Here at Ctrl O, we provide the groundbreaking software LinkSpace, that was created and developed by our CEO, Andy Beverley. LinkSpace is many things to many people and businesses. It is very versatile and- rather like a shapeshifting octopus- it has a number of forms and strengths.
Fundamentally, it’s a digital framework used to store and work with data, that allows collaborative working for hundreds, and even thousands of people. Information is very secure in LinkSpace - there’s a full audit history and nothing can be lost, so it allows many individuals to work on the same information with full confidence. The framework houses one set of live data that’s accessed from a web browser, so editable from anywhere. The flexibility of the software means that it’s used by a huge range of people, from small business owners through to hundreds or thousands of colleagues in big government departments.
In addition to organising and working with data, LinkSpace can also be used to guide people through complicated workflows- it can be designed with a system of drop-down options, tasks to complete, and alerts. This allows employees to complete the right tasks at the right time, and invite others in to complete particular parts or give permissions when necessary. This enables staff to keep within specific regulations and carry out all of the correct processes they need to. This is particularly important when employees need to keep within stringent legal guidelines, and LinkSpace is used to great effect in these situations.
In essence, it allows people to do their job with peace of mind- that their information is secure, that many people can collaborate at once, and that everyone is working within a consistent set of standards and procedures when they need to.
LinkSpace: What does it look like?
In it’s simplest form, LinkSpace looks like a table, and it is often used where one might use a table or spreadsheet.
Our COO John Hayden (top on the right) talking through LinkSpace with Ben House, one of the company directors of ICTUK, a community interest company that provides cycle training in the UK. Ben and his co-directors are currently looking at LinkSpace as a way of securely and flexibly holding all the information of their courses.
Why choose LinkSpace?
There are many reasons why businesses and departments choose LinkSpace. Firstly, as mentioned, your data is extremely secure. There’s a full audit trail- every change from every user is captured and recorded in a full history. Each row of each table, when selected, leads to a form where information can be filled out in detail. And on each of these forms, there’s a “View Chronology” section, which lists every change, who made it, and when.
Here’s an example of a table with a number of entries in. If any of them are selected, it will open a form to be filled in, or updated, that looks like this:
The box on the lower left of the screen is called “Version History”. By selecting “view chronology”, you can see every change that has been made to the document, when and by who … here’s a close-up image. Clicking on each of these links shows exactly what change was made at this time.
This version history means there’s no risk of data being deleted, unintentionally or otherwise, or lost forever.
There’s also a time machine function- for example, you could travel back to April last year, and see exactly what LinkSpace looked like then.
Our clients say these safety nets for their data are vital to them- whether they’re keeping a record of all their customers, a range of complaints in the probation service, or a full list of events around the world, the information each company holds is crucial to them. LinkSpace is used by the Ministry of Defence (MOD), the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), for data that is worth its weight in gold, and this is one of the reasons why.
“Interestingly, this security gives companies more freedom and flexibility”, explains our CEO Andy Beverley, in the office in Yeovil. “Because they know their data is safe, managers can feel more comfortable about allowing more people access to work on the data set- and it’s easy to then scale up to big departments”.
LinkSpace allows you to create your own view of your data
On some projects, you might be looking at a lot of information, and you might not want to see it all at once. LinkSpace is used by the Probation Service to keep track of all complaints of any nature, and in the MOD for all of the non-operational events around the world (of which there are many). Another thing our clients tell us they like, is that LinkSpace allows you to select which information you want to see and work on, while keeping all of the data stored in the master table. This is live data that is editable, and will update the master record even if you are making changes in a specific view.
For example, the MOD can decide to just look at training events in one country, or have another view which is just the events for next month. It’s also possible to select only events that need a response, or need a particular approval to move forward.
“It’s really useful how you can tailor the view of the data set” explains John while heading to meet clients at the MOD. “I always say it’s a bit like looking inside a house- you get one view through the letterbox, another through a window, another through the door, it’s a little like that, although you choose exactly what you want to see”. Going along with the house analogy, you could choose to see just all the vases, all the books, or all of your elephant ornaments, assuming this information has been previously categorised.
To illustrate it, here’s the example of a full table again:
One can then choose different views from a drop down menu on the “visitors” tab on the far left, that looks like this:
Administrators have views that allow them to control access to records, and might contain data that only they need to see. The “shared views” allow groups of users to see a selection of the data, subject to permissions from the administrators. Staff can also create their own views to choose what they want to see and work on.
One view has been created from the table above, which just shows the names and dates of upcoming meetings (all the other info is there, you just can’t see it in this view). It gives simplicity and ease of working, and the view can be set to see whatever an individual would like to see, within their administrator permissions.
Carla Francome, our Marketing Manager, uses LinkSpace to store all of her work contacts, and she loves the view function. “I’ve got a number of views of the same data, and it’s so useful. I can create a view of all the people I met at a particular event say at the Excel centre, or all of the contacts I want to arrange to meet up with again in the next month. Since I’ve been using LinkSpace, I don’t actually know how people manage with just one table or spreadsheet with everything in it. It must get so unwieldy!”
John Hayden continues, “I remember times in my earlier work life where one person would change a spreadsheet by hiding a few rows, but then if someone else comes to use it, they’ll want a different view, so will then change it again and bring those rows back but hide some other rows, and it becomes difficult to manage very quickly, and stressful too – especially as people start creating copies which quickly get out of sync- each with different data in. With LinkSpace, lots of people can work on the system at once, each with their own unique view of the live data”.
This view selection on LinkSpace can be scaled up – and managed so that whole departments will only see their region in the data set. The Prison Service use a version of Linkspace, and each prison will only see the data for their location.
LinkSpace allows you to decide who views and edits what
Not only can you choose which part of a data set you want to work on, and what parts others can see, but it’s also possible to choose who has permission to edit what. So some employees might have access to view data without being able to change it.
Ben at ICTUK thinks this function would be very useful for them. It would mean they’d be able to store information about potential students, and then share a particular group with a school or the local council, just to view, and just for the time needed. Cycle Instructors could also access just the information of the students they’re teaching. So for example, Bell Lane school in Hendon could have access to just the information of their students who have signed up for cycle training in the first week of term, but wouldn’t be able to edit it.
Alerts
LinkSpace can also be set up to send event-triggered alerts. For example, an alert can be set up to remind an employee to make sure they acknowledge a complaint email within 5 working days, or a plumber could set an alert for 11 months after each boiler is fitted so that they can book the yearly check up. Kate Corden, who is also known as Hackney Bike Fit, works with clients to check their bike is in the best position for them. She likes the idea that she can set up an alert to contact each client 3 months after an initial appointment, to see how they are progressing.
What other forms does LinkSpace take?
LinkSpace can analyse a lot of the data it holds in the table at the touch of a button. For example, the MOD could quickly see the proportion of their non-operational activities in each country in the world, shown as a pie chart, or the MOJ could ascertain how many complaints they have received each month, shown as a bar chart.
A schedule could also show tasks in a workflow, or meetings and appointments, and when they need to occur.
Next Level LinkSpace – Workflows
LinkSpace isn’t just for holding live data flexibly and securely. It is also extremely useful for guiding employees through particular workflows, so they adhere to all processes correctly and in the right time frame, and within any other parameters needed. For example, it can guide people through complicated standards or regulations. This takes some of the stress out of these workflows, as people can rest assured that they’re carrying out their workflow correctly.
It could also be used when there are a number of steps and stages that require different people to step in and make decisions and sign things off. An example might be a grant application process, where a workflow needs to go through a number of stages. After filling in each section, there could be an alert, or a drop down menu option of what needs to happen next.
“It can be described as a compliance tool” explains John Hayden. “It helps our customers stay compliant within their defined processes. It ensures consistent and improving standards and behaviours for operators, while managers have live access to the big picture and the detail if they need it”.
It also works effectively as guidance for a workflow which involves a number of steps and people. Depending on the role, people would have different actions to complete at different points- enabling tasks to be carried out smoothly and effectively to reach a final result.
Case Study 1 - MOJ - Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) Approvals Process
The MOJ occasionally needs to carry out surveillance activities in prisons, in the interests of the public safety or detecting crime. However, there is legislation known as RIPA, which is the Regulatory Investigatory Powers Act. “It’s a law which prevents surveillance unless under very specific situations” explains John. “So the police can’t just bug your phone for example”.
The RIPA legislation is very important for human rights, but the MOJ also need to do surveillance at times to keep everyone safe, and need to stay within the legal framework. As such, applications and risk management is carried out on LinkSpace- using a workflow, applicants can make sure that they get all of the relevant permissions, and stay rigorously within the law, with a full audit trail demonstrating such. “Staff need to prove that any applications for surveillance are in the National Interest, or necessary for the safety of individuals” explains John.
LinkSpace here is very important from a legal and policy perspective, and takes the pressure off individual staff and approvers from working everything out themselves, knowing that they have a central policy team doing quality assuring, with full oversight of the whole process for each application.
Case Study 2 - HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) – Probation Complaints System
The MOJ uses LinkSpace to keep a record of complaints relating to the conduct or competence of Probation Service staff. Any and all complaints about probation staff are carefully recorded, and in the first instance are expected to be resolved within 25 days.
Once these complaints have been categorised, a workflow can be created, with alerts and different stages. For example, each complaint might need to be acknowledged within 5 working days, and the team handling the complaints can put on alerts to make sure that the particular complaint is resolved in compliance with the HMPPS Standard Complaints Procedure.
Thanks to the data set and the consistent approach of adding in the information, you can get a National picture about, for example, how many complaints there are against probation officers or officers in a certain area.
LinkSpace as Decision-Support
As well as guiding people through workflows, LinkSpace can also be a very useful tool for decision support. Drop-down menus can be created which give a list of options depending on the criteria that’s been filled in. An example of this, is that LinkSpace is used by Probation Officers when working in the Effective Proposal Framework (EPF) at the Ministry of Justice. There are approximately 5,000 probation officers around the country, and when someone has been found guilty of a crime, the probation officer will look at what sentencing and rehabilitation options are suitable.
Using LinkSpace, the officer can type in all the relevant criteria- what the crime was, how old the offender is, and any other relevant information, and from that, they’ll get a drop down list of sentences. “It turns about 200 options into 10, and that’s extremely useful” explains John.
While the EPF tool takes nothing away from the professional knowledge of the probation officer, it ensures that they have the most up-to-date policies and legislation to inform their final recommendations to the judge.
Similar applications also enable the sharing of knowledge and experience across an organisation, meaning that new or inexperienced staff can use decision support to access recommendations or suggested actions to take based on good practise. In short, they can have the confidence to take action based on a decision process that is fully audited.
Additional Information
LinkSpace is easily configurable, so people can make changes to the system themselves when it’s up and running, when they know what they need- adding or removing columns (information boxes), or changing views. In this way, they can create the best bespoke design that works for them. We find that people quickly become expert LinkSpace manipulators, and enjoy it!
We do also continue to work with teams where changes are more complex or to supplement their capacity. There’s no lock in- it’s easy to get your data out in a spreadsheet if you feel this isn’t right for you, and it’s also open source software. “In many tech programmes, such as Microsoft Word, the code is hidden” explains Andy. “But in LinkSpace, the code is open, so it can be changed if programmers wish. The code is open, but the data is still private!”
“Ctrl O is the shortcut for Open on the desktop” explains Andy. “And I’ve always been a fan of open source software, since I was about 16”.
LinkSpace is fully compliant with UK GDPR and other relevant IT security regulations.
Service at Ctrl O
“I’ve always been passionate about a personal service” explains Andy. “Real people at the end of the phone that you can reach and speak to on your first phone call without waiting. There are no automated telephone prompts – you’ve only got one question to answer when you first ring and it has two options- both lead you to a real human person”.
How it works, is that our team create a bespoke configuration of our software, working with clients on the requirements, and are always on hand to deal with any queries or problems 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We’ve had lots of great feedback recently about our service, and the fact that we are always on hand has been a big reassurance to our clients.
If there’s anything else you’d like to know about LinkSpace, do get in touch.
