What is a Local Information System (LIS)?
Many local authorities and local partnerships now support web based systems to store, analyse and present locally and nationally held datasets down to small area level. Their main focus is to provide a place-focused evidence base for local decision makers to target resources and services. They provide a wide range of statistics and reports allowing users to review the current evidence base and build a picture of localities and neighbourhoods for their area of interest. Partner organisations can share their data effectively thus enabling, potentially for the first time, a wide range of indicators to be made available in a consistent form across the partnership. Information products can be built which combine locally and nationally available data into more meaningful intelligence aimed at specific user groups.
Key high level benefits
1. Provision of a self-service, partnership wide resource of definitive, trusted facts and figures about places to be used by specialists (analysts, researchers etc) and non-specialists – this reduces the ‘answering simple, everyday questions burden’ for an intelligence unit, leads to better more informed questions when they do arise and overcomes the key problem, highlighted by many, of different depts. and organisations working from different information bases.
2. Enables organisations across a partnership to free up access to a range of key local (and national) data through a single access channel
3. Platform to allow partners to exchange sensitive and non-sensitive data resources in a controlled form
4. Streamlines the widespread activity of place-based reporting, for example ward based area profiles for Councillors
5. Tools and content that put intelligence at the fingertips of many different users for purposes such as (a) strategic planning – a factual evidence base to act as a baseline of outcomes to assess impact of policies and shape new policy design; (b) operational practice such as locality and service planning; and (c) performance audit, monitoring and benchmarking of outcomes down to neighbourhood scales
6. Data management repository for holding geo-demographic classification data now becoming widely used for improved customer segmentation
7. Channel for delivering a range of useful information, including performance indicators, for local areas to external users like students, businesses community groups and citizens – this addresses information gaps or inaccuracies (eg. exaggerated fear of crime) and leads to a more informed and empowered community and therefore stronger local democratic processes
Additional LIS Resource
LIS Background Overview | PDF Document
Building a business case - what are the benefits of a Local Information System [LIS]?'- PDF Document
What is LIS? | Podcast [MP3]
LIS Costs | Podcast [MP3]