Even (Work)flow

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

"Workflow", "Task Tray", "Tasking".

All terms for your housing management systems means of generating and tracking tasks, when passed to different teams and users. Unless you have been living under a rock for about eight years, you will have noticed your HMS has developed these features. That's if you have a 'recent & decent' one in use of course.

I often ask RSL's I work with, "So does everyone use the system tasking then"?
In fact, since you are reading this, ask the question to yourself, about your organisation. Most people when pressed then answer "No". I find that with all types of common mainstream systems out there; Orchard, Civica UH, OpenHousing, Northgate etc. So why is that? Is tasking and workflow that bad?

I am coming around to the view that the problem lies more with users than the application. Where I see it work best and bring efficiencies to the table, the whole organisation is bought into the idea. With some illustrations, tasking can be justified as
- Necessary
- Efficient
- Tenacious (it hounds you until the task is complete)
- Convenient (users come in and see what's priority to do and when its due by)
- Helpful (it enables us to do the work we are employed to do)

Often arguments I hear revolve around tasking are, it is a "bit too similar to email", "tasking causes extra effort", "I like working the way I always have.." and "tasking will not work with chief execs and people outside of our organisation, so everyone cannot possibly be pulled into its orbit".

Well, if you have tried and failed to introduce tasking/workflow in your organisation, here's some points to de-bunk the above. Firstly, let's examine how its similar and also different to email. When using Tasking, we are ASKING someone to do SOMETHING (please). Email can be used to keep somebody aware of something, keeping them in the loop, keep its use, just for that. Tasks are traceable and visible to customer services and others, emails are not.

Tasks usually require completion, cancellation or referring on, so yes, they do require a few extra keystrokes. But that brings order to our procedures etc. Often, tasking falls down because certain members of staff would rather work the way they have always worked. I am sure these folk play music at home on wax cylinders, rather than ipod's. That's their prerogative, but while at work, management need to have everyone working in a consistent manner. Maybe they just need a little more help, to get on the bus. Some people may however find they dislike the destination on the front.

Chief Execs in my experience are mostly not of the Nick Atkin mould. While Nick might quite happily tackle upgrading the RAM on his laptop, the majority do not regularly log into the HMS, and yes, rightly would not see workflow tasks. Luckily, most have a very efficient PA, who if asked will do the latter, if required, at whatever frequency is set. Daily, Hourly, twice a day etc. Turning on escalation of (late) workflow tasks (upwards), in my experience, also helps everyone get on the bus.

Most HMS tasking does allow a mix and match of emails and tasks, so can support pulling non-housing system users (e.g. DWP, local authority or development agency), into the scope of the process. If your organisation collaborates closely with another, consider allowing them limited access to your HMS just for workflow tasking. Five tasks on their own waiting for them, instead of five emails, spread within their usual 200+ emails a week in Outlook, would be a better way.  

Once they start using your HMS desktop Workflow TaskTray better, you have the key to better, more traceable customer service. If you want to share any war-stories about using/abusing tasking in your organisation, or you would like help in kick-starting it, you know where to find me !

Related Post: Using Yammer to ban internal email

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You can link with me on LinkedIn here - http://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy It would be great to connect !

Pearl Jam – Even Flow.
(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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Communication Breakdown

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

Twitter is a wonderful thing. Even more so I think, when you meet some of your mutual followers in real life. I had the great pleasure of meeting one of my followers this week for a spot of lunch and a chance to put the social housing world to rights. Rest assured, next month, we will be tackling the Middle East.

Yvonne is a retired, but very active as a social housing tenant, in her community and with her housing provider. She has completed many TPAS courses and takes pride in spreading the positive message of involvement with her landlord. IMHO we need plenty more Yvonne's in our homes and many more of her age digitally connected/happy to educate others. A keen eBay'er, I put her on to Auctionstealer.co.uk and Quidco to further enhance her on-line shopping savings.

More and more retired and older residents are now being introduced to the web and how it can improve their lives. I feel that even compared with two years ago, we are in a very different place. Even Barclays are getting in on the action. They know the cash and service improvement value of customers using the internet, rather than physical branches to bank. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diWTH3QIcuY where the pleasures of Google maps, Skype and of course Barclays fine on-line banking are revealed. If as an RSL you have not got an interactive internet portal, for customers to log/check repairs, see rent statements/make payments or log ASB etc, you are already failing badly.

I was interested to hear from Yvonne, what she felt was the biggest area she felt would improve her relationship with her landlord. The answer was better communication. "They never come back to me", just about sums it up. Communication is the key. Quite often, tenants ask questions on the telephone, by email or other channels and those requests can just be lost. Not intentionally in many cases, but frustrating nonetheless.

So how can IT and software applications tackle this? Well, most integrated Housing Management Systems incorporate CRM, Front Desk Query, Tasking, Workflow Trays etc, so we have the means of recording all these interactions. So we have the means. If you don't have the means, find out what you could introduce to supply this element. The next step is to have everyone buy in to use it. Now that should not be tricky, but you would be surprised how often people connive to resist introduction of CRM & tasking.

Now for me, I like the idea of a task tray. All the things I need to do, and when they are due. To meet the communication needs of residents like Yvonne, CRM needs to be used in both directions. That is where many organisations go wrong. Log interactions from your customer services centre and also when your staff interact, out of the office. In fact ALL interactions need to be logged (or accessible) within CRM. Tasking should support escalation, referral and effectively provide a 'snail-trail' of how that piece of communication was dealt with, at each step of the way. All staff need to be engaged, any gaps will create vulnerabilities and inevitably complaints. Those complaints cost money.

So have you got the software applications in your housing organisation to prevent 'Communication Breakdown' and are you really using it properly?

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You can link with me on LinkedIn here - http://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy It would be great to connect !

Read on to, 0845 on its last call for our customer service centres:

http://tonysmiththathousingitguy.blogspot.com/2014/05/last-call-0845.html

Led Zeppelin - Communication Breakdown.
(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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Yammer Be There - Banning Internal Email

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

I read an interesting article this week about Halton Housing Trust looking to ban email by 2014, that captured my imagination. An estimated forty per cent of staff time was spent ‘dealing with internal email that is of no value for the business’. Read the full article in InsideHousing here http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/regulation/landlord-plans-to-ban-internal-email/6524652.article


The decision to ban email was inspired by a similar move by Atos Consulting, spookily enough located right next to HHT's building in Runcorn, Cheshire.

Maybe some advice was exchanged in the smoking area between both buildings. I certainly think there is some mileage in that one.

One replacement being considered is Yammer, the business social media collaboration platform acquired by Microsoft in Summer 2012 for $1.2 Billion. Presumably HHT will be using many of the premium features. It will be interesting in what direction Microsoft does decide to take it. Some of that uncertainty might put me off personally. I can imagine Yammer fitting right in very quickly with the bright young things of Silicon Valley type companies. To get the most from it within HHT and possibly other housing providers I would guess a lot of training and a genuine change of mindset from all staff expected to use it, might be needed.


Email can be very disruptive and particularly in the same way that staff are provided with Excel and never trained to use it properly, then waste person years going around the houses performing tasks badly. Email can be the same. Outlook or a similar email client is provided and rarely are users coached in how to deal with email coming in, proper use of To: , cc: and bcc: .

How many times have three people been named in a ‘To:’ box and nobody deals with it because they think the other two must be on to it. 

Also how many times have you been emailed by the person sitting next to you, instead of the two of you just discussing and resolving an issue?


Instant messaging can sometimes be even worse, something that can be responded to straight away, like a phone call, not like emails that can be left and dealt with at an appropriate time.


One aspect about emails that is really good however is the trail it provides. A perfect audit sometimes to disprove claims and assertions. This is one area that cannot be lost with a move to Yammer or A.N.Other. One phrase that I should actually have programmed in to a function key for outlook as I type it so much is ‘Confirming our earlier discussion..’ . The perfect way to document what has gone on be all parties.


A number of RSL’s with appropriate housing management systems have moved from internal email to workflow tasking or use of tasking in-trays. This means that any internal activity, that most likely will involve one or more people, can be traced via CRM or other modules of an integrated system. Any decent tasking system allows escalation, referral and closure of tasks, with corresponding activities closed off or set at an appropriate status on completion.


For example, a resident request for repair logged as a CRM call might generate a pre-inspection, a repair job, that job may be passed to the internal workforce. Several internal tasks (which could before have been emails) might be raised based on job issues. When these tasks are resolved, the job is closed and CRM call completed. Obviously, this flow can be embedded in workflow and tasking, something that would not be practical when using just email.


Now if Microsoft integrated Yammer more fully into Dynamics CRM, took advantage of standard workflow and Sharepoint for presentation, I think that would give existing options a great run for their money. Good luck to HHT, as one of my local RSL’s I would be pleased to see how this project unfolds.

Read on, more social media in housing:

http://tonysmiththathousingitguy.blogspot.com/2013/09/three-little-birds.html

James Ingram and Michael Mcdonald say "Yah Mo B There".


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

PS I have noticed I have been getting a lot of traffic from the Housing Southern IT Forum recently http://sit-forum.co.uk/. Thanks everyone, if there are subjects you might like me to tackle, please get in touch and let me know!

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