The background
Ashfield Homes was set up by Ashfield District Council as an Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO) in April 2002 to manage, maintain and improve 7,300 properties.
The challenge
The inspection identified areas where Ashfield needed to improve its delivery of housing and services to citizens. One of the key findings from the Audit Commission was that customer service suffered as a result of disparate IT systems. This was a result of inheriting legacy systems. Customer information was scattered across departments.
The solution
In 2003 Ashfield issued a tender for a housing management solution which would provide a central and integrated system for its 200 staff to access housing information. Following the tender selection process,Ashfield took the decision to award the contract to IBS OPENSystems in 2004. Ashfield selected the OPENFinancials, OPENHousing and OPENContractor modules to cover its business areas: finance, housing and repair services.
The results
Setting up an integrated IT solution has enabled Ashfield to receive top recognition from the Audit Commission. Following an inspection in 2005,Ashfield was awarded with an “excellent” three-star service rating.
The future
Ashfield’s next plans are to provide its workforce with a mobile working solution. It’s estate management team need to conduct site visits and carry out repairs on housing for its tenants.
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