What is Jambo, and how does it improve public consultation data management for Councils and Combined Authorities?

Jambo is a secure, centralised Stakeholder Relationship Management platform designed for UK local government teams. It streamlines the entire public consultation process by consolidating all related information, emails, meetings, events, surveys, and correspondence in a single system, eliminating data silos and improving collaboration, transparency, and compliance.

How does Jambo help UK local authorities ensure legal defensibility and audit readiness?

Jambo automatically logs and stores all consultation responses, communications, and related evidence with complete audit trails. This means that when facing FOI requests, audits, or legal challenges (such as judicial reviews), councils can quickly demonstrate fair process, due diligence, and statutory compliance without needing to search through emails or spreadsheets.

Can Jambo help with UK GDPR compliance and compliance with other data protection laws?

Yes, Jambo is built to meet UK GDPR and information governance requirements. Consultation data is centralized, secure, and auditable. Consent and subscription preferences are managed in one place, personal data can be redacted for public-facing reports, and access is strictly controlled with role-based permissions.

How does Jambo support the principles of inclusive engagement and the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED)?

Jambo analytics can help identify underrepresented groups or "silent majorities", enabling targeted outreach and ensuring all voices are heard. This supports councils in meeting their Public Sector Equality Duty by facilitating more inclusive consultations and enabling reporting on demographic engagement.

What features does Jambo offer to manage records of consultation events or engagement activities?

Jambo includes a built-in calendar for scheduling and tracking consultation events, meetings, tasks and engagement sessions. Teams can log calendar events directly from Outlook with the free Jambo for Outlook add-in, ensuring calendars stay in sync and participation is easily tracked.

How does Jambo support the creation of evidence for statutory documents like the Statement of Community Involvement (SCI)?

Jambo automatically stores and organises all engagement, feedback, and communication records in a single secure platform. This comprehensive audit trail makes it easy to generate the clear, robust evidence required for statutory documents such as the Statement of Community Involvement (SCI). Councils can demonstrate precisely how they have engaged communities, what feedback has been received, and what actions have been taken, thereby supporting regulatory compliance and best-practice reporting.

How does Jambo help UK local governments manage records of community consultation and consultation reporting?

Jambo helps governments manage community consultation records and reporting by centralising all engagement data, automating audit trails, and offering secure AI tools and instant reporting. As a safe, GDPR-compliant platform, it streamlines processes and ensures transparency across every stage of public consultation.

What UK public sector organisations can use Jambo?

Jambo can be used by a wide range of UK public sector organisations, including NHS Trusts, county, city, and borough councils, and Combined Authorities. As a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution used by governments of all levels across the globe, Jambo is the proven and trusted choice for public bodies seeking a compliant, sector-focused stakeholder engagement and consultation management system.

Duty to consult software: how government teams document Indigenous consultation defensibly

Duty to consult software is purpose-built stakeholder relationship management (SRM) software that helps government departments run and document Indigenous consultation with Rights and Title Holders, tracking every concern raised through to its consideration and response, in a single defensible record. The duty to consult is judged on the quality and defensibility of that record.

What is the duty to consult?

The Crown's duty to consult is a constitutional obligation grounded in section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, as interpreted by the Supreme Court of Canada in Haida Nation (2004). It requires the Crown to consult, and where appropriate accommodate, Indigenous groups when it contemplates conduct that may adversely affect established or asserted Aboriginal and treaty rights. The duty is legal, not optional.

The duty applies to the Crown at both the federal and provincial levels. Federally, CIRNAC (Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada) coordinates and advises across government, and provincial governments carry the same obligation under their own consultation policies. In every case, individual departments and agencies are responsible for understanding how and when their own activities could affect those rights, and for carrying out the consultation. That operational weight sits inside each department: tracking who was contacted, what was raised, how the Crown responded, and whether commitments were met.

Why the record matters

Courts have consistently affirmed that failing to meaningfully fulfill the duty can result in project delays, legal challenges, and economic impacts. When consultation is challenged, the department has to show what it did, when, with whom, and how it responded. That record is either organized and defensible or scattered across inboxes, shared drives, and individual memories.

What government departments have to manage in Canada

Setting aside the legal framing, fulfilling the duty is an ongoing operational task throughout the life of a project or decision. In practice, it means:

Identify who must be consulted

Determine which Indigenous groups hold rights that may be affected, and the basis for each.

Run meaningful, two-way consultation

Hold meetings, share information, receive concerns, and document each interaction as it happens.

Track concerns and accommodation

Capture every issue raised and show how the Crown considered, responded to, or accommodated it.

Maintain a defensible record

Keep a complete, time-stamped history that can withstand legal and political scrutiny.

Coordinate across teams and time

Hold continuity as staff change and as files move between offices, departments, and years.

What duty to consult software should do, and how it differs from a CRM

A general sales CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool is built to move prospects through a sales pipeline. Consultation is not a pipeline. Duty to consult software is a stakeholder relationship management (SRM) platform built for the opposite purpose: to hold a complete, defensible history of engagement with Rights and Title Holders over the full life of a project, where the goal is not to close a deal but to demonstrate that consultation was meaningful.

Good duty to consult software should:

Keep one organized record per Indigenous group and per project, and keep it intact as staff change.
Capture every concern raised and track it through to how it was considered and responded to.
Generate a structured, time-stamped account of engagement (sometimes on demand) for a decision, audit, or challenge.
Control access to sensitive consultation information by role.
Store and process that data in a way that meets government security and data residency requirements.

How Jambo supports Crown consultation with Rights and Title Holders

Jambo is a stakeholder relationship management (SRM) platform: software for tracking who you talked to, what was said, what was committed, and what happened next, across the full life of a project.

Jambo is the only Canadian-owned SRM on the market, purpose-built for stakeholder and Indigenous engagement.

One organized record per Rights and Title Holder

Every interaction, meeting note, email, commitment, and document is logged under the correct Indigenous group and file, so the consultation history stays intact when staff change or files move between offices.

Concerns tracked through to response

Issues raised in consultation are captured and tracked to how the Crown considered and responded to them. This is the substance of meaningful consultation, and the part most likely to be tested later.

A defensible, time-stamped history

Jambo holds a complete, time-stamped account of who was contacted, when, and how. If a consultation is challenged, the department can show what it did rather than reconstruct it from inboxes and memory.

Reporting that produces the record on demand

Instead of rebuilding a consultation history under pressure, officials can generate a structured account of engagement in minutes when a decision, audit, or legal challenge requires it.

Coordination across teams and time

When several teams engage the same Rights and Title Holders, Jambo provides a single shared record, so consultation remains consistent as staff turnover and files move between offices, departments, and years.

Permission-based access to sensitive data

Consultation information is controlled by role, so the right people see the right records, an expectation for federal handling of Indigenous engagement data. Data is stored and transmitted only in Canada.

A note on changing consultation expectations for governments in Canada

Consultation expectations are evolving at both levels of government. Federally, CIRNAC is renewing the Guidelines for Federal Officials to Fulfill the Duty to Consult, with new guidelines expected to launch in 2026-27, and provincial consultation policies continue to develop. As departments adapt their practices to changing guidance, a configurable system of record is easier to align than scattered spreadsheets and inboxes.

Why sovereignty and security matter for the government's consultation data

Indigenous consultation data is among the most sensitive information a government department handles. Where it lives, who processes it, and who could gain access to it are procurement questions, not afterthoughts.

Jambo is trusted by governments of all levels in Canada. It also offers a bilingual English and French interface, and processes AI in Canada with no training on customer data, so government teams can keep both the data and the processing inside Canadian jurisdiction.

Data stays in Canada

All customer data is stored in Canada on AWS Canada infrastructure.

Enterprise-level security certifications

Jambo is ISO 27001:2022 and ISO 27017:2015 certified. We use SOC-2 approved data centres.

Available through GC Cloud

Available to purchase through GC Cloud (the Government of Canada procurement channel) for federal departments and agencies.

Goverment approved security

Cleared for approval by government IT and security teams across Canada.

Security clearance

Federal security clearances held by many Jambo team members.

Canadian owned

The only Canadian-owned and actively developed SRM on the market.

Jambo security info

Jambo Secure AI

Jambo is trusted by governments and organizations worldwide

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): about Jambo duty to consult software

What you need to know about using Jambo to manage the duty to consult in Canada.

If you don't find the answer you're looking for, our friendly sales team is always here to help. You can contact us at hello@jambo.cloud.

What is the Crown's duty to consult?

It's a constitutional obligation, grounded in section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, as interpreted by the Supreme Court of Canada in Haida Nation (2004), requiring the Crown to consult and, where appropriate, accommodate Indigenous groups when it contemplates conduct that may adversely affect established or asserted Aboriginal and treaty rights. The duty is legal, not optional.

What do government departments have to do to fulfill the duty to consult?

Departments must identify which Indigenous groups must be consulted and on what basis; run meaningful two-way consultation and document each interaction; track every concern through to how it was considered and responded to; maintain a complete, time-stamped record that can withstand scrutiny; and ensure continuity as staff and files change over time.

What is duty to consult software and how is it different from a CRM?

Duty to consult software is purpose-built stakeholder relationship management (SRM) software for documenting Indigenous consultation with Rights and Title Holders. Unlike a sales CRM, which is built to move prospects through a pipeline, it's designed to hold a complete, defensible record of engagement and demonstrate that the consultation was meaningful.

How do you keep a defensible record of Indigenous consultation?

Keep one organized record per Indigenous group and per project; capture every concern raised and track it through to the Crown's response; maintain a time-stamped history that survives staff changes; and be able to generate a structured account of engagement on demand for a decision, audit, or challenge.

Who are Rights and Title Holders?

Rights and Title Holders is the term used in federal consultation for Indigenous communities and First Nations that hold established or asserted Aboriginal and treaty rights that the Crown's conduct may affect.

Is consultation data secure and stored in Canada with Jambo?

Yes. Jambo stores all customer data in Canada on AWS Canada infrastructure, processes AI in Canada with no training on customer data, holds ISO 27001:2022 and ISO 27017:2015 certifications, and is available for purchase through GC Cloud.