A Knowledge Sharing Event (you can view the agenda) open to all of Scotland's 32 councils was held on 11 September at COSLA's conference centre in Edinburgh.

The event was well attended with 21 councils participating and positive feedback was received from many of the delegates. A copy of the presentations is available to download and a transcript of the talking-heads session where Ellen Beattie answered questions on East Dunbartonshire's Lagan imprementation is also available (click the "read more.." link below to see the specific questions ellen answered).

If you would like any further information regarding any aspect of the National CRM Project please contact Hilary Horton at The Improvement Service on 01506 775558 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Presentations at the event covered the following areas :

* National CRM project progress and a flavour of how the project fits into the Customer First Programme
* Details of the 5 Scottish councils' planned implementations from the National CRM Project Co-ordinator
* Hints and tips on Lagan implementations from Argyll & Bute and East Dunbartonshire Councils who are already Lagan Frontline users
* An update on the aims of the Lagan Scottish User Group
* Lagan's ‘Scotland First' implementation team
* A product demo was given jointly by Argyll & Bute and Lagan to show how the system operates and can be configured.

Ellen Beattie answered the following questions:

1. You've been using Lagan in East Dunbartonshire for some time. When did your CRM project start?
2. How are you using the Lagan system now?
3. What were the drviers for implemeting a CRM system?
4. Did you have a clear idea back then of what you wanted to use a CRM system for, and has that changed over time?
5. How did you find the iniitial implementation part of the project?
6. For the benefit of those councils starting out on this process, what type of team did you need to pull together inside the council to get the system in place?
7. How would you describe the working relationship with Lagan?
8. Are there any tips you would give about how to make this work really well?
9. What have been your biggest obstacles or difficulties on this project?
10. What have been the parts you have been most proud of? the successes?
11. Finally, what are your plans to develop the CRM system going forward in East Dunbartonshire?