Good Morning judge

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

A very well timed post for the tail end of 2024 and the start for the new year. Always a milestone for taking stock and setting yourself and your organisations in some cases, for some new resolutions. 2025 is your blank sheet of paper.

As anyone who reads my posts here will know, I work with a wide range of organisations of all sizes. As any of those I am sure would tell you, I do my best to help with my experience or point them to other means of carefully referencing product choices before they are made or finding other help from my contacts. I have been told at times that my optimism and confidence in getting problems solved can be legendary. Indeed if you believe you are beaten before you start, your hope is lost!

Last year I worked with a few organisations coming out of downgrades or regulator judgements. The common theme of all of these were that they were all great teams of people, exceptional CEOs, looking to improve processes, solutions, systems and in some cases needing to take up a new direction. A downgrade should be a temporary wake up call, with issues that can generally be addressed. No regulator judgement will generally tell anyone they needs to change a housing or assets system, but will point to making moves to get better control of data, improve service (such as repairs, maintenance) or governance. Systems and/or the way staff operate them however are usually the root of many troubles.

Apart from helping folk in the sector, I also assist many residents, tenants, leaseholders and factored owners, where I can. Some I can see get a raw deal with something as fundamental as their home. (Yes, home, not a ‘unit’ or an ‘asset’). Often it’s the same culprits I am afraid. I seriously have wondered if some CEO’s might be better paid based on their ratings not their PR.

I have sometimes been asked how I can remain positive working with social housing landlords and councils, when some residents experience can often be just of failing ones? My answer is that I think I see better landlords, as whoever I work with is looking to sort out their systems, not bury their faults and pretend all is fine. I never seem to get the call from any of those usual suspects. I am unsure if they would agree with some of my approaches, once I had had the audacity to hold a mirror up to them!

So anyway, what judgement's have the regulator been up to, just up to Christmas?

Well the RSH has been busier this year than most and it looks like more in depth assessments (deep dive IDAs) are coming thick and fast in 2025. Here’s over fifty from December alone - from Accent Group to the YMCA St Pauls Group. Checkout the G1’s & V1’s and also a few downgrades too.

These inspections can be regarded as quick exams and for sure I have heard of more than a few RSLs ‘boning up’ to show a clean set of heels for the inspectors arrival. In the past I have also experienced this at times in the wake of implementing a new system, during very common data cleansing exercises. While the impetus and priority of these exercises are commendable, like a pet not only being for Christmas, it should be a continual practice. In fact its better becoming the organisation culture. Its often been a serious point of discussion in my projects, how do we embed this respect for data and processes going forward after go-live?

Well, I have quite a few interesting projects on-going into 2025 and this last point is a feature of pretty much most of them. It might surely be a good call for a post later into the year!

Worried about an in depth inspection from the RSH coming up?

Get in touch, for a chat soon over coffee & Hobnobs ☕

       Related Post: Have you got ICT projects taking so long, they are more like ghost ships lost in the fog?

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ *** Join the discussion with Claire & Aiden *** _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

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.

10cc Good Morning Judge.
(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.

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. . . . . . . . . . . . ES | FR | DE | IT | UK

Dreadlock Holiday

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


“I don’t like Cricket, oh no, I love it”

I felt myself getting quite nostalgic a few days ago, when passing my local village Cricket Club. They were replacing the old mechanical scoreboard, probably originally back from 1881, when the club was formed.

Now I like technological improvements,  but what type of difference will that actually make?

I think in any conditions the old white on black numbers are readable. As a small village, we don’t play 20:20 matches with a coloured ball, under floodlights. In fact besides a poor floodlight in the car park, we are not really of a size to need lights. So I am not convinced customer satisfaction will be impacted here. At several hundred quid a panel, it’s quite an upgrade.

Should we be messing with that English summer experience, of leather on willow, and all that?

Spookily enough, when I took the photo above, I did encounter the old chap who scores in that box and I asked him his opinion.

He said he wouldn’t miss each spring when all the numbers need cleaning, setting up and checking they still work ok. Well at least one bloke is happy with the change.

I would be more seriously kicking off, if the village church from the 1300's, was going to get its clock changed to digital. That would knock me over the edge!

Once we lose our heritage though, it can never easily be recovered. Heritage might be harder work to enjoy, but definitely worth it in my book, in the right situation. Ask anyone who has an old Triumph Stag, if they would prefer something more modern, without a ‘choke’ and two additional gears. I think I know what the answer would mostly be.


Related Post: Have you ever considered taking all your staff out for a day, to get them to understand the importance of data?   

Catch the blog monthly archive at https://soundcloud.com/housingitguy/

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

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.

10cc - Dreadlock Holiday.
(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: 360,1stTouch,4Js. , 07854655009 ,365Agile," """" ",,#UKHousing,#HousingDAY, #HomesForBritain,#InternetOfTenants, #Shout,1st Touch,3squared,Accuserv,Acutence,Aareon,Academy,ActiveH,AirWatch,Alignment,ALMO,Anite,Apex,ArchHouse,Archouse,asbestos, Asprey e-state pro,ActiveHousing,Asset Management,Aurora,Average IT Costs,App,Associates,ACL,Abritas,AMS,AX,aspireview,Agile365, BO,BPR,Browser Applications,Business Objects,Business Planning, Business Process Review,Business social networking, Blockwise, Block wise,BI,BancTec,BluTek,Bluebox, Castle,CBL,Cedar Open Accounts,Cx,Change,Cheaper Housing IT,Chics, CHR,Citrix,Civica,Clearview,CMS , CCS IT Keystone CCSIT,Civica Genero,Contractor Systems,CORE,CorVu,Cost Reductions,Covalent,CRM,Crystal Reports,CTI,CTX,Customer Relationship Management,Cashflow, COA,Coactiva,Codeman,Comino,Competitive Dialogue process,complex IT procurements,Component Accounting, Community Reward Services, Consilium, Consolidation, Consultancy,Consultant,Contact 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Olympian

If you do the Twitter thing, follow me at @hotpixUK
or LinkedIn here uk.linkedin.com/pub/tony-smith-bsc-hons-acih/a/979/351/

Are you going to any of the London based housing events next week? (19th/20th November 2013).

You can find me at Olympia for the NHF IT Managers conference and exhibition on Tuesday. Please come and say hello if you follow this blog or my twitter feed at @hotpixUK

Prices look to be much more reasonable this year and rightly so, in the current climate of austerity. Worth getting out of the office for, plenty of interesting sessions and the exhibition of IT suppliers, looking to help spend your IT & systems budget too!

I will be going to Mr Grants excellent HT (Housing Technology) Magazine annual bash at Pizza Express too, so do say hello if you spot me by the bar with a beer!

The day after, Wednesday it is Homes at Excel on the east of town, which is also looking like a good event this year.

You can link with me on LinkedIn here - uk.linkedin.com/pub/tony-smith-bsc-hons-acih/a/979/351/ It would be great to connect !

Gene - Olympian .


(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009

PS As usual, if there are subjects you might like me to tackle on this blog, please get in touch and let me know!

File Under: 360,1stTouch,4Js. 07854-655009 , 07854655009 , 07854 655009 ," ""07854 655009"" ",07854-655009,#UKHousing,1st Touch,3squared, Acutence,Aareon,Academy,ActiveH,Alignment,ALMO,Anite,Apex,ArchHouse,Archouse,asbestos,Asprey e-state pro,Asset Management,Aurora,Average IT Costs,App,Associates,ACL,Abritas,AMS,AX,aspireview, BO,BPR,Browser Applications,Business Objects,Business Process Review,Business social networking, Blockwise, Block wise,BI,BancTec,BluTek,Bluebox, Castle,CBL,Cedar Open Accounts,Cx,Change,Cheaper Housing IT,Chics, CHR,Citrix,Civica,Clearview,CMS , CCS IT Keystone CCSIT, Contractor Systems,CORE,CorVu,Cost Reductions,Covalent,CRM,Crystal Reports,CTI,CTX,Customer Relationship Management,Cashflow, COA,Coactiva,Codeman,Comino,Competitive Dialogue process,complex IT procurements,Component Accounting,Consilium,Consolidation,Consultancy,Consultant,Contact Manager,Context,CIH,Chartered Institute Of Housing,Cadcorp,Cerrus Saturn,convergeOne,CACI,CPL Director, Deeplake,Development Systems,Document Management,Documotive,datasystems , Microsoft dynamics GP 2013 ECMK,EDRMS,England, English,EnterpriseBI,ERP Systems,ERP,Elmhurst,Estatecraft,EDM,ESRI,Exponential-e, Finance,Financial Systems,Financials, Factorwise,Facebook ,Fusion, Getting best from,gotonysmith, Grasp,Grip,GeoSolveIT,GIS,GGP, HouSys,Housing software,HG,Housemark survey,Housing Blueprint,Housing Group,hotpixuk, HousingIT,hotpix,Hardware,Hitex,Housing Contact Company, Impact Response,implementations,In House,In4,Infoflow,Information Technology,Informix,inHouse,in-house workforce, Innovation,Inside Housing,Internet Portal,Invu,Ireland,Irish,IT Budget,IT Training,iWorld, Innovation Group Apex,ITIL, In4Systems Promaster,IT,Insight, Keylogic,Keystone,Kirona,Kypera,Keyfax, Ledgers,Linkedin,Locality,Liquid Voice, MD ,Mr Void , MrVoid, Measuring Change,Mebus,Miracle,MISCS, mobile functionality,Monopoly board images and pictures, Montal,MS Dynamics,MS Dynamics CRM2011,Miracle Software,Management Reporting,MI,M3,MIS,MIS-AMS,Mobysoft, Northgate Codeman,Neighbourhoods and Communities, Northgate,Notice,NROSH,NINTEX , NINTEX workflow,Nintexworkflow, OA,OGC Buying Solutions,Ohms,OJEU Limits,OmFax,Omniledger,Open source software,open tender,OpenHousing tonysmith@hotpixuk ,,Opti-Time,Oracle,Orchard,Outsource and outsourcing,OpenContractor,ORS,OneServe, PIMMS Data Systems, Paloma,performance management systems,PfH,Pick,PIMMS,pimms4communities,Planned maintenance,People Value,Plus,Peoplevalue,PM,Progress,Promaster,Proval,Pyramid,PRINCE2,prince,Pamwin, QL,QLX,Quiss,Qlikview, Registered Providers,Registered Social Landlord,Rent Increase Freezes,Repairfinder,Reporting,Reports,ROCC , Rocket,RPs,RSL,Reality,ReAct,reidmark,RM865, Saffron,SAP,Scots, Scottish,Scotland,SDM,sector,Server Virtualisation,servicing, Servitor,Sharepoint,Simdel,Simdell,Slash and Burn,Social Media,Software,SQL Open Housing,SQL Reporting Services,SQL reporting services,SQL Server,Star rating,Stores and Stock,Strategic Asset Management,Sunguard ,Surveys,Sx3,System alignment, Systemwise,SM,Sequoa,Serros,SP,Scout,score,Swordfish,Serengeti,SOTI,south view,Sunguard,Service Charges, Template,Task,Terminal Services, tonys , tonysm , tonysmi , tonysmith, tonysmithth, tonysmiththa, tonysmiththat, tonysmiththath, tonysmiththatho, tonysmiththathou, tonysmiththathous, tonysmiththathousi, tonysmiththathousin, tonysmiththathousing, tonysmith@hotpixuk , tonysmiththathousingg, tonysmiththathousinguy, sharepoint, share point Three Star,Today,Total repairs,Tribal,Twitter,U2, tonysmith , tonysmiththat , thathousing , thathousingIT , thathousingITguy ,TED,Tagish Casework,TP Tracker,Telecetera,Tagra,Trace, UniClass Enterprise,Unidata,Universal Housing,Universalcredit, universal credit, universal credits,UC,Universe,Unrest, UK, United Kingdom ,Ukhousing,UK Housing, Van Stock,Voice and data,Vantage Sentinel,Version One,Visualmetrics,Voluntas, Wales,Welsh,Windows Server,Workflow and tasking,Wheatley, Xmbrace,XML ,XenApp,Xen App

Life In The Hacked Lane

If you do the Twitter thing, follow me at @hotpixUK
or LinkedIn here uk.linkedin.com/pub/tony-smith-bsc-hons-acih/a/979/351/

What a week it was. My favourite German Chancellors phone, an estimated 10 million Europeans and 2.9 customers of Adobe's Creative Cloud hacked. See http://blog.gsmarena.com/some-2-9-million-accounts-compromised-in-adobe-creative-cloud-hack/

Last month too, hackers got close to fleecing Santander using a £10 KVM switch attached to an office workstation. I bet you have the odd KVM switch lying idle in your server room, don't you?

So, in theory I might have been in that list somewhere. Due to inter-nation eavesdropping rules, my emails etc likely might have been hacked more likely by the French or Italians than GCHQ. I doubt they would have understood my housing IT rants. Still it demonstrates that hackers are live and well, applying maximum imagination and originality as ever.

It does all open up that debate about "How secure is cloud hosted data", when apparently the telcos may well be providing wire tapping at a data level? Is it all paranoia and conspiracy theory's?

More and more housing applications are being delivered in a cloud based form. ReAct is one we have used for years, without too much fuss, which holds address, contact, victim and perpetrator details, for instance. Payment solutions you use (including that Alliance & Leicester, now Santader one), may also hold debit, credit, payment card, sort codes and bank account details.

If your whole Rent Accounting module is cloud hosted, huge amounts of personal customer/resident data is potentially present. Maiden names, dates of birth, password confirmation questions etc. However secure that data in the hosting domain, could someone be listening to it being piped into your office?

While these places may hold partial data on your residents and their neighbours, with card strip codes not held, there's potential for some of the minimal data being enough to allow identity theft to occur by a telephone call and a reset. Identity theft complete. Identity thieves typically obtain and exploit personally identifiable information about individuals, or various credentials they use to authenticate themselves, in order to impersonate them.

Chatting to a friend a few weeks ago, who works at a chip design company, have recently invited a hacker in to try to crack security. With the aid of a spoof router, and a Pringles tin to enhance his wifi detection while parked across from the HQ on the street, he had located all the servers on the network in about 24 minutes and had a dozen back-doors into very valuable commercial designs using in Samsung & Apple devices. It just showed me how vulnerable we can be.

I hope your organisation has robust data protection and security policies. Also that they are continually reviewed and tested, particularly in the light of recent hacking prowess. Security and awareness of it does not start and end just with that RSA key generator device. One of the biggest risks might well be your own staff, or unauthorised visitors tail-gating in behind them. Be imaginative, as much as the hackers, if you can manage it!

Read on to: A new Windows 8 style housing management system coming soon, on a tablet near you 

You can link with me on LinkedIn here - uk.linkedin.com/pub/tony-smith-bsc-hons-acih/a/979/351/ It would be great to connect !

The Eagles - Life In The Hacked Lane .


(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009

PS As usual, if there are subjects you might like me to tackle on this blog, please get in touch and let me know!

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End of My High Wire Days

If you do the Twitter thing, follow me at @hotpixUK
or LinkedIn here uk.linkedin.com/pub/tony-smith-bsc-hons-acih/a/979/351/

There’s a spooky thing in todays' news, two articles strangely connected, but not that obviously, but enough to make me nearly choke on my croissant. Jeeves did give me a thoughtful stare!

Today BT switched off its dial-up internet service, so no more listening to this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHW1ho8L7V8 . The company said it was taking the step as only a “tiny number” of its customers still went online, using a dial-up modem. Estimates suggest about 200,000 people still used dial up at 56K. While the majority of these users could migrate to broadband, in many rural areas, this can be quite expensive and often for barely 400kbs. Indeed, just 4 miles out of Warrington (quite a built up urban area), I know friends struggling with expensive BB from BT/Openreach at about these sluggish speeds.

These people can continue with dial-up however with BT subsidiary PlusNet, (what those nice Yorkshire folk? Yes the very same....).

Next to this news was that the cost of HS2 has grown already to £42Bn with a £14Bn contingency. Boss of the project Alison Munro says that “It is not true that costs are out of control”. Our chancellor (and MP just down the road from me in wealthy Tatton), assured the BBC today that he is “passionate” about the multi-billion pound high speed project, despite rumours that costs are spiralling.

This is a project to bring faster trains from Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds to London Euston, with many estimates using “savings in work time” to help justify this infrastructure. The idea is that less time will be spent on a faster train, meaning more time in the office. I can understand how many of these advantages could have been formulated back in 2008, when many of us were on dial-up internet, I seriously wonder if the numbers stack up now, nearly 6 years later. The Institute of Directors don’t seem to and they have a track record in knowing what makes business thrive.

Most of the ‘office crowd’ I mix with seem to spend and be encouraged to be less in the office, as its cheaper and productivity can be much higher.  On shorter rail journeys I am less inclined to get my laptop or tablet out and do some work. I don’t know it that is similar to your experience. Also the scope of HS2 for the estimated cost seems pretty humble.

In Japan, the Tokaido line of the Shinkansen (bullet train) was apparently in profit after just 6 years of operation.  Even if the quantity of passengers could be found to pay the premium these services will demand, how long will it take HS2 to break even. You only need to look at the queues at Euston now for the first evening off-peak trains north after 6.30pm, while the earlier pricier ones are only 2/3rds full, but four times the fare. A standard walk-on peak return London/Manchester on Virgin is £308 or £441 in first class. Now in the latter I must point out that in the 2 hour and 12 minute journey, you can drink as much as you can, with unlimited sandwiches, crisps and snacks. Even with my 12” plate packed in my laptop bag, I would struggle to consume £133 of freebies in that time.

You can see why a Skype / Webex conference, or 2 hours of chatting as a group as audio teleconference, may seem a more modern and practical alternative. Of course, sometimes there is no alternative to just being there. These things are not possible however if broadband infrastructure is not available. That is the connection with these two articles. What would be the cost to bring broadband to every community in England and Wales, rather than fast rail links to barely a handful of places?  I mean southern Cornwall, bits of Somerset, Hampshire, Brecon, Bala, bits of Northumbria, yes everywhere.

Even if we gave the job to BT/Openreach, I would be surprised we could not manage it for £42Bn with a £14Bn contingency. That would really change our country, energise business and innovation, providing a chance to catch up with South Korea and others where 4/5G and fast internet access is the norm. Now for me that would be a brilliant way to move forward, I agree with the protesters looking for super-fast broadband not HS2. We should have taken the chance to improve rail links in the 1980s/90s, let’s hope we don’t miss our chance in this decade to create a solid foundation for our digital future. 

You can link with me on LinkedIn here - uk.linkedin.com/pub/tony-smith-bsc-hons-acih/a/979/351/ It would be great to connect !

Read on to asset management software and how its being swallowed up :

http://tonysmiththathousingitguy.blogspot.com/2013/08/promaster-and-servant.html

Psychedelic Furs - Highwire Days.


(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009

PS As usual, if there are subjects you might like me to tackle on this blog, please get in touch and let me know!

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On Her Majesty's Secret Service Charge

If you do the Twitter thing, follow me at @hotpixUK

A certain minefield if ever there was one for most housing associations and UK housing groups. We have the ‘Iron Lady’ Mrs Thatcher to thank for most of our service charge woes, with her governments instigation of RTB (Right To Buy) legislation in the 1980’s.  The aim of creating a home-owning Britain was pretty much achieved with very high levels of home ownership, while on the downside decimating quality housing stock.

Eligible residents in attractive and stable areas, (or often their sons and daughters stumping up the deposits after generous discounts) were fools not to take the leap of faith and purchase their own homes. Many of these properties are now in the hands of their second, third or fourth leaseholder, with many original social housing tenants having moved further upward in the housing ladder.

The majority of these properties would have been in communal blocks or at the very least, houses in terraced blocks. Very few are unconnected with a wider neighbourhood or RSL community. Hence at least external repair commitments should still form part of the lease, grass cutting, grounds maintenance, communal door entry etc also often feature. One of the reoccurring themes is that early RTB sales often had incomplete or badly detailed leasehold agreements, possibly omitting responsibility for certain types of service charges.

Systems long since gone failed to record many of these details, leading to many years of charges not levied and disagreements in the current day from recent leaseholders, challenging why they should pay service charges that their neighbours are avoiding (and have been avoiding for decades). Often it’s a long and fruitless battle in many cases to try to claw these back using old records.

Two main areas seem to cause problems for RSL’s in the service charge area are the way customer service staff deal with leaseholders and the whole calculation area, taking far too long and involving too many staff. Leaseholders are a different animal to general residents and they do like to be treated in a special way. Statements for example need to refer to ‘Charges’ not ‘Rent’. Not a big change, but important if you are a leaseholder. A simple change too for IT to manage for you effortlessly.

As soon as a leaseholder calls, the customer service team need to be aware of the fact and precisely what the repair responsibilities of the organisation are. Examples are; Just external repairs, responsive work in shared areas, repairs under a limit everywhere or only after consent after an already agreed limit. This is not information that should be blue-tacked to a wall or buried in a tray somewhere. Intelligent scripting software should be enforcing these rules, whether per leaseholder, the scheme they live in, owning body or area served. This reduces any expectation issues or any future difficulty with expenditure recovery.

A recent story I heard of was where a responsive repair was mistakenly done internally for a leaseholder, which should never had been offered or completed. A satisfaction survey was issued and customer service asked “is there anything else we can help you with”? The answer was another internal repair which could not be recovered. This all cost in excess of £674 plus VAT. Two of these each month could make scripting software to prevent it quite a bargain, not counting other benefits.

Calculation of service charges can often take a whole section of a finance team. If you work like this, ask yourself the methods they use. Excel spreadsheets by any chance, looked after by key personnel? This can make the task of calculation very expensive. Even more so when leaseholders query their bill and would like to know (as they legally can ask) where that charge for £8.71 every month for grass cutting comes from?

Your housing system may have a perfectly adequate service charge module that might satisfy your needs. Do you use it, does it fit your needs? Many do have modules, some are so prescriptive, they are unlikely to fit your needs until seriously tested. If you have the one that requires you to record how many windows each of your properties have, for example, it’s unlikely you are using it. I won’t embarrass anyone by naming it, however if you are in a province where you still have the window tax, it’s probably working pretty well for you!

Alternatives are out there that could more than likely reduce your service charge calculation and management team to a ¼. Look at some of the independents such as Blockwise from Systemwise. You may be able to increase your efficiency at minimal cost. Using your main HMS (Housing Management System) service charge module or having a good interface to a specialist like Systemwise, can also keep your customer service staff and others, plugged into this information. This helps better and consistent decision making to occur all-round. Good for your budgets to be spent in the right ways and for leaseholders to receive better and reliable service.


The propeller heads may have encountered service charges, maybe not quite as we know it.



(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk

File Under: 360,1stTouch,4Js,Aareon,Academy,ActiveH,Alignment,ALMO,Anite,Apex,ArchHouse,Archouse,asbestos,Asprey e-state pro,Asset Management,Aurora,Average IT Costs,BO,BPR,Browser Applications,Business Objects,Business Process Review,Business social networking,Castle,CBL,Cedar Open Accounts,Change,Cheaper Housing IT,Chics,

CHR,Citrix,Civica,Clearview,CMS Template,COA,Coactiva,Codeman,Comino,Competitive Dialogue process,complex IT procurements,Component Accounting,Consilium,Consolidation,Consultancy,Consultant,Contact Manager,Context, MD , Director , Housing software, UK, United Kingdom,

Contractor Systems,CORE,CorVu,Cost Reductions,Covalent,CRM,Crystal Reports,CTI,CTX,Customer Relationship Management,Deeplake,Development Systems,Document Management,Documotive,ECMK,EDRMS,England, English,EnterpriseBI,ERP Systems,Finance,Financial Systems,Getting best from,Grasp,Grip,hardware,HG,Housemark survey,Housing Blueprint,Housing Group,Impact Response,implementations,In House,In4,Infoflow,Information Technology,Informix,inHouse,in-house workforce, HousingIT, Innovation,Inside Housing,Internet Portal,Invu,Ireland,Irish,IT Budget,IT Training,iWorld,Keylogic,Keystone,Kirona,Kypera,management reporting,Measuring Change,Mebus,Miracle,MISCS, mobile functionality,Monopoly board images and pictures, Montal,MS Dynamics,MS Dynamics CRM2011,Neighbourhoods and Communities,Northgate,Notice,NROSH,OA,OGC Buying Solutions,Ohms,OJEU  Limits,OmFax,Omniledger,Open source software,open tender,OpenHousing,Opti-Time,Oracle,Orchard,Outsource and outsourcing,Paloma,performance management systems,PfH,Pick,PIMMS,pimms4communities,Planned maintenance,Plus,PM,Progress,Promaster,Proval,Pyramid, QL,QLX,Registered Providers,Registered Social Landlord,Rent Increase Freezes,Repairfinder,Reporting,Reports,ROCC, Rocket,RPs,RSL,Saffron,SAP,Scots, Scottish,Scotland,SDM,sector,Server Virtualisation,servicing, Servitor,Servitor,Sharepoint,Simdel,Simdell,Slash and Burn,Social Media,Software,SQL Open Housing,SQL Reporting Services,SQL reporting services,SQL Server,Star rating,Stores and Stock,Strategic Asset Management,Sunguard ,Surveys,Sx3,System alignment, Systemwise, Factorwise, Blockwise, Block wise, Task,Terminal Services,Three Star,Today,Total repairs,Tribal,Twitter,U2,UniClass Enterprise,Unidata,Universal Housing,Universe,Unrest,Van Stock,Voice and data,Wales,Welsh,Windows Server,Workflow and tasking,Xmbrace,XML, 07854-655009 , 07854655009 , 07854 655009 , "07854 655009" , tonysmith , thathousing , thathousingit , thathousingITguy, guy

Little Fluffy Clouds

If you do the Twitter thing, follow me at @hotpixUK

Never a week goes by without someone, generally a user or department manager asking me about ‘cloud computing’. How are other housing associations and groups getting on with this and should all their computer systems be in ‘the cloud’. It always makes me frown a bit, I must admit. Having said that if I had £50 for each of those queries, I would have a useful top up to my pension fund!

The hype and advertising collateral has done a great job of confusing users and making many rash promises that in many cases are simplistic at best. “Put all your applications in the cloud and have them work together seamlessly, access them everywhere on any device, yadda, yadda, yadda...”.  In many cases suppliers are offering what used to be the dull and boringly named ‘hosting’. IE move your data to their servers to host, offsite, rather than in your IT department or data centre. Depending on the application, this might not even make it more accessible on more types of devices; smartphones, tablets, ipads etc, without more expense.

Please however, don’t get the idea that I am anti-cloud, I am certainly not. Many applications (or ‘apps’ as the you’t would have it) work and belong in the cloud. Webmail, Spotify, Evernote all spring to mind. In the housing world, applications like TPTracker and EBS React are often delivered using a similar model, with no software required to be installed on PC’s, laptops or other devices. Integrated links with Housing Management Systems (HMS) can pose challenges, but are not insurmountable. Some HMS systems or part of them can be accessed via browsers, this is more a delivery method than use of the ‘cloud’ however. A true cloud app does not require local software to be installed. Microsoft’s Office365 breaks this rule where used in large business situations. For interfaces with the traditional HMS applications, fat client installs will almost certainly be needed.

Using cloud storage and services does provide scalability. Peaks in requirement can be easily managed, you just rent a bit more of the service, bandwidth or space. The lack of big upfront costs attract many smaller organisations. Rather than spend £30K on a little server area, a similar amount can be paid on more of a pay as you go model, over fixed term contracts, monthly. Strong SLA’s and guarantee of service are essential. Sometimes a ‘private cloud’ can be the best option, for larger organisations, particularly where vast quantities of data are being managed or generated. Costs based on data volumes or bandwidth can often be expensive. One other factor can be your bandwidth availability to the outside world. If you are on the edge of a town or conurbation, an upgrade to your local node might be a pre-requisite. If you cannot, it may derail your plans.

How fast applications run will certainly be affected by cloud hosting. While I don’t mind waiting 10 seconds to complete my Amazon or Ticketmaster purchase, you probably would not like your staff waiting around too long to update a rent account or a repair request. Use of a private cloud might be more controllable however.

The last elephant in the room is can you rely on your sensitive resident data being stored in the cloud, maybe not in the UK or even Europe. All those NI, HB numbers, DD sort codes and accounts, birth dates etc. Extremely useful if hacked. For me I would be reluctant to put sensitive customer data in the cloud or an application that provides competitive advantage. It’s a tough call and if you feel you want to, needs a reliable partner with some tight contracts!

Read on to: Why you need to name your projects well

Chillout to this.


(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk

File Under: 360,1stTouch,4Js,Aareon,Academy,ActiveH,Alignment,ALMO,Anite,Apex,ArchHouse,Archouse,asbestos,Asprey e-state pro,Asset Management,Aurora,Average IT Costs,BO,BPR,Browser Applications,Business Objects,Business Process Review,Business social networking,Castle,CBL,Cedar Open Accounts,Change,Cheaper Housing IT,Chics,

CHR,Citrix,Civica,Clearview,CMS Template,COA,Coactiva,Codeman,Comino,Competitive Dialogue process,complex IT procurements,Component Accounting,Consilium,Consolidation,Consultancy,Consultant,Contact Manager,Context, MD , Director , Housing software, UK, United Kingdom,

Contractor Systems,CORE,CorVu,Cost Reductions,Covalent,CRM,Crystal Reports,CTI,CTX,Customer Relationship Management,Deeplake,Development Systems,Document Management,Documotive,ECMK,EDRMS,England, English,EnterpriseBI,ERP Systems,Finance,Financial Systems,Getting best from,Grasp,Grip,hardware,HG,Housemark survey,Housing Blueprint, HousingIT, Housing Group,Impact Response,implementations,In House,In4,Infoflow,Information Technology,Informix,inHouse,in-house workforce,Innovation,Inside Housing,Internet Portal,Invu,Ireland,Irish,IT Budget,IT Training,iWorld,Keylogic,Keystone,Kirona,Kypera,management reporting,Measuring Change,Mebus,Miracle,MISCS, mobile functionality,Monopoly board images and pictures, Montal,MS Dynamics,MS Dynamics CRM2011,Neighbourhoods and Communities,Northgate,Notice,NROSH,OA,OGC Buying Solutions,Ohms,OJEU  Limits,OmFax,Omniledger,Open source software,open tender,OpenHousing,Opti-Time,Oracle,Orchard,Outsource and outsourcing,Paloma,performance management systems,PfH,Pick,PIMMS,pimms4communities,Planned maintenance,Plus,PM,Progress,Promaster,Proval,Pyramid, QL,QLX,Registered Providers,Registered Social Landlord,Rent Increase Freezes,Repairfinder,Reporting,Reports,ROCC, Rocket,RPs,RSL,Saffron,SAP,Scots, Scottish,Scotland,SDM,sector,Server Virtualisation,servicing, Servitor,Servitor,Sharepoint,Simdel,Simdell,Slash and Burn,Social Media,Software,SQL Open Housing,SQL Reporting Services,SQL reporting services,SQL Server,Star rating,Stores and Stock,Strategic Asset Management,Sunguard ,Surveys,Sx3,System alignment,Task,Terminal Services,Three Star,Today,Total repairs,Tribal,Twitter,U2,UniClass Enterprise,Unidata,Universal Housing,Universe,Unrest,Van Stock,Voice and data,Wales,Welsh,Windows Server,Workflow and tasking,Xmbrace,XML, 07854-655009 , 07854655009 , 07854 655009 , "07854 655009" , tonysmith , thathousing , thathousingit , thathousingITguy, guy

Lets Work Together

If you do the Twitter thing, follow me at @hotpixUK

Wow, workflow. A module always certainly specified by right thinking housing and computer consultants. Have you got workflow? Did you implement it? Does it just sit at the bottom right of your users screens, teasing you (if so I think I can guess what HMS you are using)?
Well, I asked you more questions than answers there people didn’t I?

Workflow means many things to all types of people. The top and bottom of it should be that intelligent workflow is that piece of glue that makes your housing system mould around your individual processes. An extra piece of flexibility and programmability that enhances basic module integration. The better ones are close to common languages like VBA, almost like a macro in nature. Its a bonus having it embedded right into the whole system too, rather than it being a little fragmented.

A minimum should be work tray management. iWorld users will know what I mean. The generation of tasks that might be directed at say a HO (Housing Officer) to call or visit a resident or a customer, as output from processes, are an ideal example of workflow. The system progressing tasks to follow your organisation processes.

Other places where workflow scores is when an exceptional circumstance occurs and different actions are needed. Rather than staff noticing that the resident logging an urgent repair is an elderly double stick user, in order to qualify for it to be upgraded to an emergency priority, the system could do it for them. They don’t even have to know, or you could remind them with a message if it has occurred. The programmer in you may recognise this workflow snippet:

If (Contact.Vulnerability = “DSTICK” or Contact.Vulnerability = “BLIND”) and Contact.Age >= “60” and WO.Default.Priority = “Urgent” then
       WO.Default.Priority = “Emergency”
       MSGbox(“Be aware, Default priority escalated to Emergency on this order as resident old and vulnerable. This follows our customer care policy”)
EndIf

The emergence of workflow should reduce the need to run out and change your housing management system every five years as your organisation changes. Also, it is worth having some of your IT team or key module champions aware of, or able to write some workflow to add flexibility inside your organisation. The alternative is to spend costly days with your systems supplier and often wait many weeks or up to 18 months in some cases (people tell me) for work to be completed.

So, does your housing system fit your organisation processes or not? If it doesn’t and you are already trying to use your workflow facilities to the max, you have a problem. Maybe you have no workflow, you should be looking perhaps for some more modern HMS solutions in that eventuality.

As mentioned, some Housing Management Systems (HMS) have workflow built in by design. Others use workflow as a bolt-on. In some cases, testing automation (or manual scripting) software  such as ‘Testcomplete’ can be used to achieve certain actions. This can have variable results, but is prone to major upgrades with application software, causing problems.

Do you think your organisation is being best served by workflow? Here’s a no-brainer tick list, see how well your workflow is performing:

• Arrears process (assisting in allowing totally flexible processes, emailing and texting where appropriate, generating outlook or mobile appointments for your staff setting up visits and appointments)
• Void process (alerting other teams as soon as notice provided, organising/scheduling a void inspection, communicating with lettings or asset team, updating your web pages, if this would be a CBL advertisement, automatically passing to the local CHR is you use one)
• Satisfaction Survey (automatically linking with external services you might use, like Voluntas, generating outgoing calls automatically if using one of the emerging caller systems (more on that in a later blogpost methinks), creating follow up tasks for CRM or P&Q (Performance and Quality) staff to investigate demand failure)
• Repairs (take into account resident profile like vulnerabilities, religious beliefs, age etc in prioritising and appointmenting repair, automatic awareness of defect periods and neighbourhood factors, like notification of asbestos in the scheme etc to contractors, links with text, email and mobile modules, automatic determination of financial codes)

As the above shows, the logic of workflow can prevent the need for ‘everyday’ decisions to be taken by staff, meaning that residents and customers see a consistent approach. E.G. if they are a double stick user and aged 62, their urgent repairs always well get upgraded to a 24 hour emergency, who ever or however a works order is initiated.    

In the current environment, how is your system workflow performing to make your organisation more efficient? If it isn’t, prepare to ask some questions or find someone who can!


Canned Heat, they might have needed a decent short-back-and-sides, but now they knew a thing about working together.


(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk

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