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Successful housing associations are committed to providing
excellent services to their residents, but maintaining high
standards demands the right information technology for planning,
service provision and management reporting. Thanks to the
assistance of ROCC, Newport City Homes (NCH) has increased
repairs productivity, improved management reporting and
introduced mobile working.
Established in 2009, NCH manages the housing stock previously
owned by Newport City Council. It manages circa 10,000
properties including rented homes, leasehold flats, garages,
commercial premises and shared ownership properties and employs
352 staff.
According to Neil Jones, Head of Information Services for
Newport City Homes, a new set of IT solutions were required for
the newly-formed organisation.
“We had an open mind and went to the market. We wanted to make
sure what we gave the new organisation was the most modern and
up-to-date,” said Jones.
A new central office, telephone system, servers and networks
would be matched by a new housing repairs system along with
mobile working, asset management and workforce scheduling. The
housing repairs system had to support the latest Microsoft
technology, be web-enabled and use a Microsoft SQL database.
“We wanted our housing repairs system to interface with
OpenAccounts. An interface was also needed to an existing Anite
housing management system along with links to the new asset
management system.”
The primary objective was to increase efficiency, essential for
a five-year programme of housing investment. The housing repairs
system had to capture data easily and automate document
production. Several options were evaluated but adds Jones, “the
users liked the look and feel of Uniclass Social Housing
better.”
Although an intuitive interface with tabbed navigation was
attractive, it was not the only advantage of upgrading to this
fully-integrated system.
“There was also an existing relationship with ROCC and
recognition that ROCC were a responsive company to work with.
They were very helpful and prepared to go the extra mile.”
Prime contractors
NCH appointed ROCC as prime contractors covering
social housing repairs, asset management, workforce scheduling
and mobile working. ROCC’s services included design,
development, implementation, training and support within a
Prince2 project management framework - independently monitored
by a Tribal Group consultant.
The project started in August 2009 with a ‘big bang’
implementation scheduled for February 2010. ROCC’s consultants
worked closely with Jones’s IT team including his housing
repairs system administrator, Glynis Davies. ROCC’s reliability,
integration skills and experience of the social housing sector
were decisive in delivering the project on time and within
budget.
“The whole experience from implementation through to ongoing
utilization has been very positive; the system has key
beneficial features and in-built flexibility with ROCC ensuring
that all interfaces work together effectively and seamlessly”
said Glynis Davies.
“What was required was a pragmatic approach and that’s what ROCC
provided us with. I was very pleased with the way the
implementation went,” said Jones. “The ROCC consultants were
very professional, flexible and helpful.”
Uniclass Social Housing provides everything from contractor
management and service delivery to reporting including the Welsh
Assembly Government’s KPIs for the Welsh Housing Quality
Standard.
“The reporting and ability to manage our staff are real benefits
we have experienced,” said Jones. “We can see that we’re hitting
our KPIs and that repairs are undertaken in accordance with the
tenant service levels.”
The close links between housing repairs, housing management and
finance applications has greatly improved information flow. But
the best operational improvements come from integrating mobile
working with Uniclass Social Housing.
All tradesmen are equipped with a mobile phone-PDA for job
details and completion confirmations. Coupled with a new text
messaging reminder service for tenants, there’s been a 40
percent reduction in missed appointments.
“We actually get more repairs work done because the tradesmen
don’t have to come into the office to pick up job sheets every
morning,” said Jones.
When the Connaught Group went into administration in September
2010, NCH employed the gas fitters that were due to be made
redundant. ROCC also stepped in to help. “Within a very short
turnaround, ROCC were able to implement the gas servicing
functionality already in Uniclass Social Housing.”
The increased operational efficiency along with improved
reporting means better service delivery to the residents.
Proactive planning based on sound management information holds
down operational costs with Uniclass Social Housing offering a
unified view of all programmed, cyclical and responsive work.
“We realise that it’s given us the building blocks and we need
to go further. ROCC are part of our strategic way forward,” said
Jones.
NCH is forging ahead with IT, winning BCS The Chartered
Institute for IT’s UK IT industry awards 2010 for the Small IT
Department of the Year category. In November 2010, ROCC
implemented customer response management software to help
improve service levels further. Looking after the tenants never
comes better than this
Learn More:
Visit the Newport City Homes Website
