eDevelopment - A year in review

A lot has happened within the eDevelopment service since our last update in June 2021, and more is planned. 

Our highlights for the second half of 2021

• Reached the 1 million mark in total submissions since launch of the service.
• Conducted penetration (PEN) testing on the service. This is something we do annually to identify issues and vulnerabilities with the service as well as to identify areas for improvement and recommendations on these. These findings are produced in a confidential report.
• Improved our Support Desk processes including the addition of an online feature to request assistance from the Support team.
• Concluded Development J and increasing the individual size of files that can be uploaded to applications on the system from 5MB to 10MB. This allows users to submit larger, and more detailed files to their local and planning authorities.
• Started preparing for proposed changes to planning fees. We’re making sure that the ePlanning fee calculator will be ready for planned changes to Scottish planning fees scheduled for 1 April 2022.
• Updated the operating system of the DEV sites and servers, and made plans for updating the LIVE system in the coming weeks.
• Implemented monthly windows updates and server updates, as well as a range of other maintenance upgrades and bug fixes.

Our plans for 2022

In the coming months, our main focus will be to ensure the system is prepared for the proposed planning fee changes. This is expected to be implemented on 1 April 2022.

Beyond that, we will be:

• Continuing to maintain the current service and implementing bug fixes and service updates.
• Updating the operating system of the LIVE sites and servers.
• Planning for wording changes to several forms in eBStds.
• Supporting Digital Planning in the Alpha work on the new Payment System and Fee Calculator project, and in the Discovery and Alpha work for the Smart Applications project.

If you want to contact us and provide your thoughts, feel free to do so in the contact section in our Support tab, at eDevelopment@gov.scot, or tweet us @eDevelopmentSG.