Sopra Group is delighted to reveal that, along with its client the Northumbria 101 Partnership, it has been shortlisted in two categories of the British Computer Society (BCS) Professional Awards 2007 and one category in the Computing Awards.

Against stiff competition from some of the biggest names in IT, Sopra Group was announced as a finalist in two of the BCS Project Excellence Categories, the Social Contribution Project and Web-Based Technology Project awards, for their work on Northumbria 101: Single Non-Emergency Number.  In the Computing Awards the 101 Project was shortlisted in the Public Sector Project Of The Year Category.

The Web-Based Technology Project Award category was open to any web-based application or service that was available to the public and attracted the largest number of entrants of all the BCS Awards categories, so to be shortlisted in this particular category is a considerable achievement.  The Social Contribution Project Award was open to any project that brought benefits to society in general, or to disadvantaged individuals.  Both of these Project Excellence categories were judged by experts against a range of criteria including creativity, benefits achieved and excellence in execution.

In the Computing Awards For Excellence the Public Sector Project Of The Year judges were looking for projects that delivered improvements in public services or showed new ways of working that allow greater efficiency or cost-effectiveness in the organisation. 

The Northumbria 101 Partnership is a collaborative approach between Northumbria Police, Northumbria Police Authority and the 12 local councils across Northumberland and Tyne and Wear to deliver citizens convenient access to a range of non-emergency services via an easy-to-remember three digit number (101).  The innovative 24/7 multilingual service links users direct to action, information and advice, serving around 1.4 million people over 2,200 square miles.

The scope of the 101 service was developed through research with the general public, and in consultation with a wide group of service stakeholders, to efficiently combat the most common anti social behaviour (ASB) and community safety issues.  These issues include vandalism and graffiti; noise nuisance; abandoned vehicles; rubbish and litter; drunk and rowdy behaviour, and drug related ASB.

Sopra Group is particularly pleased that it is their continued commitment to customer and consumer satisfaction through the delivery of effective and innovative IT solutions that has been recognised by the BCS and Computing.