Victim Of Changes, Progress (the database)?

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

We all try to stay ahead of the curve. No sooner we have Windows 7, we have Windows 10, then 11. It’s a constant fight to stay current and protected. 

The Silverlight support deadline has been & gone. Woe betide any Socialhousing organisations still on Keystone asset management cowering behind their firewall.

One de-support notice that might have passed your attention however, is the close of Progress OpenEdge database version 11.7, next April 2025. Apache Tomcat 8.5 security support has already ended, back in March 2024. While from April Progress based solutions will still operate, however will no longer receive security updates and patches. While not generally web facing, that reduces but not totally eliminates risk.

Progress, very much a database of the 1980’s and mid-90’s still has a large footprint in UK Social Housing. This is due to the number of IBS/Capital OpenHousing and MRI/Orchard housing systems still in use and the large footprint of openAccounts as finance solution, often sold with those solutions. Of course a lot of folk are looking to the market to research alternatives, some with housing/Finance combined.

The sector does have a severe problem with not keeping application solutions up to date. Of course this is not limited to the above examples. I have found it endemic across many applications, regardless of contracts attempting (but generally failing) to enforce frequent upgrades.

Many users will be expected to be way behind with versions of OpenAccounts, Pro2, Ebis, OpenPeople as well as housing solutions.

While there is a good nine months to upgrade, bear in mind that many dozens of sites will need to take this leap and also a year-end will sit in the way of finance users. So how if you are a site affected by this, to move forward smoothly?

Getting across to Progress Version 12 is crucial and a pre-cursor is to get upgraded to MRI Orchard’s latest version, in order to be Progress v12 ready. This will be more clunky for organisations many versions behind. This will involve applying a number of incremental versions with attendant testing/UAT. Interfaces are the most important areas to concentrate on, in addition to any local development outside of what’s supported as supplier IP. Although often helpdesks fall down in spectacular manner!

For OpenAccounts, the target needs to be v10.1 – If this can be achieved by late summer, this would be ideal. Where existing users are still on OA versions 8 or 9, it’s a heavier upgrade path. Getting up to v10.1 will then provide Progress v12 compatibility.

Where Orchard/OpenHousing is used in conjunction with openAccounts, there are bound to be dependencies. Be sure to check these out in detail with whoever supports your solutions.

This all kind of underlines the good sense of upgrading often where you can. You know it makes sense!

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

If you are stuck on a legacy SocialHousing system, reach out

please just get in touch , for a chat over a slice of LDC ☕😋

       Related Post: Is your finance chart of accounts, the size of Saturn ?

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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.

Judas Priest – Victim Of Changes.
(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 |

Buying Time

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

I work mainly with landlords, councils and charities across the UK, with many pieces of work involving procurement. Spookily enough, this is one area where the EU has had an influence for a couple of decades, one that must surely change in the post-Brexit world. Clearly when I do work (as I occasionally do and immensely enjoy), in Southern Ireland (Deisceart Éireann), OJEU still rules.

If a public body made a purchase, SocialHousing landlords being regarded as ‘Public Bodies’ for this legislation, OJEU (Open Journal of the EU) rules and legislation kicks in.

Putting my cards on the table, the rules are there to help contracting bodies make considered decisions and be fair to tenderers taking part. I believe that level playing fields are important, having been a supplier in the past and maybe feeling at times, I had been led down a garden path on occasion. Days, whole weeks, maybe months of time wasted on occasion, that I will never get back.

So, used correctly, OJEU rules are a safeguard, a fair way to choose appropriate supplier and a useful tool for a social housing landlord or council, if they are spending £1.2m on software or £13m on a planned maintenance programme, with one or more partnering contractors.

Since the 1st Jan 2021, the UK and its public bodies, can have more freedom over procurement. One of the ‘sunny uplands’, so to speak. Just to curb the excitement, we do seem to have a current government better doing the spin than the delivery. A bit better at talking about it, rather than getting it working, in the recent Green Paper, the forward proudly declares “The end of the Transition Period provides an historic opportunity to overhaul our outdated public procurement regime”.

I am sure that was in everyone’s minds as all that Covid19 PPE was procured, in contrast I think Housing Associations and Local Authorities will still in the future be strictly held to account. There is plenty of rhetoric on it being more “Innovative, flexible, transparent and green than the current European Union regime”. There is also talk of boiling down many hundred of rules to a simpler framework. While this sounds good, there is scant evidence that industry feedback have actually currently been taken into account as yet. Westminster can currently feel like a black hole for business its fair to say, so this is no surprise.

The Green Paper does make reference to “decisive shift away from awarding contracts based primarily on price”. In my experience of looking for software and applications solutions recently, creating a new foundation for future transformation, its rare that price accounts for more than 30% of scoring. For one client I remember a very heated discussion about, “Well Tony what if it costs us another £100k over 5 years?”. My answer was, “Look outside the office here, four people represent £100k costs in a single year. With 135 staff, saving 4 people or transforming their jobs, makes that saving in year one”. Now forgive me if that sounds brutal, but these are potential savings that good transformations can bring. Obviously good demonstrations flesh out any smoke & mirrors.

Buying software, application and platform solutions, is very different from buying repair services or kitchens in bulk. Currently blanket T’s and C’s on frameworks may work for bulk materials, but even those often work badly for software. Penalty clause caps are a common discussion area for me currently with multiple suppliers for example. Contracts need to fit the product being procured. So I would like to see innovation around areas like that, particularly for software, SaaS and integrated systems. Hopefully, suppliers have fed that back into the process, so far. We should see the outcome from the “Consultation Response”, by the end of December.

Legal folk in the know who I work with closely, seem to be hoping for a “New Competitive Flexible Procedure”, to be in the pipework. This should allow greater engagement with suppliers where appropriate. Less popular with a few contracting bodies I have had informal chats with, is the suggestion that publishing of advance “pipelines of future procurement” has been suggested. In some cases this could work well, in others less so. I still think that PIN’s (Prior Information Notices) and structured pre-market engagement, will be the best link with software suppliers and the whole ‘warm up’ process. I know how this generally works in my projects. Please feel free to get in touch to let me know how its worked for your organisation, or not.

The key to this, is that to be effective, the new rules need to cut red tape, not create more overheads, as other areas of Brexit clearly have. Burden on procurement and legal staff needs to be reduced, not increased.

I am going to look out for the fully formed, hot and steaming final recommendations, hopefully we will see in December 2021. I would recommend that your procurement specialists do too!

Related Post: Pre-Market Engagement, Scope properly before you procure

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.

Lucky Daye – Buying Time.
(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,Affinity,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 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. . . . . . . . . . . .

Happens All The Time

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


I was talking with someone who has worked in Social Housing ICT for over a decade, with various system solutions recently. He had recently been involved in yet another late system implementation and asked me, “Have I ever known any manage to go as per project plan or even just 3 months late”? After I had stopped laughing, I said yes, only one recently! This happens pretty much all the time.

He knew I had been an implementer once and managed a team of them. He also had been involved in one of my old implementations which pretty much went to time. He asked me how I had managed to pull it off and why they often go wrong.

Implementations can easily go adrift with badly trained, inexperienced or poorly disciplined implementers. That can hit profitability of system implementations badly, particularly if the initial sale has not included enough days. For sales people it is tempting to reduce days in the initial sale as it makes it more likely to win an OJEU process. The hope is that any missing days can be mopped up later, at (customer) cost, via Change Control.

Implementers are best motivated or rewarded for completing those days as efficiently as possible. Then they get better at their job. Incentivising implementation teams to ‘sell on’ extra days is generally a recipe for disaster. Short term it looks like it adds additional profitability, but is quite the reverse reputationally.  It rewards poor work, which experienced customers generally realise, adding insult to injury. Reputationally its shooting yourself (& your reputation) in the foot.

What can customers do to keep projects on track?

Well, do your best to use the project plan as a living document, would be a good start. Its not just a static appendage to the original contract. Force your supplier to keep up to date with it, revise timescales as things change. Also customers need to keep a tight reign on their own project team. To ensure the right staff attend supplier on-site or config sessions, ensure suppliers are pressed to provide overviews of what future sessions will cover. These can often be delivered too near to scheduled days or often not at all. This is not acceptable.

If this occurs I think its justifiable to be able to cancel a session, without penalty. If your supplier cannot define what the planned session is intended to cover, it should be deferred until they can.

Many projects are allowed to drift for the first few months, the excuse being that “there’s plenty of days in the project”. Lost days like this will no doubt be added on in the end, exaggerating the delays that can occur and potential additional costs. If you think it necessary, agree objectives for each supplier day and rate them when completed, including any follow ups required. Working together as a partnership openly is by far the best policy, to reduce misunderstandings.

Start well and ensure your supplier does too.  Start as you mean to go on is the best advice and hopefully it will set the scene for a more successful and on-time project.

Fingers crossed!

Related Post: Are Apps the best way forward for tenant self-service? 

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.

Depeche Mode - Happens All The Time.
(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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rating,Stores and Stock,Strategic Asset Management,Sunguard ,Surveys,Sx3,System alignment,Symatrix Human Capital Management, TonySmithHousing, Systemwise,SM,Sequoa,Serros,SP,Scout,score,Swordfish,Serengeti,SOTI,southview,Sunguard,Service Charges,Spotlight Service, Spotlightservice, SunAccounts, Social Housing Software Applications, Template,Task,Terminal Services, tonys , tonysm , tonysmi , tonysmith, tonysmitht, gotonysmith, tableau Business Dashboards, tonysmithth, tonysmiththa, tonysmiththat, tonysmiththath, tonysmiththatho, tonysmiththathou, tonysmiththathous, tonysmiththathousi, tonysmiththathousin, tonysmiththathousing,Tony Smith That,Tony Smith That Housing IT Guy,TonySmith that housing IT, guy,tonysmiththathousing, tonysmiththathousinguy,tony smith housing guy,sharepoint, share point, SHBVN, Three Star,Today,Total repairs,Tribal,Twitter,U2, tonysmith , tonysmiththat , thathousing , thathousingIT , thathousingITguy, TED,Tagish Casework,TP Tracker,Telecetera,Tagra,Trace, Totalmobile, Total Mobile, 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,verse one,verseone,vWork,Version One,Visualmetrics,Valueworks,Voluntas, Wales,Welsh,Windows Server,Workflow and tasking,Wheatley,Works Connect,worksConnect, Xmbrace,XML ,XenApp,Xen App ...

Code of the (Supplier) Road Map

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


When we procure any applications, it's always great to think where the preferred solution will go in the future. How many it develop, evolve, re-shape itself to fit our needs. Maybe it will end up as something that will develop in a different direction entirely. Hopefully it won't, unless of course, our organisations move in that different direction too, for some reason.

The 'Solution Road Map' is the document, & sometimes mythical tome, that we ask for. It could be etched into granite, scribbled on the back of an A7 envelope or just be some woolly aspirations. Considering most software contracts will be for 3, 5, 7 or more years, this is a very importing item. We would expect all statutory changes demanded by our sector, Westminster, Holyrood, Welsh/NI or other assemblies, Europe etc to be included. In fact your contract should tightly enforce that one.

Uniquely, I have seen supplier road maps from both sides of the fence, so I do understand the pressures of planning well, project managing developments, putting resources in place (or not), setting reasonable expectations and not letting customers down. It's a juggling act for sure, but suppliers should not make it hard for customers, good communication is the key.

Hopefully, good supplier roadmaps are based on what the customers need and want, these can come from two key sources. Firstly regular user groups, how often does your supplier hold them and does  your organisation bother to attend? Secondly, if your suppliers are bidding for new work, they should see many new requirements coming across from that source. ITT's and demos are the breeding ground for innovation and a gold mine for finding out what the sector will think is the next big thing.

In my book, customers should be made aware of supplier roadmaps twice a year, so they can plan around their needs. Seeing something on a road map and planning next September to implement a new essential feature, is all very good. Not so good when you have to go back to your SMT (senior Management Team) a couple of times, to spin out the timetable another 18 months, as your supplier has put that item back. 

Do keep on top of your supplier and their Road Maps. If procuring and drawing up a new contract, it's easier to bind delivery from the road map into project timescales. Typically something I will be mentioning as part of my slot at Devonshires, September 15th.  You can sign up for free, lunch and canapés afterwards included. It would be great to see you there, at Finsbury Circus, London, EC2M 7DT. Sign up now on this link:  https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/RSH9QDP

Catch the blog monthly archive at https://archive.org/details/@housingitguy

Related Post: Audit, useful or an expensive organisation box tick? 

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

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.


Danko Jones - Code of the Road Map.
(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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,Surveys,Sx3,System alignment,Symatrix Human Capital Management, TonySmithHousing, Systemwise,SM,Sequoa,Serros,SP,Scout,score,Swordfish,Serengeti,SOTI,southview,Sunguard,Service Charges,Spotlight Service, Spotlightservice, SunAccounts, Template,Task,Terminal Services, tonys , tonysm , tonysmi , tonysmith, tonysmitht, gotonysmith, tableau Business Dashboards, tonysmithth, tonysmiththa, tonysmiththat, tonysmiththath, tonysmiththatho, tonysmiththathou, tonysmiththathous, tonysmiththathousi, tonysmiththathousin, tonysmiththathousing,Tony Smith That,Tony Smith That Housing IT Guy,TonySmith that housing IT, guy,tonysmiththathousing, tonysmiththathousinguy,tony smith housing guy,sharepoint, share point, SHBVN, Three Star,Today,Total repairs,Tribal,Twitter,U2, tonysmith , tonysmiththat , thathousing , thathousingIT , thathousingITguy, TED,Tagish Casework,TP Tracker,Telecetera,Tagra,Trace, Totalmobile, Total Mobile, UniClass Enterprise,Unidata,Universal Housing,Universalcredit, universal 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Last Call 0845

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

Just about every business, council, banking or insurance company these day seems to have an 0845 or other number that clocks up profit at your expense, while on hold.  If your organisation runs a customer service centre with a non geographic number, you need to be aware of some of the changes ahead, just over a month away.

Most housing organisations that I work with have already (or are) moving to an '03' style number. Residents are under enough pressure without having to waste money while on hold to their landlord. Many supplier helpdesks seem to have them these days too. Many of those might need to take note too.

During the winter storms, the Environment Agency justifiably came under fire for charging flood victims up to 41p per minute (via an 0845 number) to get through to the designated helpline service, and have since changed to a standard-rate 0345 number. They have also changed their general enquiries number from 0870 to 0370.

Shortly, it will be illegal to provide an 0845 number for a customer service line. From Friday the 13th June 2014, it will be a legal requirement that businesses provide a standard rate number for their customer service lines. That's one that starts 01, 02 or 03. This law has been passed to ensure that no customer is forced to pay an additional charge, frequently incurred with 0845 and similar numbers. This law was passed as part of “The Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013″ on 13th December 2013 (Part 4, section 41). More info here - https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/... regulations-2013.pdf

Your customers & tenants may be within their rights to take such companies to court and successfully reclaim the excessive charges made to them. Trading Standards are also at liberty to get involved in bringing non-complying companies to justice. So check on your current arrangements, to put any telecoms changes into effect and communicate with your customers as soon as possible. Don't get caught out!

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. Join as a follower here and don't miss any housing IT news and banter. have all that goodness delivered to you, as soon as its posted! 

Read on to getting your IT in motion:

http://tonysmiththathousingitguy.blogspot.com/2014/03/houses-in-motion.html

 
David Lee Roth - Last Call.


(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854655009

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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