The government stepped in early by defining the Special Needs Code of Practice.

This defined the procedure for assessment of special needs, and required LEAs to carry out this process, in a demonstrable way.

Targets for assessments were set.

It was realised early that workflow was the key.

ICL marketed a workflow package in the late 1980s which provided the most rudimentary workflow features, but it was clumsy to use. This was before Windows and Mice - it was amazing that it worked at all, but it was fairly effective.

We at BSL came onto the workflow bandwagon in 1992, and have never left.

The SEN CoP was a brilliant idea.

It drew together a combination of performance behaviour and targets in an easily understood way - and obliged LEAs to comply.

Although the CoP itself was not great, and has been revised many times, it has been the basis of a lot of IT developments since.

Putting together an integrated step-by-step procedure with enough prompts and alerts to help users through what was a complex process was a challenge.

The tension between 'this is the way to do it' and 'this is the way we do it' has always been there.

By creating a customisable workflow Bright Systems Limited have made a lot of people very happy.