Torbay Council

Overview:

Torbay Council, a small unitary authority in South Devon, serves a population of around 140,000 residents across a diverse area that includes the seaside towns of Torquay, Paignton and Brixham. The area spans a mix of urban centres, coastal communities, and suburban neighbourhoods. While the Council is responsible for the full range of local government services, a number of operational functions including highways, waste, and grounds maintenance, are delivered by SWISCo, a wholly owned company of the Council.

In line with its commitment to modern, efficient public services, Torbay Council has recently completed the successful migration of its Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) and Local Street Gazetteer (LSG) to iManage Cloud, marking a significant step forward in how it manages location and address data.

Why the move?

Several key drivers led to the decision to migrate:

• Future-proofing with up-to-date technology: iManage Cloud uses the latest technology with updates and upgrades seamlessly integrated with no effort from the user. 
• Support for SWISCo’s evolving responsibilities: While SWISCo has been managing the Highways dataset since it transferred from Torbay Council, helping to manage the LLPG is a new responsibility. The cloud-based system provides easier access, better support, and more intuitive tools to help them get up to speed quickly.
• Network challenges resolved: SWISCo operates on a separate network, which previously created a few technical hurdles. The cloud solution eliminates these issues entirely by enabling direct online access.
• Integration with customer services: SWISCo’s customer portal now pulls address data directly from the LLPG, ensuring up-to-date and accurate information for residents and service teams.

A seamless transition

The migration has been smooth and fast for Torbay. 

“The migration has gone without a hitch,” said Sean Schofield, GIS Analyst Programmer, Torbay Council. “I sent out a copy of our iManage database, and your team took it, migrated it into the cloud, and it worked. It was that simple!”

One of the standout benefits has been the agility of updates. The iManage team’s responsiveness was especially appreciated:

“That’s the brilliant thing,” Sean continued, “the fact that updates to the system are so fast. I noticed you put out an update the other day that included a couple of things we discovered during the migration. To be that agile, with no effort required from us, is fantastic.”

The follow-up communications that accompanied the updates also played a key role:

“It was really helpful to get an email after the update so we knew new features or fixes had been made. That’s so important because if something doesn’t work as expected, we can immediately see it might be part of a recent update,” commented Sean.

Smarter tools for efficient editing

The new cloud system also brings improved usability for day-to-day tasks, such as editing records:

“Multi-editing is so much easier now. You can select multiple records, deselect, and then apply changes, like marking a group of flats as historical. It’s definitely a smoother experience than the desktop version, which felt more convoluted.”

Ready for new GeoPlace requirements

The migration also future-proofs the Council’s data against evolving data standards. iManage Cloud is already set up to handle new GeoPlace validation rules around BLPU states and dates.

Cloud-first benefits

“Beyond the functionality, the move to iManage Cloud also reduces local infrastructure requirements. As the SQL database is now off-site, one of the longer-term benefits is that it releases resources on the Council’s internal SQL cluster.” Comments Torbay’s Sean Schofield.

Expert support made the difference

The support during migration received high praise, with specific mention of team members going the extra mile, and the built-in Help section proving to be very useful already. 

A well-executed migration

The migration to iManage Cloud has enabled Torbay Council and SWISCo to modernise and streamline their LLPG and LSG operations, ensuring compliance with industry standards, improving usability, and removing previous technical barriers. With a seamless migration process, responsive support, and new capabilities unlocked, Torbay Council is now better equipped to manage its vital location data and support residents through improved digital services.