Parliamentary Research Service – Document & Workflow Management Platform

A members-only research management platform for the Parliamentary Research Service, replacing slow search and fragmented workflows with a centralised system for document creation, collaborative review, and research request tracking.

How It Started

The project began with a straightforward request: build a members-only platform for the Parliamentary Research Service – the team that provides research materials and policy support to Labour Members of Parliament.

They already had a system, but it had a critical problem: search was painfully slow. Staff were routinely waiting minutes for search results to come back – an unacceptable bottleneck for a team whose job is to get the right document to the right MP as quickly as possible. The existing platform had also grown complex and unwieldy; what the team actually needed was something focused: a fast, reliable way to search through a library of over 1,000 research papers, briefings, and policy analyses.

Speed was our main selling point, so we proposed rebuilding the document database on OpenSearch, a modern search engine designed for exactly this kind of workload. The same data that previously took minutes to query would now return results in seconds.

To prove this before committing to a full build, we proposed a low-cost Proof of Concept: build the core functionality – document creation, storage, and search – and stress-test it with around 10,000 documents to verify that performance held up at scale. Everything built in the POC would carry forward into the full product, so nothing was throwaway work; the initial version focused purely on functionality over design – readable, usable, and fast.

The POC delivered exactly what was promised – fast, reliable search across thousands of documents – and from there the project grew organically into the full research management platform it is today.

The Challenge

The search speed problem was what brought us in, but as we dug deeper into how the team worked, a bigger picture emerged. The problem wasn’t just finding documents – it was the entire research workflow; the process of creating, reviewing, and distributing research was fragmented across emails, shared drives, and spreadsheets.

Beyond the slow search, key pain points included:

  • No single source of truth for document status – teams relied on email chains to track what was in progress, under review, or published.
  • Manual coordination of reviews between internal teams, external academics, and MPs, leading to bottlenecks and missed deadlines.
  • Research requests coming in through informal channels with no structured way to assign, prioritise, or track them.
  • Statistical data scattered across files with no consistent tagging by constituency, region, or policy area.

The team needed a purpose-built platform that would bring structure and visibility to the entire research lifecycle – without adding bureaucratic overhead.

What We Built

What started as a document search tool evolved into a comprehensive research management platform that now serves as the central hub for the team’s daily work. The platform covers four core areas:

Document Management

Researchers draft, edit, and publish documents directly in the platform using a rich text editor. Each document moves through a clear lifecycle – from Draft through In Review to Published and eventually Archived – giving everyone visibility into where things stand. Team members can follow documents to receive notifications, attach supporting files, and link related research together.

Collaborative Review

The review process was one of the biggest bottlenecks. We built a system where internal reviewers and external experts (such as academics or independent advisors) can be invited to review documents with role-appropriate access; external reviewers see only what they need to, keeping sensitive drafts secure while enabling broader expert input.

Workflow & Request Tracking

Research requests – whether from MPs, select committees, or internal teams – flow through a structured pipeline. Each request can be assigned to a lead, tagged by team, commented on, and tracked through to resolution; this replaced the previous system of ad-hoc emails and gave managers clear oversight of workload and turnaround times.

Statistics & Reporting

The platform includes a local statistics module where data can be uploaded in batches and tagged by geographic area – constituencies, regions, local authorities across England, Wales, and Scotland. Reporting dashboards give managers insight into document volumes, workflow throughput, and average turnaround times.

How We Worked

The engagement started with a deliberate, low-risk approach – a proof of concept that validated performance before committing to a full build. Once the POC confirmed the approach worked, we moved into iterative development, rolling out features in priority order based on what the team needed most.

We’ve been working with the Parliamentary Research Service as a long-term development partner ever since. Communication runs through Slack, Jira, and regular calls, with one of our lead developers acting as the primary technical point of contact – keeping decision-making fast and feedback loops tight.

Technology

The platform is built as a modern single-page application using React with TypeScript, bundled with Vite for fast builds. Material-UI provides the design system, Zustand manages application state, and TanStack React Query handles data fetching with intelligent caching. API clients are auto-generated from the backend’s OpenAPI specification, ensuring type safety across the stack; Sentry provides real-time error monitoring.

Results

What began as a simple document search tool is now the central platform for the Parliamentary Research Service’s day-to-day operations:

  • External reviewers participate in the review process securely, without needing access to the full system.
  • Search that used to take minutes now returns results in seconds, powered by OpenSearch.
  • 1,000+ research documents managed through the platform, searchable and tagged by topic, constituency, and region.
  • Document review cycles significantly shortened – email-based coordination replaced with structured, role-based workflows.
  • Research requests tracked end-to-end for the first time, giving managers visibility into workload, bottlenecks, and turnaround times.