figuration work by the supplier. The steering group should include LAs from across the 4 suppliers. P a g e 2 | 5 3) Consultation activities involving Local Authorities within their supplier group to assist suppliers in producing specific product specifications that will be released to all customers. These should be signed off by the supplier’s existing Customer Advisory Boards (or equivalent). 4) Agreement between the suppliers and the DfE about the timescales for developments required, both for product changes and eventual deployment to all customers, the scale of which we know is likely to vary from product to product. Some suppliers also have a much larger customer base than others which may also significantly impact on their resource capacity in implementing this quickly. 5) A supplier-specific roll out plan for their customer base following the release of the product which could include the steering group members as early adopters so that they can fully test out the changes before the product is rolled out across the entire customer base, ensuring there is time to address any critical issues. There is uncertainty about the funding available to support the changes required by suppliers, and whether sufficient funding will be allocated to Local Authorities or indeed directly to the suppliers. Without funding, the suppliers might need to pass these costs onto their customers, and individual customers will need to negotiate based on the terms of existing contracts with suppliers. The cost of migrating client data in order to move children from one category/workflow to another should not be underestimated, whether this is handled in-house or by the supplier, which may also vary between CMS suppliers. Invitation to join this conversation NVEST member LAs have asked for 