From Discovery to Delivery: The Digital Office & Engage Process Journey

The Digital Office for Scottish Local Government champions collaboration, innovation, and shared digital capability. One of those partnerships to highlight on this journey is with Engage Process, a powerful process management platform that is helping councils across Scotland map, analyse, and improve the way they consider service improvements, service introduction and system integration.

This is our story to date, from early discovery workshops to a national agreement and the growing community of practice that’s helping us to consider how collective process management can support us with common challenges and consistency of service in local government and the wider public sector. 

Discovery & Early Engagement

The journey began in 2023 with exploratory conversations and workshops involving local authorities, the Digital Office, and Engage Process. These sessions, initiated through the Local Government Service Design Group, identified a clear appetite for a shared tool that could support process mapping, service redesign, and collaboration across councils.

A discovery workshop held in September 2023 brought together representatives from across Scotland to explore the platform’s potential. Councils already using Engage Process shared their experiences, while others expressed interest in a collective approach to procurement and implementation.

Building the Business Case

Following the workshops, a formal business case was developed to support the acquisition of Engage Process licences. The Engage Process Business Case outlined the platform’s benefits, including:

• Time and cost savings through streamlined process mapping
• Enable people-driven change through process workshops with SME’s
• Enhanced collaboration across teams and councils
• Improved decision-making through visualisation and data comparison
• A shared repository to reduce duplication and support onboarding 
  

This case laid the foundation for a strategic partnership, with the Digital Office acting as the lead for a collective mapping community.

Agreement & Launch

In April 2024, the partnership between The Digital Office for Scottish Local Government and Engage Process was formalised with the launch of a centralised Engage Process repository for Scottish local authorities. The announcement marked a major milestone in the Digital Office’s digital transformation agenda.

The launch event at Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall featured insights from councils already using the platform, showcasing how over 1,000 processes had been mapped and shared. The event also introduced:

• A dedicated Knowledge Centre
• Expert product consultants
• A framework to simplify procurement 
  

Growing the Community

By mid-2025, 26 councils had adopted Engage Process, with the Digital Office coordinating a growing community of practice and an in-person event as part of Digital Council week in March 2025 to bring users together for workshops, networking, and shared learning.

The Digital Office also launched a campaign to support councils in publishing their processes, developing local handbooks, the shared library and using the platform to drive service improvement.

Where We Are Now

As of July 2025, the Engage Process community continues to grow. Key developments include:

• A live shared repository for councils to upload and access process maps
• A publisher being setup for the Digital Office to lead by example 
• Ongoing training, support, and open user sessions negotiated on behalf of councils
• A commitment from Engage Process to support the community to accelerate adoption 
  

The partnership has become a model for how shared digital tools can drive collective impact across local government.

What’s Next?

The focus now is on deepening adoption, identifying priority processes to map collectively, and embedding Engage Process into the wider digital transformation ecosystem. With strong foundations, a clear vision, and a committed community, the Digital Office and Engage Process are well-positioned to continue breaking down silos and to build better services for Scotland’s communities.