Segregation solutions: Bolt-on Disc and Disc SC

As we discussed in our blog  To segregate or not to segregate you might want to segregate the information you share with your Members – not only to comply with Data Protection law but also to make your content more relevant and engaging for your Members. Here we focus on the Disc solutions which help you segregate your data easily…

Two options are available: a ‘bolt-on’ Disc system or Disc SC.

If you’re just running two schemes, for example, a night-time Pubwatch alongside a day-time Shopwatch scheme, and you decide to segregate the data between the two, a Disc bolt-on is likely your best option.

‘Bolting on’ a second Disc system to your existing Disc implementation provides you with separate Disc systems for each scheme.  Although they’re totally separate, they are networked together so the Administrator can toggle between them without having to log in and out.  As Administrator, you can add content to both systems from the same Admin Centre and access a single Dataview of Offenders and Incidents taken from both systems.

Because each system has its own Members, you can ensure that they only see the information – including Offenders’ personal data – which is relevant to them.  But any Members who belong to both schemes (for example, off-licences who might belong to your retail and your night-time schemes) can access both sets of data easily through the same Disc App and Desktop.

Each system can also be independently branded – for example one can be ‘Northtown Shopwatch’ and the other ‘Northtown Pubwatch’, each with its own logo.

If you’re likely to set up more than two segregated schemes, you can just keep on adding any number of bolt-on Disc systems.  But if you’re likely to want to support more than two or three in the foreseeable future, Disc SC may be a more cost-effective option.

Disc SC (for Segregated Content) is a single Disc system which can support literally any number of different schemes – whether segregated by geographical area (north, south, central etc) or by type of business (retail, licenced premises, hotel, transport service etc) – or any combination of both.

So, if you’re a BID that wants separate Shopwatch and Pubwatch schemes for retailers and licensees, but also wants to share data about individuals involved in general anti-social behaviour in public spaces with all levy-payers, Disc SC makes it easy to set up such a scheme, and manage it through the same Admin Centre that you use to manage the others.

With Disc SC there is no extra cost in setting up new schemes, so if you have ambitions to launch new Shopwatches, Pubwatches or any other kind of Watch-group in other geographical areas, you can do so without worrying about the cost – that’s often the difference between setting up new schemes and not setting them up!

There’s no limit to the number of schemes you can set up on one Disc SC system and each of them can be given different titles (Northtown Retail Reduction Group, Northtown Pubwatch and so on) However, with Disc SC, each scheme is presented under a common ‘umbrella’ identity, such as Northshire Against Business Crime and under the same logo.

Cost-wise, for an organisation that simply wants to support two segregated schemes, a standard Disc system plus a bolt-on will be the most cost-effective option.  For organisations that wish to support more than just a couple or three schemes, Disc SC will be the most appropriate from the point of view of cost.

If you want to know more, or to explore which option is best suited for you, contact us at enquiries@littoralis.com, phone us on 01273 900468 or contact us through our Enquiry Form.