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"The process of designing, distributing and analysing surveys using Keypoint and Surveyserver is very straightforward. The software is very 'user-friendly' and support from Cambridge Software is excellent."

John Husbands, Principle Research Officer, Regeneration and Housing Strategy Division,
London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham

Overview of LBHF, Regeneration and Housing Strategy Division

Hammersmith & Fulham is a borough of contrasts, with economic opportunity and significant pockets of deprivation. Regeneration is therefore one of the council's top priorities. The aim is to work in partnership with government, other public agencies, businesses and the local community in order to maximise economic opportunities and prosperity to the advantage of all residents in the borough.

The Council’s team manages regeneration initiatives within the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham, such as:

• Co-ordinating a range of regeneration activities designed to benefit borough residents and businesses
• Bidding for and delivering government and European Union programmes
• Working with local people who want to set up business in the borough
• Helping to provide a partnership framework for regeneration activity within the council and with other organisations.
• Developing employment and training programmes to ensure local people have the skills to compete effectively in the local jobs market

Historically, a large number of surveys have been commissioned and carried out with local residents and local businesses. The Regeneration Team has used a variety of methods including postal questionnaires, face-to-face interviews and telephone interviews. However they were keen to also explore the possibility of using online surveys, particularly for a regular quarterly survey of local businesses.

The Regeneration Team explored the current market for survey software. Keypoint was the obvious choice. It had the advantage of being available as a free trial; therefore they were able to test compatibility with their operating systems before committing to a purchase. Also, being a publicly accountable organisation, price was an important factor and they considered Keypoint to be extremely good value for money.

During the testing of the trial software it was apparent that the email facility of Keypoint was not compatible with the Regeneration Team’s computer system (security measures in the organisation did not allow executable file attachments on emails). As a result of this they elected to use the web version that proved a success during the trial.

The first quarterly survey of businesses in the local area highlighted a few teething problems. These issues were quickly resolved for the second quarter by Cambridge Software Publishing’s Technical Support Department.

The use of online surveys is still in its infancy. However, following these initial surveys the Regeneration Team are keen to look at ways of increasing participant response.

The key advantage of Keypoint over previous survey methods is the ability to export data directly into a database. As a result, the Department plans to continue using Keypoint as its survey solution and intends to explore methods to increase response rates to its electronic surveys.