Monday 31 August 2020

X-Static

If you do the Twitter thing, follow me at @HousingITguy
or LinkedIn here https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy

I, like so many others I know in fire safety, involved in social housing and TMOs, were horrified to see those early news reports of the horrific Grenfell Tower fire, that June day over three years ago. It was the worst UK residential fire since WWII. The Dame Judith Hackitt report effectively put the sector on notice, to focus on compliance, think out of the box and be open and transparent with residents.

Not an easy job, of which I am very much aware. I wouldn’t want that gig even if it came with a gold clock and a gold plated pension. However, the solutions are out there.

Compliance is challenging and surprisingly I tend to see too much of Excel based records, although we have expensive Housing Management Systems on paper, with abilities to help tie all the strands together. You know the territory, FRAs (Fire Risk Assessments), Legionella, Asbestos, Gas Servicing, Lifts, Radon, Electrical and PAT testing. Ask yourself, how good are your records, the audit trail if heaven forbid a Grenfell scale disaster occurred in your schemes and stock?


Another really important dimension of all this is transparency and openness with residents (Tenants, Leaseholders, Factored and Shared Owners etc). Trust and openness with residents is I believe, an essential part of the effective solutions and the Hackitt report references sharing of info. If you are a landlord reading this, would you be comfortable sharing your compliance data with your residents? Would you be sharing a spreadsheet effectively, or a window on a system, or would you basically play the ‘We haven’t quite got the technology’ card

The latter excuse surprisingly does gain some traction from me however, as all that glitters out there, is not compliance gold. Compliance being a hot topic, I see no end of ‘products nearing release’, ‘nearly ready’ or well actually when I prod and probe, little more than a concept. Like me, you too need to push and want to see real customers, users etc, not beta testers. This is residents lives we are talking about here, lets not beat about the bush shall we?

Readers here may recall I have blogged about GasTag in the past, an excellent idea, finally joining the dots between right certified engineer with right equipment being serviced at the right asset. Back nearly 3 years ago when I wrote that blog, for me I could see the concept morphing far beyond just that, into all types of compliance. I should have put a £pony or a £ton on at Paddy Power, that a name change would be needed at GasTag, to encompass the greater capabilities of the platform.

A rename to ‘X-Tag’ properly encompasses what these guys are actually doing on their solution. X describes compliance perfectly, its about managing X, the universal unknown and making it known, internally and outward to residents. That is exactly what their platform is achieving for larger RSLs, like Housing plus Group and Southern Housing Group, implemented more in weeks than months (or years in some cases), as can be common from some of the traditional existing sector suppliers.

The X-Tag offering goes way beyond the notional management of compliance within a Housing Management System, which so very often is fragmented, lacks clear audit and detail, allowing continuous improvement and confidence in data, that could be and has facilities to share with residents. A key recommendation of Hackitt was the ‘engaged tenant’. If using this solution, an on-line portal sharing data ‘KnowMyHome’  is a by-product, not a separate solution in itself.

Embrace the X-tag, go check them out, at Housing2020 The Virtual Festival, September 7-11th ( https://cihhousing.com/virtual-festival  ) or visit them at https://www.gastag.co.uk/ 


One of the real benefits of X-Tag to me is that its all data based and anyone who I have worked with will know my feeling is always that, reliable data is king. Opinions are great to express, that’s your right in a free country, but solid reliable data always trumps opinions, however loud you shout.

Integration is key and the new platform has good API links that can be utilised by your HMS, Asset Management Solution, such as Keystone, Promaster etc. Reporting is good, with dashboards directing managers to exceptions and areas for attention, as these are the common pain points aren’t they? 


The solution is big on the control of ‘who’ carries out the compliance. Lets face it, excessive sub-contracting out was one of the main un-doings of what happened at Grenfell. Escalation paths can be deep and responsibilities blurred. X-Tag identifies who carried each compliance operation, evidencing issues arising. If your appointed contractor subs it out, that is clearly evidenced. It shines a light on what is checked, who checked it and was it done at the required/expected location.

I suggest you give it a look, see the volume of compliance already supported by the platform and its operational users. As mentioned earlier, there’s many ideas being pitched on roadmaps etc around this whole socialhousing compliance area. Be sure if you are going to take compliance seriously, you are looking at a proven and scalable product, you can implement quickly and reliably.      

Related Post: Who should be fixing your data errors and maintaining data quality?


_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

I would be pleased to connect with you on LinkedIn - http://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy Message me with any issues or queries, you would like to be explored in this blog. We generally receive a couple of suggestions each month.

Foo Fighters - X-StaticFoo Fighters - X-Static.
(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009


Access a quick list of our Social Housing ICT blog posts here

Could we help you or your organisation? Our contact details are here , get in touch we will be pleased to chat about your problems and help with your organisation issues.


File Under: #HomesForBritain,#HousingDAY,#InternetOfTenants,#Shout,#UKHousing, 07854655009, 1st Touch,1stTouch,360,365Agile,3squared,4Js, ACL,ALMO,AMS,AX,Aareon,Abritas,Academy,Accuserv,Accuserve,Active Housing,ActiveH,ActiveHousing,Acutence,Advanced,Agile,Agile365,AirWatch,Alfresco,Alignment,Allpay,Amazon Web Services,Anite,Apex,App,ArchHouse,Archouse,Asprey e-state pro,Asset Management,Associates,Aurora,Average IT Costs,AWI SX Integration Toolkit,AWS, BI,BO,BPR,BancTec,BigChange,Blockwise,BluTek,Bluebox,Blueprint,Browser Applications,Business Objects,Business Planning,Business Process Review,Business social networking, CACI,Capita One Housing,CBL,CCS IT Keystone CCSIT,CEDRM,CHICS,CHR,CIH,CMS,COA,CORE,CPL,CRM,CRM2013,CRS,CTI,CTX,Cadcorp,Capita,CapitaOne,Capita One,Capital Management,Cashflow,Castle,Castleton,Castleton Technology,Cedar Open Accounts,Cerrus,Change,Charges,Chartered Institute Of Housing,Cheaper Housing IT,Chics, Citrix,Civica,Civica CTX,Civica Cx,Civica Genero,Civica Saffron,Clearview,Clik,Cloud Dialogs,CloudDialogs,Coactiva,Codeman,Comino,Commontime,Community Reward Services,Company,Competitive Dialogue process,Component Accounting,Consilium,Consolidation, Consultancy,Consultant,Consultants,Contact Manager,Context,Contractor Systems,CorVu,Cost Reductions,Covalent,Crystal Reports,Customer Relationship Management,Cx, DRS,Deeplake,Designer Software,Development Systems,Director,Document,Documotive,Docuware,Dynamic AI,DynamicAI,Dynamics 365, ECMK,EDM,EDRMS,ERP,ESRI,Elmhurst,Enghouse Interactive,England,English,EnterpriseBI,Estatecraft,Etive,Exhibition,Exponential-e, Facebook,Factorwise,Field Service management,Finance,Financial Systems,Financials,Footprint,Forms,Freezes,Fusion, Gas Tag,G-Cloud,GCloud,GDPR,GGP,GIS,GasTag,Genero,GeoSolveIT,Getting best from,GoTonySmith,Grasp,Grip,Group Apex, HFI (Housing Financials interface),HG,HRA,Hardware,Hitachi Systems,Hitex,HomeMaster,Hometeam,HouSys,House,Housemark,Housemark survey,Housing,Housing Contact,Housing Group,Housing Insight,Housing Management,Housing Management Consultant,Housing Partners,Housing Portfolio Management System,Hub Asset Management,Homeswapper,Housing jigsaw, Housing Support Pro,HousingIT,HousingSupportPro,HyperOptic, IMS,IT,IT Budget,IT Training,ITIL,Impact Response,In,In4,In4Systems Promaster,InfoBoss,InHouse,InMotion,InMotion2015,InMotion2016,InfoBoss,Infoflow,Information,Information Technology,Information@Work components,Informix,Innovation, Informetis,Inphase,Inside Housing,Insight,Internet Portal,Internetalia,Invu,Ireland,Irish,itLab, Keyfax,Keylogic,Keypera,Keystone,Kirona,Kypera, Landlord,Ledgers,Linkedin,Liquid,Locality,Localz, M3,MAVIS,MD,MDM,MI,MIS,MIS-AMS,MISCS,MRI,MS Dynamics,MRI,MS Dynamics CRM2011,MWL,Management,Management Server,Manifest,Measuring,Mebus,Microsoft Dynamics 365,Microsoft dynamics GP 2013,Miracle,MobileIron,Mobysoft,Monopoly board images and pictures,Montal,Mr Void,MriEngage,MrVoid, NDL,NINTEX,NINTEX workflow,NPS,NPS ASSIST,NPS Housing,NPS Job Manager Mobile,NROSH,Natural,Neighbourhoods and Communities,Nintexworkflow,Northgate,Northgate Codeman,Northgate Public Services,Notice, OA,OGC Buying Solutions,OJEU Limits,ORS,Ohms,OmFax,Omniledger,One,OneAdvanced,OneServe,Open source,OpenContractor,OpenHousing,Opti-time,Options,Optitime,Oracle,Orchard,Outsource and outsourcing,OutSystems, PIMMS,PIMSS Data,PM,PRINCE2,Paloma,Pamwin,PanConnect,People Value,Peoplevalue,PfH,Pick,PlanForm,Planned maintenance,Plenfific,Plus,Portfolio Management System,PowerObjects,Pro,Pro-Points,Prodo,Progress,Promaster,Propoints,Proval,Providers,Pyramid, QL,QuantSpark,Qube,QLX,Qlikview,QueryView,Queryview reporting,Quiss, RM865,ROCC,RPs,RSL,Rave,ReAct,Reality,RedkiteCRM,Red Olive,Registered,Registered Social,Rent Increase,RentSense,RentSenseLite,Repairfinder,Reporting,Reports,RobotAutomation,Rocket, Salesforce,Salesforce.Org,SAP,SASSHA,SDM,SHBVN,SM,SOTI,SP,SQL,SQL Open Housing,SQL Reporting,SQL Server,Saffron,Safron,Saturn,Scenario,Scotland,Scots,Scottish,Scout,Sequoa,Serengeti,Serros,Server,Service,Services,Servitor,Sharepoint,Sim,SimPro, Simdel,Simdell,Slash and Burn,Social Housing ICT,Social Housing Software Applications,Social Media,Software,Software solutions,Spotlight Service,Spotlightservice,Star rating,Stores and Stock,Strategic,SunAccounts,Sunguard,Surveys,Streetwise, Swordfish,Sx3,Symatrix Human,System alignment,Systems,Systemwise, T-Files,TEAMS,TED,TFiles,TP Tracker,TSG,Tagish Casework,Tagra,Task,TAIM,Technologies (India) PVT Limited,Telecetera,Template,Terminal Services,That,Three Star,Today,Tony Smith,Tony Smith That Housing IT Guy,TonySmith that housing IT,TonySmithHou,TonySmithHousing, ,TonySmithHousingITguy,Total,Total Mobile,Totalmobile,Trace,Tribal,Twitter, U2,UC,UK,UK Housing,Ukhousing,UniClass Enterprise,Unidata,United Kingdom,Universal,Universalcredit,Universe,Unrest, Valueworks,Van Stock,Vantage,Vantage Sentinel,Version,Virtualisation,Visualmetrics,Voice,Voice and data,Voluntas, Wales,Welsh,Wheatley,Windows Server,Workflow and,Work Hub,Works Connect, XML,Xen App,XenApp,Xmbrace, ...
. . . . . . . . . . .

No comments:

Post a Comment