Datapulse helps Greater Manchester Police enhance local community services.

GMP carries out a broad range of work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Since much of the work of GMP is community based, it was essential for them to be contactable at all times.

The first line of contact for Many people calling GMP is the operator centre, so it was vital that fast, efficient and professional services are offered at all times. The operator centre receives on average 160,000 non-emergency calls per month. Calls received here are transferred to the call centre if appropriate, although most (approximately X per cent) are transferred by the operators directly to the rest of the organisation.

Solution
Having worked with Datapulse for over 15 years, GMP were confident that Datapulse would be able to help them meet the challenges of a modern police force. The GMP team wanted to better understand how many calls they were taking and how they were performing in order to determine whether or not they were meeting targets. It was also important to be able to meet growing community demands and deal with them effectively, ensuring optimum customer service, whilst remaining within budget.

GMP chose the Datapulse operator console, Intuition, to address these issues. 16 operator consoles are presently in use at the main operator centre, together with a further 10 at GMP's disaster recovery site. The operators have access to a virtual directory of contact details for all GMP employees, as opposed to paper copy directories which are expensive to print and quickly become out-of date. This PC-based directory has been vital to cutting down the length of time taken to transfer a call, as operators can now search the database by typing in just a few letters to find a name, department or even vehicle registration. The virtual directory is also used to store useful external numbers.

Datapulse also provided a call recording facility (the Datapulse IDVR), which the operators have found especially useful. If an operator is unable to hear a caller properly, or need a record of a call to deal with an enquiry or dispute, they can listen to the conversation again to pick up any extra information required. This has been central to ensuring that calls are dealt with effectively and that the communication of both staff and community members are safeguarded.

Finally, GMP chose the Datapulse Precision platform (previously known as Call Information Module, CIM) to provide call management information. The solution enables GMP to check if incoming calls are being answered within specified response times, allocate costs and monitor network utilisation. The sophisticated reporting package component of this solution could assist GMP with the evidence needed to justify additional operators, set up special numbers or modify the way that calls are handled. Precision can be used to trace calls through the telephony system to investigate why calls are lost or abandoned. It allows GMP to find out if a phone is cost-effective in a certain area and will help drive down costs by allowing employees and managers to report on call information such as duration, time and cost.

Colin Carey, Assistant IT Director at Greater Manchester Police says: "We have been impressed by Datapulse's project management, and its support and flexibility while implementing the system.

"'We are looking forward to the reporting process being upgraded. This will enable staff to be aware of how much they are using the phone and how cost effective this is."

Chris Bain, Public Sector Manager for Datapulse says: "Although GMP have used a Datapulse system for over 15 years, their growing needs meant that they needed to take advantage of a number of enhanced features that are now available. GMP's upgrade to Precision has allowed for more flexible and easier access to reports on the system, enabling them to provide a more effective and efficient service to the community".