Industry
Public Sector
Challenge
High support ticket volumes, legacy dependencies, and rising maintenance costs strained MHCLG’s grant management operations. Technical debt, inconsistent performance, and late-stage compliance mandates from GDS created bottlenecks, delaying user support and putting audit-readiness at risk during a critical launch phase.
Solution and Results
Datavid delivered a unified, end-to-end grants management system with workflow automation, self-service capabilities, and audit-ready compliance features tailored to EC requirements. Within months, MHCLG reduced support tickets to an all-time low, improved user satisfaction, and sustained EC accreditation, while managing £6B in funding across two programmes through a single, scalable platform.
Technology used
Progress MarkLogic, Java Spring, XForms, Angular JS
About MHCLG
At the time the project began, the department was known as the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). It has since been renamed the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). It is responsible for enforcing housing and community policies across the UK. Its role includes supporting regeneration efforts, promoting fair access to housing, and preventing developers from exploiting market conditions. It also oversees major public funding programmes, ensuring regulatory compliance and the effective use of taxpayer money.
Setting the Scene
Context: 4 years ago
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), formerly DLUHC, oversees the adminsitration of a Regional Development Fund financed by the EU.
Local authorities submit grant proposals detailing how funds will be used to improve their communities. Approved proposals receive disbursements, while the EU reserves the right to audit records years after payment.
Stakeholders:
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- Datavid Team for MHCLG
- UK Public Sector Department
Objective:
Manage ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) and ESF (European Social Fund) funding streams, including applicant match funding, while ensuring full compliance with strict EC regulations to avoid financial penalties or funding interruptions.
Proposal:
Datavid was engaged to develop a robust, end-to-end grants management system. The solution aimed to digitise and automate the complete lifecycle of ERDF and ESF funds - from application to disbursement - while enabling detailed auditing capabilities.
Key capabilities:
- Disbursement and management of funds
- Publishing calls for applications
- Automated approval and rejection workflows
- Project setup and lifecycle management
- Claims processing and approvals
- Issue tracking and resolution
- Secure, compliant payment processing
A core objective was to achieve European Commission accreditation through an auditable system with strict access controls and traceability.This milestone was successfully met within a year of go-live.
The system also gained formal recognition and won an award under the name E-Claims (Electronic Claims and Information Management System), highlighting its innovation in grant administration.
Functional benefits:
- Intuitive, unified interface for departmental users
- Precise and efficient data entry via workflow-based capture
- Comprehensive documentation and reporting features
Compliance:
The system met all EC and UK regulatory requirements, supporting document uploads for strategy, appraisal, approval, monitoring, evaluation, and Management Information (MI)reporting.
The Challenges
The department faced a combination of technical and operational issues that placed increasing pressure on its legacy grant management system.
These interconnected challenges affected performance, scalability, and compliance readiness:
These issues resulted in delayed user support, system inefficiencies, and unavoidable operational bottlenecks, ultimately setting the stage for a comprehensive digital transformation with Datavid's support.
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The Solution
Implementing self-service & automating data extracts
With so many support tickets to manage week in and week out, the client needed a trusted partner to help them make better use of their investment in MarkLogic.
Datavid implemented an agile, iterative approach with a focus on automation, modular design, and self-service enablement.
Key enhancements:
- Categorised support tickets to prioritise development to reduce recurring pain points
- Created a reusable library of scripts to resolve high-frequency issues and reduce backlog
- Introduced self-service functionality to minimise user dependency on IT teams
- Automated extraction and processing of key datasets
Technical optimisations:
- Refactored performance bottlenecks and optimised slow-running queries
- Rewrote inefficient algorithms and eliminated redundant calculations
- Introduced a modular architecture for isolated services like authentication, data processing, and reporting
- Developed stable internal and external APIs for seamless integration with existing systems.
User needs were monitored through ongoing feedback surveys and support trends, enabling further refinements.
The Outcomes
Increasing user satisfaction & overall productivity
Datavid’s solution has supported MHCLG for over 6 years, with outstanding results:
- Support ticket volume reduced to an all-time low
- Improved user satisfaction through faster response times
- Increased operational efficiency via automation
- Right-sized the MarkLogic cluster to reduce infrastructure costs
- Sustained compliance with EC audit requirements
Given the tight timelines and the high stakes of non-compliance - potentially amounting to millions in fines - Datavid’s contribution was critical. The resulting TradeStore platform not only ensures full compliance with MiFID II; it also enhances operational resilience, reduces risk, and positions ABN AMRO for long-term data innovation.
Strategic impact
By designing a system that served both the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF), Datavid eliminated the need for the Department for Work and Pensions to create, host, and manage a separate system for ESF delivery.
This dual-fund capability - generic enough for shared use, yet specific enough for fund-level reporting - is believed to be one of the first among EU member states. It has significantly reduced duplicated effort and cost across departments.
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