Request New Software or an AI Tool

If you need software or an AI tool that is not already approved, ask. The answer is often yes, and where it is not there is usually an alternative that does the job.

Please ask rather than working around it. We would much rather assess a tool than discover later that Council information has been going somewhere we cannot see.

Before you ask

Check what you already have. Microsoft 365 covers a lot of ground that people go looking elsewhere for, and Company Portal may already have what you need. If you are not sure, ask us that question instead since it is often the fastest route.

How to ask

Send us a message with:

1. What you need to do. Describe the problem, not just the product. If we understand the task we can often suggest something already approved.
2. The tool you have in mind, if you have one, with a link.
3. Who needs it — just you, your team, or the whole Council.
4. Whether it involves personal information. Resident data, staff records, anything about identifiable people.
5. Cost, if you know it, and whether your manager supports it.
6. When you need it, and what happens if you do not get it.

The most useful thing you can tell us is the first one.

What happens next

We assess the request against:

• Security — how the tool handles data, and whether it can be managed
• Privacy and data residency — where information goes, and whether that is acceptable for Council data
• Licensing and cost — including whether free for personal use also means free for a council, which it usually does not
• Accessibility — whether it works for all staff
• Fit — whether it duplicates something we already have

We will come back to you with one of: approved and here is how to get it; approved with conditions; not approved, and here is an alternative; or we need more information.

If the answer is no

We will tell you why, and we will try to suggest something that solves the underlying problem. If nothing does, say so — a task that genuinely cannot be done with approved tools is useful information, and it may justify looking harder.

Please do not use an unapproved tool while you wait, or after a decline. If the timing is the problem, tell us and we will see what can be done quickly.

AI tools specifically

AI requests are assessed the same way, with extra attention to what happens to your prompts and whether they are used to train models.

Be specific about what you need the AI to do. Copilot covers drafting, summarising and rewriting — if that is the requirement, you already have it. The gaps tend to be transcription, image generation, and specialist analysis, and those are worth a proper conversation.

See Approved AI tools.

Browser extensions

Extensions are software and go through the same process. They can read everything on every page you visit, including Pathway, ECM and your mailbox, so please ask rather than installing.

If you are already using something unapproved

Please message us. Nobody is in trouble for putting their hand up, and it is far better than us finding out another way. We will either get it approved or help you move to something else.