Here's an idea

Putting all our planning application information on the internet makes the process much more transparent. Now, people in the Stirling area can support, reject or comment on current applications online, and view 14 years' worth of old applications.

We worked with supplier CAPS Solutions to develop a web-enabled interface for our computer systems. It took a consultant from the company a day to install, and it worked straight away – far more straightforward than I expected.

Security was a big issue – we had to buy a new server – to make sure it met the standards of the council's IT people.

We had to change some of our internal processes and think about the way we do things. For example, if we had to process a lot of decision notices in one week, we might have done a print run a few days earlier.

If we did that now, people would see it online and assume a decision had been made already. We have to make sure that what you see is what you get.

Since we launched the system in mid-February, applicants have found it very useful for tracing the progress of their applications. Previously, if a housing association was using an agent, the architect working on a scheme for example, they might be a bit out of the loop.