ADD2358 London Datastore Discovery Phase

The London Datastore is the GLA’s data-sharing platform. The GLA and GLA Group currently have over 800 datasets published on the London Datastore which are used by over 50,000 analysts, academics, developers and policy officers every month to help deliver services, drive new research and hold the Mayor accountable.

In November 2018, the London Datastore underwent an internal review against the Local Government Digital Service Standard. This review identified several potential areas of improvement. Five years on from its last major redevelopment, we know little of whether we are meeting our users’ needs and how these needs may have evolved over time. In addition, over this time the technology landscape has changed significantly bringing new opportunities and challenges.

In the Smarter London Together roadmap the Mayor and Chief Digital Officer identify strengthening the city’s ability to work collaboratively as a mission for London’s public service. We wish to build upon the success of the London Datastore as an open data publishing platform to help deliver this vision.

We wish to commission services to deliver a discovery phase that will inform the specification for the next iteration of the London Datastore.

Following advice from the TfL Commercial team, we advertised our requirements via the Government’s Digital Marketplace. 33 completed applications were received, from which we shortlisted twelve to submit a written proposal. Submissions will be assessed by the GLA panel and a contract awarded to the supplier judged to have the experience, skills, and methodology that best meets the project requirements and can deliver on time, at a competitive price. A contract will be awarded by Friday 30 August 2019.

We have four objectives for the discovery:

• to understand the wider service that the London Datastore supports and what additional positive contribution it could make;
• to understand the needs of our users and potential users and the intersection between this and our ambitions;
• to define the mission and vision for the London Datastore; and
• to understand the steps needed to implement the next iteration of the London Datastore.

We expect the following deliverables from the discovery:

• a mission and vision for the Datastore;
• a strategy that maps out the steps we need to take to implement the next iteration of the London Datastore, including identifying the resources required to deliver it; and
• documentation of user needs that can be translated into a backlog for Alpha.

Upon assessing the risks, people with disabilities have been identified as a group who may potentially have problems using the London Datastore unless it has been designed with their needs in mind. This would essentially exclude this group from accessing the benefits of using the website. To mitigate this risk, we will liaise with the GLA’s digital team to ensure we meet the web accessibility standards set by the organisation.

Risks and issues (scored 1 to 4 on likelihood and impact; total score between 1 and 16):

Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities: This programme of work will meet the ambition in the Smarter London Together roadmap to support an open ecosystem and drive better decision-making by opening up the capital’s data.

Impact assessments and consultations: The appropriate procurement processes were followed to ensure that the successful company complies with the GLA’s policies and procedures.

The expenditure of £50,000 will be funded from the 2019-20 London Datastore budget within the City Intelligence Unit.