Vital information to serve the community
Infoengine
Helping communities in Wales help themselves.
Infoengine is a bilingual, online directory of third sector services. Its aim is to highlight the innovative and varied services that are available to people in their communities and to provide detailed, relevant information about each service so that people can make informed choices. It seeks to provide commissioners and delivery agencies with comprehensive information in order to be able to identify service gaps and opportunities for more efficient and effective service provision. It can be seen by following this link: www.infoengine.wales
infoengine was established by PAVO in 2008 in partnership with Powys County Council. It was originally developed by the Powys Association of Voluntary Organisations to serve the communities of Powys but since we got involved has been taken on to cover all of Wales.
How does it work?
infoengine is available online to anyone. It is used by agencies and front-line professionals from all sectors. It is used by citizens within communities across Wales and outside of Wales. It allows users to search for services by subject and location e.g. Befriending Services within a 5 mile radius of Haverfordwest. It also allows users to search by organisation eg Alzheimers Society.
The infoengine system works by inviting organisations and services to register and update their own records/database entries in order to maintain accuracy and reliability. Registration is free of charge. There is an automated refresh cycle whereby registered services are asked every 4 months to confirm that the information in infoengine is up to date and correct. If no response is received to 2 automated emails, an alert is sent to PAVO. This is subsequently pursued by a staff member. If it proves impossible to contact the organisation and verify accuracy, the service is removed (soft delete) from the system. This gives a high level of confidence to the user that the information provided by infoengine is reliable. Infoengine is constantly being improved and has received commendation from the Welsh Government at the very highest levels.