Special Online Tools
Open Objects' Datastore provides a flexible platform from which to create customised and highly specific online services.
The agile database at the core of Datastore can be configured to hold records of all types, which can be retrieved through the search and browse interfaces applying custom logic and business rules. Online projects that would previously have been solvable only by the development of bespoke database solutions, involving many months of work, can now be tackled in a fraction of the time using Datastore.
Case Example: HMRC Find a Form
The Find a Form tool on the HMRC website was launched in June 2008 to almost instant success, with more than 25,000 unique visitors a day using it to find key forms for download from the website. Where previously visitors has been struggling to search through over 7000 forms on the site and access the correct versions of forms, they can now search a specially built catalogue using Open Objects' Datastore. Forms are categorised according to subject, such as Corporation Tax, Self Assesment etc. In addition, the Datastore manages all the relationships between forms, so principal forms can be found in context with all of their related sub-forms, plus advice and guidance sheets, supplementary sheets and worksheets etc. The often complex relationships between forms are easily modelled within the Datastore, which generates dynamic landing pages for visitors so they can access all related forms (in their proper context) using a single search. Find a Form has dramatically improved the visitor's success rate in retrieving the documents they need from the web site. Thanks to the Datastore's flexible design and an agile project methodology, HMRC was able to launch the tool from design to 'go live' in just three months without any disruption or major changes to existing web site publication processes.
Case Example: HMRC Contact Us
Following on the heels of Find a Form, the new Contact Us tool was also created from design to 'go live' inside three months and has met with equal success (almost 60,000 users a day) using Open Objects' Datastore. The concept of Contact Us is quite simple - 'provide a single place where visitors can find out how to contact the HMRC'. The reality is much more complicated. With over 200 tax offices in England and Wales, and access channels of all types dealing a huge range of different enquiry types for businesses and individuals, getting a single answer about who to contact was not easy. Using Datastore the HMRC has captured the business logic of who deals with what and where in an online tool so visitors to the web site now have single point from which they can find out who they need to contact at HMRC to deal with their enquiry. The smoother flow of enquiries and reduction in mis-directed calls has proved to be a major efficiency gain.
To enquire about on how Datastore could help with your online project, please email us at sales@openobjects.com or call us on +44 1223 422200. We think you will be surprised by just how flexible it is and by how fast you could achieve a successful result.
