EEG).
The work
Building on internal user research which identified opportunities to improve how evidence is captured, shared and distilled to make judgements, Rainmaker set about identifying user needs by shadowing inspectors in the field, talking to groups and individuals and assessing the technology landscape of the organisation.
Working collaboratively with Ofsted’s key stakeholders, the user research data allowed us to build a prototype solution for evidence gathering using Microsoft 365 and related products including PowerApps, Flow and Sharepoint. Within a few weeks, we were able to demonstrate the first iteration of the prototype to give inspectors a sense of how they might use it to gather, tag, sort and collate evidence to produce reports.
We were also able to identify and recommend software tools that could convert handwriting and audio to text, recognising that individual inspectors and the importance of not imposing a one-size-fits-all solution.
“Working collaboratively with Rainmaker and our users, leveraging innovations such as ExperienceLabs, has allowed us to develop the design and functionality at pace.”
Deborah Pollard
EEG Product Owner . Ofsted
The impact
Better understanding of organisational needs and pain points.
Extensive knowledge transfer.
A digital solution delivered at pace which
revolutionises ways of working.
Croydon
Rainmaker kicked-off by running a three-month discovery exercise to help clarify the Council’s vision and translate it into a delivery model, validated by user research, that leveraged market opportunities, as well as accommodating the risks involved.
Crown Commercial Service
In week one, we completed an audit of existing Discovery work. We agreed governance, confirmed working practices, built out a skeleton of the final deliverables and baselined a plan to make it happen.
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Hackney is changing fast. The pace of economic and population growth, Hackney’s booming popularity as a visitor destination, house price acceleration, the shifting demographic, the rising pressure on local infrastructure and services; all these things are moving rapidly.
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