Inform - Educate – Entertain (GDPR 2 of 3)

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



In part two of this short and to the point series, let’s explore some of the GDPR nuts and bolts. Checkout the first part here.

Namely, have we got lawful basis for even storing our data and can we release it completely when requested? To robustly comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), organisations must now be able to maintain and produce a wide range of documentation, on demand if needed.

All orderly organisations will already I have sure, identified if its lawful for our data being held and processed. However, how well documented is this? GDPR requires robust documentation covering how holding and process of our data is lawful. In addition, privacy notices need to reflect this too. Examine yours, how good is your documentation in this regard? Remember that responsibility for the documentation’s accuracy will generally be down to the designated data controller.

Documentation of consent, how it is being obtained from each data subject, where is the record of it, is very important. GDPR strengthens this aspect of data protection. In social housing, it is likely that at lettings or tenancy sign up, we already tick this box. We need to review if current procedures meet the GDPR standard, or if they need to be made more transparent or robust. Question how your organisation seeks, records and then manages consent. Where is this recorded, could it easily be audited?

For the above, its hoped that mainstream systems will be providing specific fields to record and audit where consent has been positively obtained. Use of UDF/UDE/ad-hoc fields, while undoubtedly working, will lead to non-standard approaches, even within the same social housing systems. Hopefully some approaches have already started to be described for future enhancements particularly for GDPR pressure points along the tenant lifecycle, in a release late in 2017, by your software provider/supplier, in time for GDPR.

At this point, its salient to say that you should not really be asking your software suppliers, "What are you doing about GDPR?". You should be asking, "How can I use features of your system/solution, to better implement and comply with GDPR, and how are you improving those?".

In addition, we need to be engaging with our contractors, partners and others, who we are supplying data to, for limited use. EG during the life of the issue of a reactive repair or Works Order. How can we educate and 'ripple down' a GDPR culture to them too? Consider special workshops or briefing sessions with your contractors and vendors.

You can find numerous training organisations that have sprung up, to provide 'documentation packs' and the like, supporting this. Truth is, you can probably sort it easily in less than an afternoon, yourself. After all, a lot of that 'documentation' will only set you off on the road to getting this stuff in place. 

Information regarding children, now may need additional consent of parents or guardians. If not already in place, possibly systems to verify ages must be put in place.

Once all the above is in place, how robust are our systems and procedures for responding to ‘Subject Access Requests’? What places and system applications may be the sources, to satisfy a subject access request? Certainly, main housing management systems may be the primary source, but do not miss document management and other peripheral systems and applications. It’s time to think this all through now, be prepared (as Baden-Powell used to say).

• A quick recap on those essential compliance documents:
• (GDPR Article 13) - Statements of the information you collect and process, and the purpose for processing.
• (GDPR Article 7 & 8) - Records of consent from data subjects or relevant holder of parental responsibility.
• (GDPR Article 30) - Records of processing activities under your responsibility.

In the last and final blog, we will explore Data Breeches and Privacy Impact Assessments, including  documented processes for protecting personal data, information security and cryptography policy, procedures, etc.Checkout the first part here.

Related Post: How much does each method of payment cost your organisation? 

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.

Public Service Broadcasting - Inform - Educate – Entertain - Spitfile.
(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 Manager,Context,CIH,Chartered Institute Of Housing,Cadcorp,Cerrus Saturn,convergeOne,CACI,CPL, CRS Director, Deeplake,Development Systems,Accuserve,Document Management,Documotive,datasystems , Microsoft dynamics GP 2013, DynamicAI, Dynamic AI, ECMK,EDRMS,England, English,EnterpriseBI,ERP Systems,ERP,Elmhurst,Estatecraft,EDM,ESRI,Exponential-e, Finance, Financial Systems, Financials, Factorwise,Facebook ,Footprint,Fusion, Getting best from,gotonysmith, Grasp,Grip,GeoSolveIT,GIS,GGP,Genero,GCloud,G-Cloud,HouSys,Housing software,HFI (Housing Financials interface),HG,Housemark survey,Housing Blueprint,Housemark, HRA,housingtITguy,Housing Support Pro,HousingSupportPro,Housing Options,Hometeam, Housing Group,hotpixuk, HousingIT,hotpix,Hardware,Hitex,Housing Contact Company,housing predictive analytics, Impact Response,iPayPro,implementations,iRobot,In House,InHouse,In4,InMotion, InMotion2016, InMotion2015, InMotion2016 , Exhibition, conference,Housing Management Consultant,Housing Management Consultants, Infoflow,Information Technology,Informix,inHouse,in-house workforce,Information@Work components, Innovation,Inside Housing,Internet Portal,Internetalia,Information Management Server,IMS, Invu,Ireland,Irish,Inphase , IT Budget,IT Training,iWorld, Innovation Group Apex,ITIL, In4Systems Promaster,IT,Insight, iSupport,iSupportPro, Keylogic,Keystone,Kirona,Kypera,Keypera Hometeam,Keyfax,Ledgers,Linkedin,Locality,Liquid Voice,MD ,Mr Void , MrVoid, Measuring Change,Mebus,Miracle,MISCS,mDesign,mobile functionality,mobile platform,Monopoly board images and pictures, Montal,MS Dynamics,MS Dynamics CRM2011,Miracle Software,MDM,Management,CRM2013,Reporting,MI,M3,MIS,MIS-AMS,Mobysoft, Northgate Codeman,Neighbourhoods and Communities,NPS,NPS Housing,NPS CRM,NPS Job Manager Mobile, Northgate,Notice,NROSH,NINTEX,NINTEX workflow,Natural Forms,Nintexworkflow,NPS ASSIST, OA,OGC Buying Solutions,Ohms,OJEU Limits,OmFax,Omniledger,Open source software,open tender,OpenHousing,Opti-time,Oracle,Orchard,Optitime DRS,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,PlanForm, Propoints, Pro-Points,predictive analytics for housing, QL,QLX,Quiss,Qlikview, QueryView,Queryview reporting,Registered Providers,Registered Social Landlord,Rent Increase Freezes,Repairfinder,Reporting,Reports,ROCC,RobotAutomation,Rave Technologies (India) PVT Limited, Rocket,RPs,RSL,Reality,ReAct,reidmark,RM865, Saffron,SAP,Scots, "Social Housing IT",Social Housing ICT, Scottish,Scenario, Scotland,SDM,sector,TonySmithHou,Safron,Server Virtualisation,servicing, Servitor,Sharepoint, Simdel,Simdell,SimPro,Sim Pro,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,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,Voluntas, Wales,Welsh,Windows Server,Workflow and tasking,Wheatley,Works Connect,worksConnect, Xmbrace,XML ,XenApp,Xen App ..

Inform - Educate - Entertain (GDPR 1 of 3)

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



Few people will have by now, not heard of GDPR, the new data legislation due early in 2018. Clients in socialhousing as well as a number of suppliers are asking me about it. So I will be devoting a short series of blogs about it.

GDPR is becoming a bit like the Millennium Bug. The rash of seminars for £350 who will help read the planned legislation to you, reminds me of a previous age, when we had hand driers, plastered with ‘Millennium Compliant’ stickers, costing £12 a time. It’s a wee goldmine for some!

Too big to slot into one single blog, I will be looking to touch on some of the key areas of GDPR, we should be thinking about. Brexit will not change it and I feel we should not waiting for, or expecting our ICT suppliers, to be solving all our problems around it.

The first thing to consider, is how all our decision makers are being informed on how the law is changing. Communication is key. GDPR will affect all staff and good leadership will be essential.

Knowing the extent of how the changes will affect your organisation, is a wise move. Create an inventory of all the personal data being held. Once that has been determined, document carefully its source, and more importantly everyone that data is currently shared with. When this changes in the future, we need to revise our inventory accordingly. Fail to do so, and problems may result. Consider undertaking a formal information audit.

To think how this might work in practice for SocialHousing, the tenant journey is a key place where we collect, process, then need to dispose of personal data, no longer needed. Think about how you collect data from the lettings application and inform applicant why we need it etc.Think what we do with applicant data for people that do not become tenants. Is there a need to retain it, and if so for how long? At signup, do we need to make tenants aware of the data we use and how? When repairs are logged, how can we have our contractors & operatives handle this data securely and delete it when it is of no further use? At the end of a tenancy, or if a RTB or share of sale occurs, when do we expire and delete that data?

Current privacy notices and procedures, should also be reviewed. A clear plan and intention to make necessary changes, in a timely manner will be needed, to get this in time for GDPR implementation. Ensure it is on your SMT or board radar, to ensure proper priority to be applied.

Individual rights are a key element of the changes. Review and check your procedures, to ensure you are aware of the individual rights of your customers, users and others. Know how you will be able to delete (all) information held if needed, or produce information electronically conveniently, in a suitable format. Twitter do a good job of this already. My archive is over 30mb

I will be covering more aspects of the GDPR in my next blogs, this being one of the most important changes, affecting Social Housing currently.  


Related Post: Fooled already when procuring software? Don't be next time 

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.

Public Service Broadcasting - Inform - Educate – Entertain.
(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 Manager,Context,CIH,Chartered Institute Of Housing,Cadcorp,Cerrus Saturn,convergeOne,CACI,CPL, CRS Director, Deeplake,Development Systems,Accuserve,Document Management,Documotive,datasystems , Microsoft dynamics GP 2013, DynamicAI, Dynamic AI, ECMK,EDRMS,England, English,EnterpriseBI,ERP Systems,ERP,Elmhurst,Estatecraft,EDM,ESRI,Exponential-e, Finance, Financial Systems, Financials, Factorwise,Facebook ,Footprint,Fusion, Getting best from,gotonysmith, Grasp,Grip,GeoSolveIT,GIS,GGP,Genero,GCloud,G-Cloud,HouSys,Housing software,HFI (Housing Financials interface),HG,Housemark survey,Housing Blueprint,Housemark, HRA,housingtITguy,Housing Support Pro,HousingSupportPro,Housing Options,Hometeam, Housing Group,hotpixuk, HousingIT,hotpix,Hardware,Hitex,Housing Contact Company,housing predictive analytics, Impact Response,iPayPro,implementations,iRobot,In House,InHouse,In4,InMotion, InMotion2016, InMotion2015, InMotion2016 , Exhibition, conference,Housing Management Consultant,Housing Management Consultants, Infoflow,Information Technology,Informix,inHouse,in-house workforce,Information@Work components, Innovation,Inside Housing,Internet Portal,Internetalia,Information Management Server,IMS, Invu,Ireland,Irish,Inphase , IT Budget,IT Training,iWorld, Innovation Group Apex,ITIL, In4Systems Promaster,IT,Insight, iSupport,iSupportPro, Keylogic,Keystone,Kirona,Kypera,Keypera Hometeam,Keyfax,Ledgers,Linkedin,Locality,Liquid Voice,MD ,Mr Void , MrVoid, Measuring Change,Mebus,Miracle,MISCS,mDesign,mobile functionality,mobile platform,Monopoly board images and pictures, Montal,MS Dynamics,MS Dynamics CRM2011,Miracle Software,MDM,Management,CRM2013,Reporting,MI,M3,MIS,MIS-AMS,Mobysoft, Northgate Codeman,Neighbourhoods and Communities,NPS,NPS Housing,NPS CRM,NPS Job Manager Mobile, Northgate,Notice,NROSH,NINTEX,NINTEX workflow,Natural Forms,Nintexworkflow,NPS ASSIST, OA,OGC Buying Solutions,Ohms,OJEU Limits,OmFax,Omniledger,Open source software,open tender,OpenHousing,Opti-time,Oracle,Orchard,Optitime DRS,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,PlanForm, Propoints, Pro-Points,predictive analytics for housing, QL,QLX,Quiss,Qlikview, QueryView,Queryview reporting,Registered Providers,Registered Social Landlord,Rent Increase Freezes,Repairfinder,Reporting,Reports,ROCC,RobotAutomation,Rave Technologies (India) PVT Limited, Rocket,RPs,RSL,Reality,ReAct,reidmark,RM865, Saffron,SAP,Scots, "Social Housing IT",Social Housing ICT, Scottish,Scenario, Scotland,SDM,sector,TonySmithHou,Safron,Server Virtualisation,servicing, Servitor,Sharepoint, Simdel,Simdell,SimPro,Sim Pro,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,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,Voluntas, Wales,Welsh,Windows Server,Workflow and tasking,Wheatley,Works Connect,worksConnect, Xmbrace,XML ,XenApp,Xen App ..

Boss Drum – Corralling in Your Wayward Info

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


During my first few years working with Social Housing Systems, I was involved in a lot of full integrated solution implementations. I still surprise suppliers when pulling them up on implementation and data extract/transformation processes. You soon learn how to locate trouble-some and hidden data and use tried and tested approaches to clean it up and present it in the best form possible, for a brand new system.

Strangely, lately I have been involved in a raft of data conversion work, for Housing Groups merging systems or new properties in, and for a few organisations, taking their first housing solution.

That all covers the relatively structured stuff. Even Excel spreadsheets have some structure, however possibly haphazard. I am used to telephone numbers, containing comments, like (work) or (Daughter – Mon-Thu only) etc. Notes and scratch pads are another matter. Free text is of course notorious and using conventional database languages, a bugger to report from. I often come across sensitive data in text and note fields. Historic account references, person details, credit card data, sort codes and others. Some of it innocently blows PCI compliance right out of the window.

The above of course refer to database info. IE in SQL Server, Progress, Oracle, Ingress or Informix etc. Every organisation also has Terabytes of data held on local, network and cloud drives, as well as local Exchange Server storage. Once you start looking, unfortunately you start to see sensitive data in the strangest of places. Fascinating that all this is, within the recent GDPR rules, we should be managing every single byte of sensitive data that we own. Much of it is historic, and a lot down to poor user training and poorly managed habits.

Innocent recording of card/payment details in free text notes are a major Achiles Heal for GDPR compliance

Searching just a small corner of your unstructured data, can take several days and then you only just scratch the surface. You would need a small army (well maybe a platoon), to do a proper job, then keep on top of it too. Data quality groups are something I always promote, wherever I can, but they have  a limit to their vigilance. For a few years I have been actively seeking some more intelligent solutions, to help crack this one.

Last month I think I spotted a pretty comprehensive, proven tool to do the job, called InfoBoss. You don’t need an army of people either, to feed and water it. Just a few pioneering Social Housing landlords are currently using it, in addition to at least one credit rating agency in the Midlands.

It pretty much sniffs out the problems by itself with a set of inbuilt rules, that can be activated to detect data in the wrong place, suspect data problems and breaches of GDPR policy, such as ‘Right To Be Forgotten’. Integral white and black lists enable checking for what should have been long since archived ID’s, that potentially are breaking the law.

The tool has been built on Elastic Search, the platform is scalable, cloud based and quick to setup and very easy to use. Once it has been pointed at a multitude of data sources, within an organisation, it will collate details into a single reportable repository. A messaging API allows set up of automation. Stakeholders can be created that are automatically alerted on new and newly discovered exceptions.

I’m techie, but it’s clear this is more of an end-user, than an ICT team tool, all in a private cloud too.  Check it out by contacting Mark Hobart of InfoBoss or download the InfoBoss data management whitepaper.

Download the InfoBoss white paper here

If you have or suspect you may have data quality issues that possibly contravene GDPR, this is clearly a new tool worth a look.
 
Do mention you read it first on this blog and please let me know what you thought of it too.

Related Post: For big transformation projects, don't shy away from the Big Bang Approach    

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.

The Shamen – Boss Drum.
(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009


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

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

Don’t you forget about me

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


Last week I was out with an old friend I used to work with many years (& jobs ago), in Edinburgh. Over the last year he has been doing a lot of work around GDPR. Some of it with the adoption authorities, of which he has a particular link, due to a couple of adoptions, made in the late nineties.

We were talking about the many areas where the new GDPR rights cannot be invoked, due to other legal or similar constraint. For example around adoption, adoptee records must be retained for one hundred years legally. Even failed adoptee data, must be held for thirty years.

Clearly these are areas where new ‘Right To Be Forgotten’ etc, will have no effect.

Particularly around ‘Right To Be Forgotten’ / ‘Right to Erasure’, we talked around some scenarios. Where an integrated system is properly in place, (rather than a fragmented hotch-potch of spreadsheets, mixed systems with repeated variants of key data), this should not be such an onerous task.

So what is the basis for the request for erasure of personal data? There are several valid reasons, including withdrawal of consent, data no longer needed to fulfil purpose originally communicated, data subject objects to your processing and you have no overriding legitimate interest basis, or your use was a breach of GDPR.

If an organisation is contacted, can an individual totally be ‘forgotten’? For example, if an organisation is asked to remove all trace of a persons data and there are no legal, or other recognised impediments to that, to follow the full letter of the law, even that ‘request to remove’, should really be erased too.

That is fine, if it was a request from the correct person and details were checked and collaborated before deletion. All is well.

However, if it was not the ‘actual’ person, or a mistake was made and the wrong persons details were erased, how can that be conclusively proved subsequently, without holding audit, containing some details of that erased data, evidence that authenticated the individual? Its an interesting situation, which surely will occur to you or your organisation, before too long.   

Could that customer/personal data be ‘taken out of processing’ for a set period, then to be totally deleted, in order to support this scenario? The litmus test, we agreed should always be, is this action ‘reasonable’ and proportionate to any current or potential impact on the data subject.

I would be interested to hear your take on this, as would my GDPR friend up in Scotland OBVs!

Related Post: Control your system configuration well and your KPIs will follow 

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.

Simple Minds – Don’t You Forget About Me.
(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 Manager,Context,CIH,Chartered Institute Of Housing,Cadcorp,Cerrus Saturn,convergeOne,CACI,CPL, CRS Director, Deeplake,Development Systems,Accuserve,Document Management,Documotive,datasystems , Microsoft dynamics GP 2013, DynamicAI, Dynamic AI, ECMK,EDRMS,England, English,EnterpriseBI,ERP Systems,ERP,Elmhurst,Estatecraft,EDM,ESRI,Exponential-e, Finance, Financial Systems, Financials, Factorwise,Facebook ,Footprint,Fusion, Getting best from,gotonysmith, Grasp,Grip,GeoSolveIT,GIS,GGP,Genero,GCloud,G-Cloud,HouSys,Housing software,HFI (Housing Financials interface),HG,Housemark survey,Housing Blueprint,Housemark,Housing Portfolio Management System, HRA,housingtITguy,Housing Support Pro,HousingSupportPro,Housing Options,Hometeam, Housing Group,hotpixuk, HousingIT,hotpix,Hardware,Hitex,Housing Contact Company,housing predictive analytics, Impact Response,iPayPro,implementations,iRobot,In House,InHouse,In4,InMotion, InMotion2016, InMotion2015, InMotion2016 , Exhibition, conference,Housing Management Consultant,Housing Management Consultants, Infoflow,Information Technology,Informix,inHouse,in-house workforce,Information@Work components, Innovation,Inside Housing,Internet Portal,Internetalia,Information Management Server,IMS, Invu,Ireland,Irish,Inphase , IT Budget,IT Training,iWorld, Innovation Group Apex,ITIL, In4Systems Promaster,IT,Insight, iSupport,iSupportPro, Keylogic,Keystone,Kirona,Kypera,Keypera Hometeam,Keyfax,Ledgers,Linkedin,Locality,Liquid Voice,MD ,Mr Void , MrVoid, Measuring Change,Mebus,Miracle,MISCS,mDesign,mobile functionality,mobile platform,Monopoly board images and pictures, Montal,MS Dynamics,MS Dynamics CRM2011,Miracle Software,MDM,Management,CRM2013,Reporting,MI,M3,MIS,MIS-AMS,Mobysoft, Northgate Codeman,Neighbourhoods and Communities,NPS,NPS Housing,NPS CRM,NPS Job Manager Mobile, Northgate,Notice,NROSH,NINTEX,NINTEX workflow,Natural Forms,Nintexworkflow,NPS ASSIST, OA,OGC Buying Solutions,Ohms,OJEU Limits,OmFax,Omniledger,Open source software,open tender,OpenHousing,Opti-time,Oracle,Orchard,Optitime DRS,Outsource and outsourcing,OpenContractor,ORS,OneServe, PIMMS Data Systems, Paloma,performance management systems,PfH, Pick,PIMMS,pimms4communities, Planned maintenance,People Value,Plus, Peoplevalue,Portfolio Management System, PM,Progress,Promaster,Proval,Pyramid,PRINCE2,prince,Pamwin,PlanForm, Propoints, Pro-Points,predictive analytics for housing, QL,QLX,Quiss,Qlikview, QueryView,Queryview reporting,Registered Providers,Registered Social Landlord,Rent Increase Freezes,Repairfinder,Reporting,Reports,ROCC,RobotAutomation,Rave Technologies (India) PVT Limited, Rocket,RPs,RSL,Reality,ReAct,reidmark,RM865, Saffron,SAP,Scots, "Social Housing IT",Social Housing ICT, Scottish,Scenario, Scotland,SDM,sector,TonySmithHou,Safron,Server Virtualisation,servicing, Servitor,Sharepoint, Simdel,Simdell,SimPro,Sim Pro,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,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 ..

Policeman Data Skank

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

I don’t know what crossed your mind a few weeks ago when you heard about the recent UK big data breaches. On the Monday was a loss of millions of names from the UK Electoral Roll. 40 million voters in fact from hackers - Full article here. I suppose that does make a difference for our government to not be trying to be selling it this time!

A few days later came the PSNI data breach, of every serving police officer in Northern Ireland. - Full article here.

The day after that came Norfolk and Suffolk police, fessing up over another data breach consisting of personal details of 1,230 victims, suspects and witnesses - Full article here

While the first one was apparently a successful hack attempt, (we are familiar with some of those in social housing), the second two look more like spectacular own-goals, that would have needed Mary Earps England’s ‘Queen of Stops’ to try to effectively prevent. These were both cases where the police authorities apparently responded to freedom of information (FOI) requests, for summary data. IE number of cases, totals of police staff and roles etc.

They say a little knowledge is dangerous and that would certainly be true if that data was extracted into Excel perhaps (a tool we all love a little too much),  and a pivot table/formulas created for creating the summary totals. To be compliant with a FOI request they could have easily supplied a short PDF of the totals page. To share way too much data we could provide the much bigger spreadsheet and inadvertently and criminally overshare.

In the case of the PSNI data breach, it could not have been much worse a mistake.

I have worked a lot over in Northern and Southern Ireland over the last 25 years.  When I first traveled there, they had barely dismantled the British army checkpoints outside Belfast international airport. I have 100% always had positive and uplifting experiences with all sides of the communities I have worked with and received care and generosity throughout. Belfast and other places have improved immensely. Offices and property blocks have plate glass on the outside again and hen parties cycle around city centres on big beer/gin bikes. Its one of my favourite corners of these isles.

One institution in society that still polarises there is the PSNI. Once called the RUC reflecting just one part of society, its new incarnation is still extremely suspicious to both communities, nearly 22 years on:

Loyalist community suspicion

Republican community suspicion

In terms of putting people at risk and drastic effect on safety, over twenty thousand ordinary people doing some very dangerous jobs have been put in even more danger. Perhaps all down to lax training of admin staff on GDPR, our responsibilities to it and how they are to use software tools handling our data.

It wouldn’t be the first time I have encountered organisations doing a well meaning GDPR induction, yet with no practical advice of how and where to store data and the importance of it being accurate, succinct, consistant and well controlled. Its probably the subject of another future post or two, but we do give staff tools such as Excel and barely train them on it (if at all). No wonder they try to use it like a database and have no idea what they might inadvertently share using it. With such lack of knowledge, staff should be banned from using the common off the shelf excuse, “I cant do that due to data protection!”.

So, could these last two types of gaffs happen easily in your organisations?

How well do you induct and keep all staff aware of GDPR?

How do you induct staff on how your systems and storage needs to be used consistently for good data hygiene?

How well do you control information access and controlled release, particularly of sensitive data?

If you have any doubts on the above, please take action right now, before your organisation makes some rooky mistakes and we can all watch its gory details examined on Newsnight and Sky News.

If you are struggling with getting your GDPR in order, or replacing spreadsheets with systems or databases, just get in touch with us.

Subscribe to our blog here on this link, to always catch the latest news on whats happening in the sector.

Acutance Consulting would be happy to help you review systems options, 

please just get in touch, for a chat over a ginger nuts & a brew ☕😋

       Related Post: Thoughts on getting Right To Forget right

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.

Audioweb – Policeman Skank.
(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 Genero,Civica Saffron,Clearview,Clik,Cx Assets, Cloud Dialogs,CloudDialogs,Coactiva,Codeman,Comino,Commontime,Community Reward Services,Company,Competitive Dialogue process,Component Accounting,Consilium,Consolidation, Consultancy,Consultant,Consultants,Contact Manager,Context,Contractor Systems,CorVu,Cost Reductions,Covalent,Crystal Reports,Customer Relationship Management,Cx, DRS,Deeplake,Designer Software,Development Systems,Director,Document,Documotive,Docuware,Dynamic AI,DynamicAI,Dynamics 365,D365,Dynamics365, ECMK,EDM,EDRMS,ERP,ESRI,Elmhurst,Enghouse Interactive,England,English,EnterpriseBI,Estatecraft,Etive,Exhibition,Exponential-e, Facebook,Factorwise,Field Service management,Finance,Financial Systems,Financials,Footprint,Forms,Freezes,Fusion,Fuzzlab Gas Tag,G-Cloud,GCloud,GDPR,GGP,GIS,GasTag,Genero,GeoSolveIT,Getting best from,GoTonySmith,Grasp,Grip,Group Apex, HFI (Housing Financials interface),HG,HRA,Hardware,Hitachi Systems,Hitex,HomeMaster,Hometeam,HouSys,House,Housemark,Housemark survey,Housing,Housing Contact,Housing Group,Housing Insight,Housing Management,Housing Management Consultant,Housing Partners,Housing Portfolio Management System,Hub Asset Management,Homeswapper,Housing jigsaw, Housing Support Pro,HousingIT,HousingSupportPro,HyperOptic, IMS,IT,IT Budget,IT Training,ITIL,Impact Response,In,In4,In4Systems Promaster,InfoBoss,InHouse,InMotion,InMotion2015,InMotion2016,InfoBoss,Infoflow,Information,Information Technology,Information@Work components,Informix,Innovation, Informetis,Inphase,Inside Housing,Insight,Internet Portal,Internetalia,Invu,Ireland,Irish,itLab, Keyfax,Keylogic,Keypera,Keystone,Kirona,Kypera,Keynamics, Landlord,Ledgers,Linkedin,Liquid,Locality,Localz, M3,MAVIS,MD,MDM,MI,MIS,MIS-AMS,MISCS,MRI,MS Dynamics,MRI,MS Dynamics CRM2011,Microsoft365,microsoft 365,MWL,Management,Management Server,Manifest,Measuring,Mebus,More IQ,MoreIQ,Microsoft Dynamics 365,Microsoft dynamics GP 2013,Miracle,MobileIron,Mobysoft,Monopoly board images and pictures,Montal,Mr Void,MriEngage,MrVoid,MoreIQ NDL,NINTEX,NINTEX workflow,NPS,NPS ASSIST,NPS Housing,NPS Job Manager Mobile,NROSH,Natural,Neighbourhoods and Communities,Nintexworkflow,Northgate,Northgate Codeman,Northgate Public Services,Notice, OA,OGC Buying Solutions,OJEU Limits,ORS,Ohms,OmFax,Omniledger,One,OneAdvanced,OneServe,Open source,OpenContractor,OpenHousing,Opti-time,Options,Optitime,Oracle,Orchard,Outsource and outsourcing,OutSystems, PIMMS,PIMSS Data,PM,PRINCE2,Paloma,Pamwin,PanConnect,People Value,Peoplevalue,PfH,Pick,PlanForm,Planned maintenance,Plenfific,Plus,Portfolio Management System,PowerObjects,Pro,Pro-Points,Prodo,Progress,Promaster,Propoints,Proval,Providers,Pyramid, QL,QLX, QLF, QL Yuneo,QuantSpark,Qube,QLX,Qlikview,QueryView,Queryview reporting,Quiss, RM865,ROCC,RPs,RSL,Rave,ReAct,Reality,RedkiteCRM,Red Olive,Registered,Registered Social,Rent Increase,RentSense,RentSenseLite,Repairfinder,Reporting,Reports,RobotAutomation,Rocket,Rubixx, Salesforce,Salesforce.Org,SAP,SASSHA,SDM,SHBVN,SM,SOTI,SP,SQL,SQL Open Housing,SQL Reporting,SQL Server,Saffron,Safron,Saturn,Scenario,Scotland,Scots,Scottish,Scout,Sequoa,Serengeti,Serros,Server,Service,Services,Servitor,Sharepoint,Sim,SimPro, Simdel,Simdell,Slash and Burn,Social Housing ICT,Social Housing Software Applications,Social Media,Software,Software solutions,Spotlight Service,Spotlightservice,Star rating,Stores and Stock,Strategic,SunAccounts,Sunguard,Surveys,Streetwise, Swordfish,Sx3,Symatrix Human,System alignment,Systems,Systemwise, T-Files,TEAMS,TED,TFiles,TP Tracker,TSG,Tagish Casework,Tagra,Task,TAIM,Technologies (India) PVT Limited,Telecetera,Template,Terminal Services,That,Three Star,Tilt,TiltAffinity,Today,Tony Smith,Tony Smith That Housing IT Guy,TonySmith that housing IT,TonySmithHou,TonySmithHousing, ,TonySmithHousingITguy,Total,Total Mobile,Totalmobile,Trace,Tribal,Twitter, U2,UC,UK,UK Housing,Ukhousing,UniClass Enterprise,Unidata,United Kingdom,Universal,Universalcredit,Universe,Unrest, Valueworks,Van Stock,Vantage,Vantage Sentinel,Version,Virtualisation,Visualmetrics,Voice,Voice and data,Voluntas, Wales,Welsh,Wheatley,Windows Server,Workflow and,Work Hub,Works Connect, XML,Xen App,XenApp,Xmbrace, Yuneo, ...
. . . . . . . . . . . . ES | FR | DE | IT | UK |

The Logical Song

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


Increasingly I encounter more and more socialhousing organisations, looking to develop a tight digital strategy, in some cases building one with them. Pretty much all ask, how can we do this well? Who is doing this well, particularly in providing resident omni-channel and increasing channel shift and footfall to digital, rather than more traditional means?

We all see and are used to customer self-service. Daily I bet like me, you use Amazon, online Banking, supermarket and apps for booking travel & hotels. These set our expectations and for my money, this is where the bar is set. Don’t look to your supplier’s ‘out of the box’ systems, they in general look too much like your back-office solution. Strangely, none of the apps listed above, behave like something sat on a desk, near the water cooler.

Taking the dull, techie, logical components from your back office systems however, you can add sparkle and magic, with some web services, to get closer to a real world offering, your residents & customers are more likely to flock to.

Yarlington Housing Group is one forward thinking organisation, I have had the pleasure to have worked with, on a number of occasions. In my book, they tick that box of consistently strive to ‘Do it well’. So, let’s have a look at some of the top tips and silver bullets we can learn from an innovator such as this.

Welcome to MyYarlington

(1)    Get a decent Third party web partner with extensive experience, in and out of the SocialHousing Sector. Proven experience working with a number of popular integrated housing management solutions reduces risk. Hallnet here have used their Active Housing range of products and services (https://www.activehousing.co.uk/). These are proven at in social housing organisations and are currently been implemented in Guinness, West Lothian Council and Sovini Group, among others.

(2)    Keep it simple (stupid). If you are a diverse go-ahead housing group (like these Somerset guys), use simple colourful disability-friendly icons/design to provide one click direction to your key digital footfall.

(3)    Make it as easy as possible for customers to sign up or get on with what they need to do, as fast as practical. Using Hallnet’s solutions, The Torus Group customers manage to diagnose, request and (DRS) appoint a repair in an average of 90 seconds, which is quicker than over the phone. Slow or inefficient self-service will just drive your customers to your helpline. Not good!

The 'Basket'

(4)    Size, or rather re-size is everything. I have blogged here about if apps are good, bad or essential. Reality is that most customer Smartphone's these days are in good wifi, 3G/4G coverage. A responsive website, which is still a breeze to use on say an iPhone4 or 5, may provide the flexibility of an app, at a fraction of the cost.


(5)    Make your site work like Amazon, the Trainline or EasyJet. Get a familiar basket, to make it natural for customers to group requests together, or change their mind. Give them what they already are used to and understand. If they have to bother learning how to use your self-service, they just won’t ‘bother’, remember that.  

(6)    Ask your customers, ‘How was it for you’? When did you last do anything you were not asked to rate? Hotels you stay in, that Byron Burger, that Uber journey. On that last one, you rate the driver as well as them rating you! Understand what your customers like and dislike about your self-service and act on that valuable feedback.

Don't forget the valuable feedback

(7)    Use Google Analytics or similar to find out how visitors navigate your pages, and act on high numbers of abandoned or in-complete transactions. Undoubtedly, these will translate into waste calls, into your service centre before long.

(8)    Taking account of GDPR, think out of the box, by shaping online services around your customers. Yarlington and Hallnet have clearly applied some serious thought around this. Clearly back end systems need to support the good control of the tenant data journey, conforming to the legal principles of GDPR.

Make selfservice GDPR ready

(9)    Do not assume with your self-service, if you build it, they (your customers that is) will come. Paradoxically, conventional methods such as quarterly updates, mailshots, mention on the service centre line, when call waiting (…did you know you can do most things online, instead of listening to Dire Straits here?). Yarlington are making full use of a launch brochure as well as digital classes. Borrow some clothes from the commercial world to oil the wheels of your customers channel-shift journey. ‘Digital Eagles’ anyone?

(10)     Like in the garden of Eden, from day one, try to have all the ‘low hanging fruit’ on offer to tempt customers in. I.E. Tenant dashboard with notifications alerts, rules based content, privacy opt-ins, view and update personal details, Account section (current/future charges, fast statement generate for UC and other users), End-to-end repairs (‘real’ appointments, cancel, schedule, SMS reminders etc), messages, end tenancy request.

Yarlington who manage over 11k homes, aim to have 80% of transactions occurring online, with plans to reinvest substantial savings into property development and existing property renovation.

Stats from just the first fortnight are promising. 1100 signed up users, 1,650 account page views, 887 views of repair history, Repairs diagnosed and appointed: 200. If each phone call cost £3, it can be seen Yarlington will start to see some dramatic savings.

Chris Reed, who I have worked with on many occasions at Yarlington, was impressed with what has been achieved in a relatively short period. “Not only were Active Housing able to develop a fresh, intuitive and integrated customer portal, they were also extremely approachable and went the extra mile to ensure the project was delivered on time and to budget whilst meeting all our requirements.”

Hallnet, with their Active Housing range of services, are attending the up-coming HOMES exhibition, Nov 22/23rd at London Olympia. Visit them on stand H35. Alternatively, catch them on https://www.activehousing.co.uk/ or on 0800-023-9024. For HOMES they have a number of free passes. Grab one while you can!

Learn more about Yarlington Next-Gen here 

Related Post: Got vacancies? Share them for free here... 

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.

Supertramp – The Logical Song.
(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 Manager,Context,CIH,Chartered Institute Of Housing,Cadcorp,Cerrus Saturn,convergeOne,CACI,CPL, CRS Director, Deeplake,Development Systems,Accuserve,Document Management,Documotive,datasystems , Microsoft dynamics GP 2013, DynamicAI, Dynamic AI, ECMK,EDRMS,England, English,EnterpriseBI,ERP Systems,ERP,Elmhurst,Estatecraft,EDM,ESRI,Exponential-e, Finance, Financial Systems, Financials, Factorwise,Facebook ,Footprint,Fusion, Getting best from,gotonysmith, Grasp,Grip,GeoSolveIT,GIS,GGP,Genero,GCloud,G-Cloud,HouSys,Housing software,HFI (Housing Financials interface),HG,Housemark survey,Housing Blueprint,Housemark, HRA,housingtITguy,Housing Support Pro,HousingSupportPro,Housing Options,Hometeam, Housing Group,hotpixuk, HousingIT,hotpix,Hardware,Hitex,Housing Contact Company,housing predictive analytics, Impact Response,iPayPro,implementations,iRobot,In House,InHouse,In4,InMotion, InMotion2016, InMotion2015, InMotion2016 , Exhibition, conference,Housing Management Consultant,Housing Management Consultants, Infoflow,Information Technology,Informix,inHouse,in-house workforce,Information@Work components, Innovation,Inside Housing,Internet Portal,Internetalia,Information Management Server,IMS, Invu,Ireland,Irish,Inphase , IT Budget,IT Training,iWorld, Innovation Group Apex,ITIL, In4Systems Promaster,IT,Insight, iSupport,iSupportPro, Keylogic,Keystone,Kirona,Kypera,Keypera Hometeam,Keyfax,Ledgers,Linkedin,Locality,Liquid Voice,MD ,Mr Void , MrVoid, Measuring Change,Mebus,Miracle,MISCS,mDesign,mobile functionality,mobile platform,Monopoly board images and pictures, Montal,MS Dynamics,MS Dynamics CRM2011,Miracle Software,MDM,Management,CRM2013,Reporting,MI,M3,MIS,MIS-AMS,Mobysoft, Northgate Codeman,Neighbourhoods and Communities,NPS,NPS Housing,NPS CRM,NPS Job Manager Mobile, Northgate,Notice,NROSH,NINTEX,NINTEX workflow,Natural Forms,Nintexworkflow,NPS ASSIST, OA,OGC Buying Solutions,Ohms,OJEU Limits,OmFax,Omniledger,Open source software,open tender,OpenHousing,Opti-time,Oracle,Orchard,Optitime DRS,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,PlanForm, Propoints, Pro-Points,predictive analytics for housing, QL,QLX,Quiss,Qlikview, QueryView,Queryview reporting,Registered Providers,Registered Social Landlord,Rent Increase Freezes,Repairfinder,Reporting,Reports,ROCC,RobotAutomation,Rave Technologies (India) PVT Limited, Rocket,RPs,RSL,Reality,ReAct,reidmark,RM865, Saffron,SAP,Scots, "Social Housing IT",Social Housing ICT, Scottish,Scenario, Scotland,SDM,sector,TonySmithHou,Safron,Server Virtualisation,servicing, Servitor,Sharepoint, Simdel,Simdell,SimPro,Sim Pro,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,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,Voluntas, Wales,Welsh,Windows Server,Workflow and tasking,Wheatley,Works Connect,worksConnect, Xmbrace,XML ,XenApp,Xen App ..