Managing over 3,650 properties across Gloucestershire, Severn Vale Housing helps to build strong local communities. A team of nine housing officers manually handles 50 cases per month, using their housing management system.
The challenge
After reviewing its internal processes, a number of improvements were identified for its three housing workflows: Mutual Exchanges, Tenancy Breaches and Safeguarding, to improve the way data was collected and shared across the housing team.
The solution
Manifest worked closely with Severn Vale Housing’s staff to establish their requirements before proposing a comprehensive solution utilising a range of customisation and bespoke development features of their housing management system, including case management and workflow.
“They understood exactly what we were trying to achieve.”
A standard look and feel was developed for housing cases by creating prototype solutions for Mutual Exchange, Safeguarding and Tenancy Breach case types. Tasks and workflows were defined to be executed during the lifetime of the case, with all customer contact recorded, plus statuses and outcomes.
Julia Griffiths, Housing Team Manager at Severn Vale Housing says: “Working with Manifest was great. They made it so easy to have honest conversations with them and they understood exactly what we were trying to achieve.”
Manifest’s Lead Developer, Ellen Humphries adds; “We recommended basing the solution in case management as it’s a great way of creating a virtual case file – a single wrapper around the whole case with the ability for housing officers to record tasks they carry out.”
The results
The new, improved housing workflow solution means the housing systems are being used to their full potential, providing peace of mind that cases are in progress as all information is more streamlined and transparent. A countdown timer also counts down to Mutual Exchange deadlines.
Julia continues; “The previous process was too complicated. It is nice to have everything in one place and there is more visibility of our cases. When I think back to how we were managing these cases before the workflows were in place, the benefits are clear to see.
As Ellen comes from a housing background, we had the added value of her clear understanding of the issues that are specific to our sector.”
If you would like more details or a demonstration, give us a call 0203 797 1012