Data Hunter-Gatherer

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

I always despair when I encounter or procure reporting features and modules in Housing Management Systems. They are collectively so poor, particularly for ad-hoc reporting that end-users should be capable of managing, maybe 90% of the time.

All the mainstream housing system providers tell you they have a standard reporting set and offer report training based mostly these days on SQL Server Reporting Services. Now I know that SSRS has moved in leaps and bounds since 2004 when it first appeared. Initially it was like a Redmond chainsaw with no handle, which needed VB techies to make it sing and dance. In my humble opinion I still think you need developers (.net ones now..) to make it properly boogie. It's clearly not a great situation.

Obtaining PDFs of those mythical 'standard reports' honestly, is like tracking down rocking horse sh*t. If I were more cynical, I might conclude that there were few standard reports to render into Adobe Acrobat format for me. Lack of a credible reporting set is a major drawback to many systems.

For procurements, I Iike to have a specific session on ad-hoc reporting. Many suppliers have experienced my sealed envelope and when I pick up the phone to the 'deal-or-no-deal' banker. Without much exception, suppliers always state, "Well users wouldn't come into IT and expect you to knock up a report, crossing modules like that in 30 minutes, now would they?".  Do you think that's realistic? I don't. The real world does not neatly fit into Rent, Void, Response Repairs , Lettings, Assets modules does it? I see just that type of query, most days of the week.

If I had a free reign on procurements demos I would turn them completely on their head. Session uno, would be the reporting one. That's the payback for all user effort, and that's what the organisation turns on, how it makes decisions.

Since the dawn of time, man has relied on data. It's just only recently all in 1's and 0's. Today we are no less the data 'Hunter , Gatherers' than our distant cave dwelling ancestors. They relied on smells, prey tracks, weather and other data, they turned into a survival instinct.

To keep our organisations alive, we have that same reliance on our ICT providers to connect us with the key data that runs our business. IE Where our revenues originate, what we spend money on and what do we understand of our customers, needs & habits (i.e. customer profiling). Ask yourself, how well does your systems help you achieve these reporting aims?

So, should your supplier or you be working harder to deliver your reporting, safely gathered in? Probably depends how much annual maintenance you are paying towards reporting and the contribution the module makes to your organisation.

Related Post: Picking a name, a bigger part of a project than you might think...

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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.


Girlschool - Hunter.
(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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One Chain

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

Communication, isn't that one thing that can let our housing systems and processes down? Like we expect the letters in a stick or rock to still read 'Jaywick' from one end to the other, do changes in our operational systems always seamlessly get translated to our reporting teams?

An experience I had this week made me think on this, regarding some repair information. An end user manager had noticed that her void repair spend for last month was just a fraction of what it was that month last year. maybe some great improvements had worked through the organisation, and who wouldn't want that? The reality, as is often the case was much more mundane.

Where before only a single priority for void repairs was in use, ('Voids 20 days' or similar), now there were multiple, aiming for 5, 10,15,20 day void turnaround. We all need to drive faster voids turnaround, in the difficult environment we work in. Voids have an analysed Job type too. The extra priority codes had been added via the ICT team, following the protocol in place.

Resulting standard reports just included the (old coded) 20 day void priorities and had ignored the new ones. Now regarding computers & software, "stupid is as stupid does", usually as they are told stupid things to do, and they do it! Interestingly, the reports used a hand-picked list of priority codes, not the overall void job type in order to generate the data. An easy issue to fix, the data was looking more familiar and accurate by the following morning.

This brings up a couple of areas that are worth considering. Firstly, what is the chain like regarding how coding changes feed back into reporting, in your organisation? If these are controlled by managers, executed by ICT, then used by another team, like Performance, Business Improvement, Quality (or whatever other exciting names you have for them), have you a solid chain of how the changes go in? As we are always told, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. What's yours in your organisation in this respect?

Secondly, our systems generally come with possible multiple levels of analysis coding, available for use. Like in this example, the priority coding of voids, is really a sub-set of the voids Job type. If reports were driven from the void job type, they would work correctly however how many new void priorities were added. These codes can also be involved in financial, payroll, HR or other system postings etc and of course these should be considered too, when making changes.

Often organisations over complicate coding or replicate it at lower levels. Property coding is one that I see a lot, and managers are often wary of sorting it out, if it's working at the moment. This can create many problems and hassle for KPI reporting teams. A structure like Owning Body (RP1, RP2 etc) > Area (Bath, Trowbridge, Westbury etc) > Scheme > Needs Type (e.g. general Needs, C&S, Shared Owners etc) if used correctly will only have codes at the right coding level.

In a structure like the above, we could create an area code called 'Bath C&S'. If we did that, we create ambiguities for reporting. do we build reports on Area to pull out C&S (care and support), Needs Type of the property, or a bit of both? What happens if our property coding across these codes get somewhat out of whack? You can see the dilemma can't you?
Have a look at the way your major entities, like properties, rent accounts, repairs etc are coded and catagorised. Are you doing it in the most joined up manner?

Related Post: Why exactly are voids not handled in housing systems that well?

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

Santana - The Chain.
(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, or you could benefit from any of our services please get in touch and let me know!

You can access a quick list of 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 or issue.
File Under: 360,1stTouch,4Js. , 07854655009 , ," """" ",,#UKHousing,1st Touch,3squared,Accuserv,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,Accuserve,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,InMotion, InMotion2014, InMotion2015, InMotion2016 , Exhibition, conference, Infoflow,Information Technology,Informix,inHouse,in-house workforce, Innovation,Inside Housing,Internet Portal,Internetalia, 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,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,TonySmithHou,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,TonySmithHousing, Systemwise,SM,Sequoa,Serros,SP,Scout,score,Swordfish,Serengeti,SOTI,southview,Sunguard,Service Charges,Spotlight Service, Spotlightservice, Template,Task,Terminal Services, tonys , tonysm , tonysmi , tonysmith, tonysmitht, gotonysmith, tonysmithth, tonysmiththa, tonysmiththat, tonysmiththath, tonysmiththatho, tonysmiththathou, tonysmiththathous, tonysmiththathousi, tonysmiththathousin, tonysmiththathousing, 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 .

The Best of Both Worlds (Clearview or Qlikview)?

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

You might well ask, "What's the difference?". Reporting presentation or tracking as well?

I have recently been working with a number of organisations, around the subject of housing KPIs. Readers of this blog will know I am a fan of Qlikview (http://tonysmiththathousingitguy.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/rear-qlikview-mirror.html ) as well as Clearview. If budget allows it would be great to have both. However, budgets may not really run to that.

So what is the difference?

Well Qlikview is a fabulous in memory reporting presentation and drill-down tool, super in its own way. Often sold with five days 'proving' reports, it's an easy sale. Where Clearview cleans up in my opinion is in its KPI tracking capabilities. If you already utilise desktop task-tray workflow, your organisation will, I predict, really take to this tool.

My friends and users in a large repairs team speak in favourable terms of Clearview in its ability to track stats, actions, follow-ups and its transparent views of where the organisation hierarchy is with its improvements. No point having a team labelled 'P&Q', 'Performance and quality', 'Business Improvement' etc, if there's no clear evidence of who or what is being attempted, to be improved.

Even with my simple outlook, it took me about 10 minutes to figure out the Clearview world of monitoring actions, against last month, quarter or years' selected trends. So transparent that your board will take to it like ducks to water.  Attachments, notes and other info can be recorded, so KPI actions are not lost in the ether.

Talking to the chief exec, she liked it too, whether she was looking at Arrears as % of GAD, void days & rent loss, repair no access or percentage of rechargeable repairs completed that could not be recharged. At that organisation, true ODBC is also being started to link KPI dashboards directly with HMS & other system data, enforcing one true version of the truth. Clearview is indeed one application which can provide added control over your stats and unravelled ability to track actions and progress.  

Mark my words, ability to monitor, act on data/information and show what is being initiated to carry out improvements will increasingly be high on the management agenda. Don't get left behind!

Related Post: Whats stopping better voids management?

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

Van Halen - Best Of Both Worlds.
(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, or you could benefit from any of our services please get in touch and let me know!

File Under: 360,1stTouch,4Js. , 07854655009 , ," """" ",,#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,InMotion, InMotion2014, InMotion2015, InMotion2016 , Exhibition, conference, 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,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, tonysmitht, gotonysmith, tonysmithth, tonysmiththa, tonysmiththat, tonysmiththath, tonysmiththatho, tonysmiththathou, tonysmiththathous, tonysmiththathousi, tonysmiththathousin, tonysmiththathousing, 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

Jack In The Green

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/

 
The cost of heating our homes and the phrase 'Fuel Poverty' has gone mainstream lately, has it not?

I remember Ed Milibean being derided as a communist, at the labour conference, when he suggested freezing energy bills. Just 9 weeks later, our coalition government, always keen to encourage the free market, are quietly asking energy companies for restraint and considering shifting green taxes away from our bills. A saving of a whole £50 (barely 4% of the average bill). Not surprising most people are angry, not grateful.


Nobody I notice has been trampled in the rush to sign up to the 'Green Deal' either. An expensive scheme that barely 594 people in the UK had indicated interest and only '360 wished to proceed'. Window dressing at best, more than likely it costs more to administer than actual benefits achieved. It certainly was not the same as the solar PV gold-rush back in 2011. We narrowly missed leading a whole new innovative history there. Grab the Allen key people, hopefully we can rely on our favourite flat pack furniture shop to make PV sexy again - http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/about_ikea/newsitem/ikea_hanergy_solar_panels

Well what of our residents on the breadline? The ones spending far more than 10% on fuel and day to day deciding if to eat or to feed their expensive prepay meters? How should landlords tackle it? What can we all do to help? How can IT and systems help?

At first glance, there's plenty of silver bullets out there for sale. If you have deep pockets and not that bothered about integration that is. Even some 'energy' modules for better known third party asset applications, don't integrate too well together with their core applications. I won't embarrass anyone by naming them, but if you have purchased them, you have surely rumbled it by now. Even if you get that bit right, the elephant in the room is being able to mash up data with your housing management system, to obtain some decisive insights.

Last Friday I had a really productive day with some asset managers wrestling with energy efficiency in a rural setting. No surprise that residents cite high cost of heating their properties, as their number one concern. Not everyone is on mains gas and not everyone can have insulation due to asset archetypes and build standards. Oh, and budgets getting tighter, the board want more done with less. Have you got one like that? (Thought so).

Like in most asset teams these days, the EPC collection is building up. How can IT assist to support the asset team to reach their goals and pull the maximum residents out of fuel poverty?

Many RSLs I come across record a PDF of the EPC, the RDSAP rating (e.g. 49, band E) and date issued. Limiting details recorded to this, does however miss a trick. The EPC is a rich source of data to model. Capture a bit more of that data and we can turn that into some really useful insights. For example, the potential energy efficiency rating, standard recommended measures/indicative costs, typical energy bill savings etc. 

Recording against each EPC of these potential improvements can easily form the basis of our asset energy modelling. Most of the common integrated HMS systems out there (OpenHousing, Orchard, QLX, iWorld, UH etc) can be configured to record these against asset components and attributes. The extra admin of manual entry or the provision of a regular import (where your EPC supplier can provide it) of these fields, makes the job somewhat easier.

Once it's in your database, it's a relatively swift task to combine all related details in a database view to provide a helicopters eye view of your stock. By related details I mean HB status (full/partial/none), primary method of payment (Allpay, Direct Debit, Cash etc), recorded economic status (Inactive, retired, working full/part time etc), area, HO patch, asset archetype etc.

A bit of added work if you are lucky enough to have a GIS system or can find time on Google maps satellite view, can identify any of your south facing roofs, suitable for solar PV. While not the cash-cow it was, it's still an option to offset your residents fuel bills.

On sign up, you may well be helping your residents to account for their new tenancy/shared owner property, pointing them to the local credit union or other places. Data collected during this process could also assist in identifying need. Also the resident age range and type of household, most likely held within your contact details. IE young families, single disabled elderly etc.

In the future, energy companies may well also provide anonymised energy expenditure data to you about your residents. Coming soon the 'internet of things' (due before the 'Jetpacks' they promised hopefully), might allow us to also monitor usage by boiler, live room temperatures etc.  

As you probably realise, this creates access to a pretty comprehensive picture. So should we aim to do with your 'mash-up' view? Well, we can determine where the best result can be achieved for minimum outlay, for the most deserving residents. It creates a concrete case for expenditure for your board and the improvements that can be expected.

Each organisation will be different, but this joined up approach allows facts to drive the improvement process. Another way that housing IT can help make a difference to your residents lives

Read on to: Asking those questions - collecting satisfaction better

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 !

Jethro Tull - Jack In The Green .


(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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Rear (Qlik)view mirror

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

In a recent financial system procurement that I was involved with this year, the MI / BI (Management/Business Intelligence tool we eventually went for was Qlikview. It was an application I had not seen close up before, but was aware of it among that other clutch of reporting dashboards generally found in housing.

Most of them sound very much like they were named after probiotic yoghurts and nearly all of the popular ones start with the letter ‘C’. Spooky eh? You know who I mean; Corvu, Cognos, Caci Infoflow, Capita Insight, Clearview, Covalent and Coactiva. The latter comes with three key benefits: antioxidant vitamins A and E, fibre and probiotics for digestive health, and calcium and vitamin D for bone health. Plus, each report is delicious and cream and that makes your taste buds happy too. Or I am sure thats what the nice lady demo-ing it said!

Well Qlikview does not begin with a ‘C’, offer any health benefits and breaks the rule of my old English teacher, Mrs Holtam (quite a fox in her day I am sure), that ‘Q’ generally needs to be followed by a ‘U’. That aside it’s an impressive application. Manipulating all its data in memory and supporting the usual mass of data sources you can mix and match, it’s quite a hidden gem. A free download can be obtained from http://www.qlikview.com/uk/explore/experience/free-download?ga-link=hero

It’s easy to setup and (for once) just as the salesman said “I was up and running in minutes”.  With Qlikview it is easy to highlight issues and strange data, in its familiar default green, gray and black interface. I have also pointed it retail data that I was doing a project with. That was 800mb+ of detail on ladies underwear (don’t ask, it was a project for larger size retailer JD Williams) and it breezed through it, even on a rather aging Acer laptop, with only a 2 x 1.2Ghz processor. ‘On the fly’ drilldown was just that. Fast and easy.

Qlikview can cache your data too if required, so can operate independent of the source if the database is off-line or otherwise unavailable. Many other solutions would fail or fall over in that situation. Initial costs are very reasonable too. £11K might well be sufficient for a medium sized housing organisation. At a recent conference at London Olympia (NHF-national Housing Federation Housing IT Managers) I was chatting with an old friend from Worthing Homes, Stephen Wallace, over a pint of course in The Albion on Hammersmith Road. He mentioned he too had selected Qlikview for his housing data and had more or less got started with it straight away. The ease of identifying poor or strange data is a real bonus. This can be spotted visually and passed straight away to the team responsible for fixing it.

This is what Gartner had to say about Qlikview: http://www.qlikview.com/us/explore/resources/analyst-reports/gartner-report-magic-quadrant The report placed it with the leaders and visionaries.

During my recent finance project a third party was utilised to initially pull together a very complex data structure. Impressively the company Differentia (http://www.diffrentia.co ), specialist Qlikview integrators came back after 5 free days of consultancy and blew me and the project team away with what had been achieved. It’s great for once to see delivered exactly what was sold.

I am convinced that more and more organisations in the housing sector will probably be looking at Qlikview for MI / BI in the near future. I will be keeping in touch with Stephen to see how Worthing Homes get on with it. Probably over a few Ram and Specials, if planned properly.

It cannot have escaped your attention that the December festival of retailing is upon us. I would like to wish all my readers a happy Christmas and thoughts of a less stormy and prosperous 2013 for you and your loved ones. Peace on earth perhaps a tough call, but let’s love each other more. If we all do a bit, maybe it will catch on across the world.
Here’s my Christmas card to you - http://www.jibjab.com/view/Wkru4u5ORCOTyZdGW-Khog

Read on to, Twitter Social Fools:

http://tonysmiththathousingitguy.blogspot.com/2013/02/social-fools-if-you-do-twitter-thing.html

Pearl Jam always checked their Qlikview Mirror".
(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk


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