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Increasing productivity and customer satisfaction by upgrading to Kirona’s Xmbrace DRS Version 5.

Streamlining and SelectionThe first stage in streamlining the Group’s use of IT applications was the reduction of four housing management systems down to just one for all properties and tenants; however closely tied to thatwas the scheduling of appointments. THG makes 2,000 appointments on average per week, so this was an area where they wanted to get the very best solution on themarket that would deliver value. In the review process, Xmbrace DRS dynamic scheduling software was already being used in two of the five organisations and delivering good results. So, it made sense to roll it out across the Group as the scheduler of choice. It integrated seamlessly with the housing management system selected and so the decision was made. In addition, Xmbrace DRS supports mobile working, text messaging reminders and has a real-time performance module that would deliver unsurpassed visibility to the operation.

Why Upgrade from Version 4 – Version 5?As a forward thinking organisation, Together Housing Group made the strategic decision to upgrade from Xmbrace DRS version 4 (which was being used in two of the organisations previously), to get the added functionality and benefits from Version 5 to manage their responsive repairs and gas servicing needs. This was a move that would ensure they could schedule the work in the most effective way possible and consequently save money.

“Xmbrace DRS 5 has enabled us to advance and seamlessly integrate our IT systems.”Ian Rumsam, Group Head of Repairs and Maintenance, Together Housing Group

Identifying best practiceThe formation of the new Group presented the perfect opportunity to review standards and effectively cherry pick the very best practice evident in individual organisations, as well as what is recognised as bestpractice nationally and then implement that Group-wide. Consequently, as part of the new IT strategy, each vendor was audited and only the fittest, most innovative, best applications survived. There was a need to reduce the number of suppliers from a management and consistency perspective, remove duplication and get rid of any dated technology.

The objectives were to achieve economies of scale, implement best practice and the very best software solutions available for social housing.

The Together Housing Group (THG) is a leading provider of quality affordable and modern homes for rent across the North of England. The Group was formed in 2011 by five partner organisations. Collectively the Group manages over 35,000 homes.

Upgrading to Xmbrace V5 was aligned with the organisation’s strategic objectives:

• To provide a service that optimises the productivity of the labour force whilst maximising flexibility of appointments to the customer.

• To organise the workforce into teams that are more easily accessible to demand and that can flexibly respond to variations in demand across the different localities.

In addition, this implementation supported their organisation-wide mobile-working strategy and promised to streamline the creation of 2,000 appointments every single week, with emergencies in addition to this. It allowed the Group to benefit from the advanced reporting in the form of InfoSuite the new dashboard reporting tool.

Key Benefits of DRS 5 DRS 5 is the latest release from Kirona, following on from the hugely successful V4 edition. DRS 5 uses current web technologies and all future developmentby Kirona is based on it, so there is a programme to move V4 users to DRS 5. Xmbrace DRS is the scheduling system in use across much of the socialhousing sector.

Amanda Birtwistle, Module Leader at THG explained: “Having been a DRS V4 user and a fan we made a strategic decision to upgrade the Group to V5 so everyone had the same system and we wanted to take advantage of the new and improved functionality.” She went on to describe the design process. “Getting it right at the design stage is critical,” she added.

“For us, it was important to minimise travel so allowed just a five-mile radius for each technician. We had the option of allowing them to start and finish near their home so we took this approach. Just make sure your starting postcodes are correct.”

When asked about making appointments, Amanda added: “We make 2,000 appointments every week for 195 technicians. We have customer service centre agents based in various locations. DRS 5 ensures that no matter who answers the phone, the best appointment is made reducing travel time and therefore cost to us. There is a simple yet very clever colour-coded system which shows the agent which is the best appointment to offer, on version 4 they would just have been shown available or not. The agent knows to select a green appointment slot when it is offered, followed by a blue (10-20 minutes travel) and finally as a last resort, a yellow slot (over 20 minutes travel required). We also love the quotas. This stops the planners and customer service centre from overfilling diaries and means there is capacity for emergencies which we book in each day when required.”

90 THG have the highest Customer Satisfaction performance on both Gas Servicing and ResponsiveRepairs of the

housing providers audited.

140,00032,000

4,000 voids per year

gas servicing appointments*

repairs

*Includes Chevin which are not appointed

92% rate of first time fix with no need for technician to return.

The ReportingSarah explained, “We are currently in the final stages of implementing the InfoSuite reporting module. We have written our reports and are excited by the visibility the dashboard will give us. We have been very impressed by what we have seen so far.One of the particularly useful features is the ability to see the productivity levels of each technician. We can drill right down by trade, by job, by area. This willgive us actionable insight to make real improvements in our efficiency.”

Customer satisfaction results are provided by an external provider, Leadership Factor have confirmed that THG have the highest repairs and gas servicing satisfaction levels across all of their portfolio of Housing client at 90%. Putting this into context LF carry out detailed satisfaction surveys for over 90 other housing providers and THG are the highest performing in terms of satisfaction on both Gas servicing and Responsive Repairs.

THG aim to deliver all appointments within an average of nine days or fewer, this performance has increased by using the appointment systems and waiting time has reduced as a result of using DRS.

Summary Ian Rumsam, Group Head of Repairs and Maintenance, Together Housing Group said: “Xmbrace DRS 5 has enabled us to advance and seamlessly integrate our IT systems, and fully support our mobile working strategy; it has subsequently delivered a number of key benefits to give us confidence that we are operating in the most efficiency manner. Simple, yet highly effective functionality such as the colour-coded appointment slots means we have great confidence that our resources are being used in the best way. The team can make informed decisions on the data they are presented with. Likewise, the InfoSuite dashboard will transform our knowledge from what we think we know to what we really know about our performance and enable us to make tangible, quantifiable changes that are making a real difference to our costs,allowing us to further invest in our organisation, stock and customers going forward.”

In terms of using the system the views are described as, “very clear and they appear as pop out boxes which saves time from going in and out from the main screen.” Amanda added: “The views help the plannerscomplete their day to day tasks, we’ve set up approximately 50 different views and that makes housekeeping easier. For example, it is easy now to see what follow on materials are required. The technicians are all placed in sectors and this is a bigimprovement on version 4 as that wasn’t soeasy before.”

DRS 5 allows users to set certain SOR codes, so the time allocated to the job will be automatically split between two technicians. THG allocate one job at a time to stop operatives cherry picking their tasks and to drive up optimum efficiency of every resource. Each technician now achieves 6-8 jobs per day depending on the trade.

The ImplementationAs a large IT project was being undertaken, it was imperative that the project was very well managed to ensure minimum disruption to the business. Sarah Dudley, Project Manager at THG explained:

“The upgrade project went very smoothly. We had the added challenge of bringing a lot of our technicians onto mobile working for the first time, and I have to say it all went very well. The technicians are feelingthe benefits of going mobile and are happywith our new systems.”

Speak to usFor more information about Together Housing Group’s project or to discuss any of Kirona’s products and services contact us at info@kirona.com or 01625 585511.

100% jobs are now appointed at the firstpoint of contact with the customer.

90% of appointments are

made and kept since going live with DRS in April 2013.

General enquiries Tel: +44 (0)1625 585511 Email: info@kirona.com

Head Office Kirona Limited, Barrington House, Heyes Lane, Alderley Edge, Cheshire SK9 7LA