Fife Council Transforms Civic Licensing with Lexis Visualfiles and Expert Support from LexisNexis

"The support provided by the LexisNexis team has been first class. They go above and beyond, often suggesting improvements that even we as a team haven’t thought of. This is down to their technical expertise and understanding of our operation.”

Fife Council, the third-largest local authority in Scotland; by number of councillors, has transformed its Civic Government Licensing operations through the powerful combination of Lexis Visualfiles and the expert guidance of the LexisNexis Enterprise Solutions Client Advising team.

By embracing process automation, tailored support, and intelligent system enhancements, Fife’s Legal Services department has turned complex, time-consuming licensing workflows into a streamlined, future-ready operation—freeing up valuable staff time, minimising manual errors, and ultimately improving public service delivery.

A Turning Point for the Licensing Team

Fife Council's Legal Services team has used Lexis Visualfiles for many years. However, the departure of an in-house developer left a significant gap in the Civic Government Licensing department’s ability to maintain, adapt, and optimise the system to meet evolving operational needs.

Facing mounting challenges and increasing case volume, the team turned to the LexisNexis Client Advising team for expert support. The results were transformative.

Gillian Love, Lead Officer of Miscellaneous Licensing at Fife Council comments, “The support provided by the LexisNexis team has been first class. They go above and beyond, often suggesting improvements that even we as a team haven’t thought of. This is down to their technical expertise and understanding of our operation.”

This high-impact collaboration became the catalyst for a department-wide modernisation effort, resulting in tangible improvements to productivity, accuracy, and case management.

Licensing at Scale—Streamlined and Automated

A lean team of just six legal professionals, Fife Council’s licensing team efficiently manages a diverse portfolio of over 15 licence categories: including taxi drivers, street traders, window cleaners, and second-hand dealers. With over 1,500 civic licences needed for taxi drivers alone, the team needed to streamline complex workflows across the department without increasing headcount.

These licences are granted either annually or every three years, but applications arrive on a rolling basis throughout the year, creating a constant workload and complex case tracking requirements.

To manage this complexity, the department partnered with LexisNexis to overhaul its end-to-end licensing workflow across all categories through automation and the management capabilities provided by Lexis Visualfiles.

Take the taxi driver licensing process, for instance. Previously, it involved multiple manual steps, from sending emails to logging deadlines and tracking police reports. Now, the process is fully automated:

• Application details are entered into Visualfiles.
• Automatic notifications are sent to Police Scotland to initiate mandatory checks.
• A deadline for police response is generated, along with task lists for staff.
• Once the police report is received, Visualfiles either generates the licence automatically or initiates further workflows such as meeting invitations, outcome letters, or appeal processes.

By embedding legal deadlines, decision paths, and communications into a single system, the department has achieved consistency, speed, and visibility across every licensing category.

Unlocking Innovation Through Partnership

Rather than simply fixing what was broken, the LexisNexis Client Advising team took a proactive, solutions-first approach. Their hands-on involvement led to a series of improvements that have made a measurable difference to daily operations.

Love explains, “At the start of this year, we gave the Client Advising team at LexisNexis a long list of problems... They didn’t simply address our list mechanically. They actively sought additional ways to enhance our licensing processes... Their co-operative and problem-solving attitude has blown us away.”

A few examples of these innovations include:

• Dynamic email generation: Each licence type requires tailored communications. Instead of maintaining 15 separate email templates, a smart script now identifies the licence type and auto-generates the appropriate content—eliminating human error and saving time.
• Medical check identification: Drivers over 70 need medical assessments, but identifying them used to require time-consuming manual checks. Now, with one click, Visualfiles reveals applicant dates of birth via a custom query and quickstep script.
• Smart system maintenance: Routine administrative tasks—like changing case handler names, updating committee letter headers, or adjusting fee structures—can now be performed quickly and accurately using bespoke scripts written by the Client Advising team.

Built-in Compliance and Control

Naturally, data protection is a top priority for Fife Council, and the Civic Licensing department has enhanced its information governance through Visualfiles’ bulk deletion tool. These allow the team to confidently manage file retention and ensure the system holds only essential data—keeping processes aligned with best practice data retention and management policies.

At every turn, LexisNexis has ensured that automation doesn’t come at the expense of control. Instead, the team now works with a system that promotes compliance, accountability, and consistency in how licences are processed and archived.

Gillian Love elaborates, “The LexisNexis Client Advising team is always willing to help, and nothing is ever too much bother for them... enabling us to devise new ways of doing things, which perhaps we would never have thought of ourselves.”

Tangible Benefits for the Team—and the Public

The transformation has yielded real operational benefits, including:

• Faster turnaround of licence applications.
• Reduced paper use and administrative effort.
• Improved communication with stakeholders.
• Better coordination across licence types.
• Lower risk of manual error or oversight.

Most importantly, this improvement has been achieved without compromising the team’s rigour or professionalism.

Applications are processed more rapidly. Urgent requests are handled without delay. And because automation handles repetitive tasks, the legal professionals at Fife can focus on the complex, high-value aspects of their roles—ensuring a higher standard of service for the community.

Love emphasises, “Visualfiles has made the entire licensing process slick, from start to finish. We have reduced reliance on paper applications, and efficiency is built into licensing processes.”

Looking Ahead: Ready for the Next Leap

With a major upgrade to the latest version of Lexis Visualfiles on the horizon, Fife Council is poised to build on this momentum. The next phase will include enhanced Windows 11 compatibility, improved reporting tools, and new opportunities for integration across departments.

Together with LexisNexis, the Civic Licensing team plans to explore even more automation possibilities, smarter data management, and expanded system interconnectivity.

Speaking about the partnership, John Watts, Account Manager at LexisNexis Enterprise Solutions confirms “Our partnership with Fife Council stands out as one of the most rewarding and collaborative relationships we’ve had the privilege of fostering... built on a foundation of trust, mutual respect, and a belief that no challenge is insurmountable.”

A case study in collaboration, Lexis Visualfiles has not only become a vital operational asset for Fife Council’s licensing team but has highlighted their ability to recognise the advantages gained by working with the LexisNexis system experts to create a partnership that turns possibility into progress. Together, they’ve demonstrated how thoughtful workflow automation, informed guidance, and trusted relationships can reshape public service delivery for the better.

Download a copy of Fife Council's Case Study