OPENHousing

Working in partnership with you to build a stronger housing future

• Core Person and Property Database

  

  OPENHousing uses a core person and property database. Information about a person or properties is updated automatically from wherever it originates within the OPENHousing product portfolio.

  - NROSH compliant
  - Real-time auditing
  - Computer Telephony Integration (CTI)
  - Integration with Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

• Loyalty Schemes

  

  Caters for tenants’ rewards schemes in operation at social housing sites, also known as Gold Schemes, Star Clubs, Advantage and Just Rewards. Rewards schemes aim to improve housing management services, resident and staff satisfaction, and change negative tenant behaviour to benefit the whole community and to achieve the following goals.

  - Reduces rent arrears
  - Reduces property turnover and improve re-let times
  - Increases speed of repair responses
  - Reduces management costs
  - Enables recognition of “good tenants”

• Void Management

  

  Allows each organisation to reduce void periods and increase the details held about void processes. A detailed void history is maintained with target dates for completion of each void stage.

  - Void Paths, Void Status and Void Sub-Status to monitor void works
  - Automatic job logging
  - Monitoring of keys
  - Void loss calculated automatically

• Waiting Lists and Allocations

  

  Reduces the time spent creating applications, offers and matching procedures. The system holds an unlimited number of waiting lists and caters for choice-based lettings as well as points based lists, time based lists, and common lists.

  - Choice-based lettings
  - Waiting lists and pointing schemes
  - Ability to match person to property or property to person
  - Common registers and nominations
  - Mutual exchange partnership/suggestion
  - CORE/SCORE Digital
  - Fully integrated with OPENMobile

• Choice-based Lettings

  

  Allows you to advertise vacant properties on the Internet. Applicants can complete applications, view properties and register an interest in a property online. They can also use SMS to register interest in a property or to be notified of potentially suitable dwellings.

  The system can match applicants to properties, produce shortlists and offers, and allocate properties.

  - Vacant properties advertised on the internet
  - Register an interest for multiple properties
  - Online application
  - SMSTexting

• Homelessness

  

  Manage homelessness enquiries, accommodation and private lodgings easily.

  - Enquiry management
  - Links to waiting lists
  - Allocations and PSH
  - Homelessness and housing
  - Advice
  - Statutory returns

• Private Sector Housing and Temporary Accommodation

  

  Monitor and control the allocation of client accommodation, in either your own stock or private accommodation.

   

  Fully integrated into the Homeless and Allocations modules, you can ensure visibility of a person, their debt, arrears and where they are and where they have been accommodated, monitor and control money owed to the landlord for accommodating the client. Includes landlord credits even if the property is vacant due to agreements set between the landlord and the authority. Deals with all types of accommodation and providers – from static private landlord lets with long-term agreements to B&B and hostel accommodation with short term agreements with the landlords.

  - Quick and easy set up of accommodation units and void stock management
  - Creation of PSH applications, offers and accounts
  - Detailed landlord and supplier information including rolling agreements, payment calculation and finance
  - Ability to highlight accommodation units as pre-credited or priority let
  - Fully integrated with Homeless and Allocations
  - Historical address and accommodation information for P1E return compliance
  - Direct advanced criteria matching directly, including special facilities and areas by client or property
  - Full account and arrears management including automatic receipt of housing benefit
  - Inventory and storage details and charges

• Home Ownership

  

  Manages home ownership schemes including shared ownership, key workers and Homebuy.

  - Customer-defined application screens
  - Income and disposable income calculation
  - Advertising of properties over the Internet
  - Back office calculation of Staircasing

• Right to Buy

  

  Monitors all stages of the right to buy process.

  - Rent account information defaulted into application
  - Warning of approaching key dates
  - Automatic update to repairs

• Rent Accounting and Arrears

  

  An easy to use, fully functional rent accounting and administration system. Charges are stored against the location, tenancy or person and are linked to user-defined sub-accounting and arrangement systems. An integral cash receipting facility allows cash to be posted to accounts interactively and in batches. Payments can be defined by tenancy, types of payment or as sundry debts.

  - Arrears progression and regression mechanism
  - Sub-accounting including sundry debts with sophisticated income allocation
  - Integration with scheme based service accounting
  - Direct debits/AUDDIS
  - Cash receipting
  - Fully integrated with OPENMobile

• Service Charges

  

  Calculate charges for a variety of scenarios. The calculations can be modelled in Microsoft Excel via DDE before being applied directly to location charges.

  - Seamlessly integrates with OPENFinancials
  - Works with Estimates and Actuals
  - Apportionment via user-defined parameters
  - Charges can be held in summary or detailed form
  - Surplus and deficit calculations
  - Calculates of administrative costs

• Factoring/Leaseholder Service Charges

  

  Developed to address the needs of Scottish housing organisations to manage factored owners and leaseholders and further enhanced for the standard processing of leaseholders. Helps users manage apportioned common repairs and fixed charges and their billing.

  - Flexible construction of the property hierarchy
  - User-defined charges
  - Invoice production
  - Online arrears processing

• Supporting People

  

  Capita Support: Supporting People, supporting communities, supporting you

   

  A single assessment. A seamless referral. One single register to match, monitor and meet the support needs of your service users...

   

  Developed in response to the Government’s Supporting People (SP) initiative, this software solution is dedicated to the needs of organisations providing support and care for tenants or residents. It allows SP3 information to be monitored and maintained and can be used in a variety of ways by both commissioners and providers of SP services.

   

  Through working in close partnerships with local authorities, and care and support sectors, Capita has unrivalled knowledge of and experience in the public sector. We take the time to understand the needs and challenges faced everyday by Supporting People services commissioners and providers. With this insight, we’ve developed Capita Support: an innovative software application dedicated precisely to managing and providing for the needs of the Supporting People agenda.

   

  Key benefits of implementing Capita Support
  - Easier, more effective and efficient access to services for clients
  - Outcomes improved to clients – reduces time taken to assess and refer client from 3 days to 3 hours
  - Reduces number of clients and time spent on waiting list
  - Eliminates duplication and significantly reduces administration time
  - Reduces the number of times clients have to give their details and tell their story
  - Improves access to and transparency of records by all parties (commissioner, provider, client)
  - Improves value for money with increased transparency on clients assessed and referred to services
  - Improves standardisation and increases accuracy of delivery of support services by your organisation/to your communities
  - Faster referral to placement turnaround
  - Increased reporting for the commissioner, providers and agencies
  - Improves homelessness prevention
  - Continual development of application to ensure precise meeting of sector and legislative needs.

   

  Capita recently completed a “Realisation of Investment” study of a selection of local authorities and social housing organisations using Capita Support throughout the UK.  It has been estimated that an organisation using Capita Support can deliver:
  - Savings in excess of £400,000 per year, based on a case load of 1800 per annum – that’s £251 per referral
  - Savings of £56,000 per year could be achieved in just completing referral documents
  - Savings of 50% of the cost and time taken to undertake repeat referrals.

   

  Calculate the savings for yourself with our Supporting People interactive ROI calculator
  - Referrals process calculator
  - Form completion calculator
  - Repeat referrals calculator
  

   

  Visit Capita Support's dedicated webpages

• Responsive Repairs

  

  Allows repairs to be logged as quickly as possible and monitored through to final invoicing. Full job history is available for all properties. Comprehensive commitment processing allows the user to drill down from ledger codes to individual jobs.

  - Tenant satisfaction surveys
  - Full integration with Planned Maintenance, Asbestos and Servicing
  - Automatic update of property components
  - Fully integrated with OPENContractor and OPENMobile
  - Health and safety
  - Care and repair

• Planned Maintenance

  

  Administers all types of planned maintenance - including cyclical work, servicing, refurbishment and major projects.

  - Automatic update of components
  - Retention monitoring
  - Interim certificates
  - Tender management
  - Stock condition and life cycle costing
  - Contract management
  - Fully integrated with OPENMobile

• Asbestos

  

  Follows the mandates of MDHS100 and HSG227 legislation and provides a database to store asbestos information. Offers import and export routines to stand-alone specialist asbestos packages for organisations requiring full risk analysis and detailed monitoring.

  - Fully integrated with other OPENHousing modules
  - Issues asbestos warnings at key points in the system
  - Stores comprehensive asbestos data against contractors and properties

• Decent Homes, WHQS, SHQS

  

  Assists each organisation in measuring and monitoring compliance with requirements of the Decent Homes standard. This sets a national benchmark for property condition and comes into effect in 2010.

  - Version available for Scotland and Wales
  - Stores the key criteria determined by Decent Homes
  - Automatically calculates the Decent Homes status of each property

• Servicing

  

  Allows users to generate and track new servicing contracts through their work cycle in line with an organisation’s policies and procedures. Deals with servicing electrical and PAT testing.

  - User-defined servicing schemes
  - Fully integrated with Responsive Repairs
  - Warnings for outstanding gas services

• Development

  

  Allows users to generate and track development schemes through their life cycle in line with your organisation’s policies and procedures. Monitors the progress of each scheme, identifying costs with an automatic link to OPENFinancials.

  - Scheme appraisals
  - Project Management of development projects
  - Automatic links to OPENHousing and OPENFinancials
  - Automatic generation of properties in the property database

• Appointments

  

  Accesses the core people and properties database to ensure comprehensive logging of activities.

  - Ability to create user-defined templates for type, time slots, priorities and escalation paths
  - Records result of appointment
  - Extracts for statistical reporting
  - Maintain individual diaries for capacity planning

• Contact Management

  

  Allows you to streamline and automate the management of ASB complaints and enquiries. Lets users process and channel enquiries to colleagues, update event control and targets. Every communication is recorded, categorised, grouped and progressed automatically to ensure an efficient and successful conclusion.

  - Full ASB processing
  - User-defined event flow and targets
  - Controlled progression of enquiries
  - Fast entry of communication details to ensure that all items are recorded
  - Prompts for action or review
  - Full reporting suit for mandatory statistical returns

• NROSH

  

  Designed to hold NROSH data against locations, you can produce your NROSH returns quickly, easily and in the required XML format to upload to the web site. Download NROSH information to a CSV file and easily update and upload it to keep records up-to-date.

  - NROSH Dictionaries available for mandatory, priority 1 and 2, and all fields
  - Parameter driven to future proof
  - Fully integrated with OPENMobile
  - Schemas to cater for Priority 1 and 2 fields for LA,ALMO and HA returns

• SMS Texting

  

  Add this to your existing OPENHousing system to alert your tenants to arrears or failed arrangements or send appointment details and reminders for servicing or repairs.

  Use texting for Choice-based Letting so tenants can register interest in a property or to market suitable available properties to them (subject to your SMS service provider offering a two-way service).

  SMS texting provides a rapid and economical method of communicating, and is the quickest way to provide information.

  - Immediate and direct
  - Used and accepted by most of your tenants and applicants
  - Economical means of communication
  - Simple add-on to most existing modules

• Customer Contact (Dashboard)

  

  One screen holds all the information your customer facing staff need to deal with an enquiry, whether person or property based. Select a person or place and the dashboard displays contact details, associated tenancies, communications, applications, HB, property details and jobs for the location. Warnings for outstanding Gas Services, Planned Maintenance, Asbestos and Defects are displayed, as are Vulnerable or PV attributes. All other screens are just one click away.

  - Simple single screen display of all main information
  - Right click against each entity for full menu options
  - Can be opened as default screen on log-in
  - Contact detail immediately visible for identity verification, where a password is stored
  - Information presented in a visual, easily assimilated format

• Debt Management

  

  Developed for your arrears officers to allow them to help tenants in arrears to rationalise income and expenditure. This can help you provide debt advice in accordance with guidance from CLG and Audit Commission KLOE.

  Easily enter income and outgoings to calculate excess income over expenditure. Parameterised to allow your staff to show high or excessively high expenditure in non-essential areas, in graphical format, and identifies where debts to loan or credit card companies are excessive.

  - Print off analysis for tenant
  - Link directly to Arrangements
  - Quick and easy income/expenditure calculation
  - Identify excess expenditure and potential fuel poverty

• Customer Profiling

  

  Developed so social housing providers can create random surveys to meet NHF requirements. Survey produced in tenant’s chosen medium - letter, phone, email or online for customers using OPENAccess.

  Master Query enables surveys to be targeted at locally defined groups. Full range of question types available to allow customised surveys to be created. The reporting suite includes both management and BVPI reporting.

  - Random production to conform to NHF requirements
  - Range of output/input to your tenants’ preferences
  - Integration with Workflow for ease of input
  - Prepared survey available in NHF format (4NA & 4NB) if needed
  - Simple selection for local surveys to target specific groups, for example tenants by age

• Call Scripting

  

  Direct the format and questions to use when answering or making calls. The module enables quick progression of questions and the ability to jump to unrelated questions or to a different call type - if the nature of the call changes.

  The screen is designed to be user-driven with purpose written commands or buttons to link to any OPENHousing window. This allows you to access information or to make changes without moving away from the script.

  During a call, the operator can ask the caller to take part in a customer satisfaction survey and enter the answers directly onscreen. If the call needs to be transferred to another person, all the details entered so far are transferred to the person receiving the call, ensuring a smooth transition between departments.

  If CTI is installed, the call transfer will be automatic. If you don’t have CTI, the system will recognize the recipient’s normal workstation and extension number and suggest that the call is manually transferred to that number. Should an officer use a different workstation, they will be prompted to change their stored extension, and this reverts when they return to their usual desk.
  (Note - Users in organisations with remote desktop networks such as Citrix will be prompted for an  extension number each time they sign on.)

  - Simple process flow design
  - Ensure a friendly, consistent customer-focused approach
  - Full integration with OPENHousing
  - Automatically transfer call details

• EPC - NHER

  

  Submit your EPC registrations directly from OPENHousing via NESone to Landmark. Intuitive drop down validation makes it easy for users to enter the complex data received from EPC surveyors. Download existing EPC information to a .CSV file and easily update and upload to maintain up-to-date records against the property. The ability to print off the completed EPC certificate is offered to provide to the tenant, as required by legislation.

  - Fully integrated with NES and Landmark
  - Drop down intelligent validation
  - Fully integrated with OPENMobile
  - Links directly to the property/location

• Customer Relationship Management

  

  This customer-facing module provides additional CRM functionality and is ideal to record all contact information at a call centre or reception area. Using CTI or our Call Scripting pre-populates a telephone caller’s details. A simple search facility allows the operator to quickly access details for non-telephone contacts. The module is parameterised to enable easy, pre-defined standard contact categories and flexibility is built in to permit non-standard types to be entered in free format.

  - Full integration with our Customer Dashboard, Call Scripting and Contact Management modules
  - Enables details to be passed to other departments
  - Everyday contacts are easily recorded with the outcome, call duration, nature of enquiry and operator, and are readily reportable.
  - Linked calls are also easily identified.
  - A simple integrated solution for all your CRM needs

• Resident Involvement

  

  This module is aimed at identifying residents who are interested in setting policy within your housing organisation, and in participating in workshops, consultation exercise and policy setting.

  The module allows individuals to be flagged for participation in policy setting, and to be invited to meetings. Attendance at these meetings can be measured, along with follow-up invites to subsequent meetings.

  - Flags interest in specific policy areas
  - Initiates invitations to meetings and follow-ons
  - Calculates costs of meetings and attendance
  - Measures policy objectives against outcomes

• Possession Claims Online

  

  Using the Court Services' newest web-based service, Possession Claims Online (PCOL) allows social housing organisations and local authorities to issue online claims for possession for rent arrears. This application has major benefits for social housing providers reducing the overall cost of processing possession claims.

  It eliminates the need to fill out a lengthy paper claim, and allows landlords to track the progress of the claim instead of contacting the court. OPENHousing PCOL enables you to link your data system directly into the PCOL interface to start new claims automatically.

  Reduced administration time and costs also increase your service to 24-hours, delivery further convenience for court users

  - Provides greater access to justice for more people
  - Eliminates need to attend court
  - Cheaper to make a claim than the paper process
  - Eliminates  lengthy paper claims
  - Court fees paid electronically, either by credit/debit card or direct debit
  - Reduces delay as claims are issued immediately

• Asset Management Console

  

  OPENHousing Asset Management Console draws together the fully integrated functions of Stock Condition components, Asbestos, Attributes, Energy efficiency, Health and safety Rating System, NROSH, Property Survey, Void Periods and Warranties into a single, holistic view of property information. It provides users with an un-rivalled view of the operational issues surrounding your key assets.

  Designed to work together, the Console enables accelerated performance with intuitive and rapid information access. Available as single modules, or as an integrated set, the Asset Management solution provides the most comprehensive and intuitive system available today.

  - Visual display of replacement, inspection and other life cycles
  - Data integration into one console screen
  - Integrates all outstanding and completed repairs, whether responsive, planned or cyclical
  - Drills down into detail in each module area
  - Provides graphical re-profiling and scenario planning on-screen

• Warranties and Defects

  

• Servicing – Mobile

  

  If not serviced in time, boilers and space heating appliances will incur financial penalties. In extreme cases, it can mean the difference between life-and death for your tenant. Traditionally, this has been a pen and paper exercise carried out with the risk that if things go wrong there would be severe repercussions.

  OPENHousing Servicing provides you with a system that plans your visits, accompanied by a portable hand-held computer allowing you direct access to the back-office system. This innovative system notifies you if further visits are required, warns of special circumstances about your visit - such as asbestos or dangerous pets - and provides an alert system ensuring the personal safety of staff.

  - Integrates with Responsive and Planned Work modules
  - Captures and stores all statutory information
  - Allows extra information to be held as descriptive attributes
  - Records CP12 data
  - Enables increased staff productivity
  - Reduces need for office visits
  - Eliminates re-keying of data

• Health and Safety Rating System

  

  The Health and Safety Rating module allows you to measure risk within properties in areas such as damp, inflammable items, and to undertake surveys on mobile PDAs to gather the information in the field.

  - Flexible survey options
  - Full integration between mobile and back-office systems
  - Data integration with Decent Homes, Welsh and Scottish Housing Quality Systems
  - All data displays in one screen with filtering for specific data sets.

• E:Core

  

  From April 2010, core data will no longer be supplied through an Access database. Instead, information will be supplied to TNS in the form of text files. The E:Core system includes a standard question set, which can be loaded into OPENHousing, and includes all of the questions for the new return.

  - Standard question set
  - Compatible with Version 8.00 and Version 9.00 of OPENHousing
  - Return of information to TNS

• OPENExec

  

  OPENExec has been designed as a best-of-breed performance monitoring and reporting tool. It provides multi-level data reporting ideal for managers who need a fast, visual method of understanding how their area of the business is performing and how it can develop into the future.

  - Provides managers and team leaders with a real-time interactive view of performance, with graphs and charts of performance in key areas
  - Enables proactive monitoring
  - Empowers individuals to take responsibility for their own performance
  - Drills down to individual records in the back-office

• OPENQuery

  

  OPENQuery is the business intelligence application for the OPENHousing software solution. Roadmaps define the entire OPENHousing database within OPENQuery, and it allows for the definition of any report from any module with modern and flexible reporting functionalities.

  - Provides full colour, graphical reporting
  - Produces any ad hoc report
  - Schedules and publishes all reports to the internet

• MasterQuery

  

  OPENHousing MasterQuery lets users produce ad hoc queries within the system quickly and easily.

  The MasterQuery dashboard interrogates the core database and return reports (in a user-definable layout) of matching records. You don’t have to be a data analyst to get the most from this module: MasterQuery is built so that virtually any data item can be included simply with little effort.

  - Flexible reporting output
  - User-definable layout of query results
  - User-definable ordering of query results
  - Saves and loads queries
  - Saves and loads lists of results
  - Extracts results to file
  - Interactive queries
  - Set-up power queries using Progress™ query language

• OPENAccess (citizen portal)

  

  OPENAccess from OPENHousing has been developed to meet the requirements of delivering integrate and web-enabled solutions. This application provides the electronic delivery of information through the internet and other media, 24 hours a day – 7 days a week.

  Your customers and staff can access information in a manner and at a time to suit them. Customers have the ability to access data directly relating to themselves, or may leave information to be processed. For example, application forms can be requested and completed online, repairs requested and payments made on-line.
  Your staff can access all relevant customer information, ensuring all customer enquiries are dealt with efficiently and efficiently.

  - Fast and simple access to all customers’ key data
  - Reduces data input by staff
  - Reduces number of enquires handled by front desk
  - Improves service delivery
  - Provides online access to available properties
  - Application forms can be completed online

• Contractor Portal

  

  Contractor Portal from OPENHousing allows your various contractor staff to access mark complete the repair jobs assigned to them, all via the internet.  Secure sign-in access allows contractors to see only those jobs that are relevant to them

  - Frees up staff resources to be deployed onto other activities
  - Reduces potential backlog of completions and variations
  - Eliminates the ‘paper chase’ and lengthy phone calls
  - Provides a self-service facility for contractors
  - Enforces financial and contract security with secure access

• SQL

  

  Understanding your business better

  
  Following an extensive period of development and testing, SQL Server is now available as the core technology underpinning the OPENHousing system. Version 11 of OPENHousing is the first certified release to run on the Microsoft SQL Server 2008 database platform.

   

  All of the benefits and features of adopting SQL Server will be available to OPENHousing customers, from SQL reporting and analytic services, to online back-ups and multiple deployment options.

   

  Key benefits of Microsoft SQL Server:

  - Utilises existing SQL resources in your organisation to maximise efficiencies
  - SQL Server skills more readily available to your organisation and operation
  - Supports your staff members’ technical career paths.

   

  OPENHousing writes to and reads from the Microsoft SQL Server database, opening up the SQL database technology to a new generation of OPENHousing customers.

   

  By producing a version of the OPENHousing and OPENContractor products built upon Microsoft SQL Server, we are committed to offering our customers software that complies with the preferred technical direction of their organisations.

   

  With the introduction of the separate business intelligence tool, Capita InSight, we can provide improved reporting capabilities, harnessing the power of Microsoft reporting services. The Microsoft SQL Server application from OPENHousing in conjunction with Capita InSight provides a totally integrated platform for reporting, offering business intelligence, advanced analytics and data mining through:

  - SQL reporting services

  - SQL analytics (combined with a data mining add-in for MS Excel).

   

  Download the OPENContractor SQL datasheet

• Component Accounting

  

  Changes are required to the current practice on asset depreciation in housing associations to meet the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) and comply with the Financial Reporting Standard (FRS) 15, which is due to come into effect in April 2011, for the financial year 2011-2012.

   

  In summary, the new rules state that properties can no longer be depreciated as a single entity, but must be split into tangible assets with their own useful economical life, while retaining a residual value that is effectively the total value of all non-tangible assets within or around the property (e.g. fixtures and fittings).

   

  To meet the new requirements of FRS15, we have developed the OPENHousing Component Accounting module. This will calculate the depreciation on property assets, either in conjunction with the existing Stock Condition module (using data held within Stock Condition) or by extracting information from third-party asset management systems, for the express purpose of calculating asset depreciation, disposal and impairment journals.

   

  Most of the information required is held within the OPENHousing Stock Condition module, using a combination of component types and lifecycles to identify these components, both in terms of cost and useful life, and to make adjustments to the values as they change with time.

   

  See the benefits of Component Accounting and find out more by reading the datasheet.

• Reporting solutions: Capita InSight

  

  Today, as organisations process increasing amounts of data, the challenge is getting the right information to the right people, in the right place and at exactly the right time. The key to making sense of disparate information contained in multiple data systems is to harness a common methodology, thus providing an effective overview of all operations and activities.

   

  Capita InSight sets a new standard for your reporting needs. Whether the need is enterprise reporting with high scale requirements, ad hoc reporting and analysis or sophisticated data mining and discovery, you are provided with a comprehensive, secure and reliable platform delivering rich and powerful access to all of your business data.

   

  Find out more about Capita InSight and read its supporting documentation here.