Casework software

This may well be a shameless plug (Interest to declare here, etc, because I'm strongly associated with CFL), but...

I got my up-to-date-and-paid-for copy of CFL Caseworker installed (on my desktop PC and my non-council laptop) on Sunday, and started setting up standard letters and similar; and it's genuinely much better than previous versions I've used or tested. The more casework you do (with oft-repeated issues and some constituents who tend to be 'frequent flyers'), the more efficient it gets.

It would be nice if there was a way to share standard lists of agencies etc (that are common to all elected representatives in the same borough, for example - I feel an XML data exchange schema coming on here...) No doubt if I start using it 'in anger' (sometimes literally) I'll think of some more functional requirements to go in the future versions pot.

I've asked Susan to show me how the official council web casework system is supposed to work, to give it a 'fair hearing', but I've heard so many negative reports of it from other councillors.

It will also be nice if I can succeed in persuading the Head of IT and the Head of Law at Lewisham that Caseworker, and the equivalent packages produced or recommended by the other parties (I know the LibDems have a very similar package), can be installed on council-issued laptops.

The best (funniest) argument I've heard so far is that this is deemed "political software" (a term I've not heard before, in my many years in both IT and politics). Barring "software that can be used for political purposes" (like, producing an election leaflet with Microsoft Word?) is much like that new offence of "being in possession of articles that might be of use to a terrorist" - I've always assumed that things like pencils, toilet rolls, and cheese sandwiches are probably of as much use to "a terrorist" as they are to any other person; but it's nice to know our valiant security services have an extra reason available to keep them locked-up ;->.

If our dutiful and appropriately cautious council officers thought about this rationally for a moment, they would realise that all councillors have signed-up to an agreement not to use any council resources for 'political campaigning' purposes - and we would be in trouble if we did. They (council officers) are not expected to put annoying technical restrictions in place to prevent us breaking the rules!