Product roadmap

Last updated: December 2025

This roadmap represents a high-level overview of the things we are working on now and next for the Back-Office Planning System (BOPS).

It shows our current plans for making a back-office planning system designed for the 21st century. BOPS is one simple system that can meet all of a planner’s needs. BOPS reduces time spent on admin tasks and gives planning officers the information they need, when they need it.

We work in 2-month cycles and we aim to update this roadmap every 2 months. Our plans can change based on what we learn from speaking to our users, testing iterations, and how we can better deliver on our mission.

Overall strategy

BOPS’ long-term goal is to become the first choice for LPAs as a back-office planning system to manage all aspects of Development Management. We believe that the use of BOPS in a live environment will demonstrate value, build trust in the product and gather useful feedback to inform future development. However, wholesale adoption of BOPS as a replacement for incumbent systems is complicated and many councils will need to see it in use before considering it for adoption. Our short-term strategy is to therefore provide planners with a friction free route to use BOPS to process live cases. To this end we’ve identified developing our pre-apps service as the best way forward. 

Done (Up to Dec ‘25)

Pre-apps have fewer dependencies than other types of application and were identified by our Route to Market research as offering a clear way for councils to procure and use BOPS alongside existing systems without the need for dual processing to ensure a complete system of record. 

We have delivered:

  • Integration with Planning Portal

  • Implement the new design for assessment, validation and consultation process for pre-apps and ensure consistency and continuity across different stages of the application

    • Explore implementation for all application types

  • Design and implement improvements to enhance the pre-app service, such as a dedicated case management page, ability to charge multiple fees and record refunds and two-way communication with applicants

  • Further improve the existing pre-applications service within BOPS, focused on meeting needs of identified potential early adopters of the service

  • Set-out a vision for planning performance agreement features as part of a ‘visiontype’

  • Improvements to the existing pre-applications service within BOPS, prioritising improvements that apply across pre-apps and other application types

    • Focus  on consultation, making the process clearer, enabling use by shared mailboxes, automatic suggestions for consultees based on constraints and easier toggling on and off of consultations

    • Assessment redesign which reduces drastically the number of clicks and amount of scrolling. This addresses our most prominent feedback we’ve had about BOPS through testing to date

  • Worked closely with current pilot LPAs to improve the onboarding process and develop a structured path to full adoption whilst engaging with more LPAs who are ready to pilot the full ODP product stack

  • Launched the new BOPS website and other promotional materials, reaching out to the industry via events and forums, to present a clear and compelling proposition for early adopters

Now (Next 3 months)

Following on from discovery into the potential for BOPS to support PPAs we have decided that the full delivery of a BOPS PPA service would require more time than is available currently. However we have identified some features needed for PPAs which also support enhancing our pre-apps service and will work on these to build the foundations for the future whilst delivering on our immediate goals.

We are currently working with partner LPAs and the wider ODP program to:

  • Implement the new design for assessment, validation and consultation process for all application types

  • Continue to review and implement changes based on feedback from pilot councils

    • Update decision notices following latest information from MHCLG lawyers

  • Update our output API endpoints (for reading BOPS data) to meet new MHCLG data standards

  • Provide a clear pricing model and procurement route for LPAs committing to full adoption

This focus will help us deliver overall benefits to BOPS whilst aiming to deliver a tool with a defined offering for LPAs as the first step to full adoption of BOPS for all planning needs.

Next (3-6 Months)

Within the next 6 months, we aim to have a group of LPAs who are fully committed to adopting BOPS. We will therefore need to provide them with a strong enough business case and a clear procurement route to do so. Our next focus will therefore be to:

  • End of phase work to support ongoing impact and wider learning

    • Service patterns

    • Technical documentation

    • Collated research findings and recommendations

  • Synthesise metrics and evaluation data gathered during end-to-end pilots to clearly communicate the benefits of BOPS

  • Establishing a sustainable operating model for BOPS and the other ODP products

Later (6 months +)

Later work will refocus on issues such as integration, data migration, data standards and partnerships in support of our long-term goal to provide modern planning software that supports the whole of the Development Management process. This may include:

  • Improvements to Appeals and Enforcement functionality

  • Additional improvements to user experience and workflow

  • Support for LPAs moving from pilot to full adoption