Housing Associations
Our experience of housing associations has
shown that many are managing 20 or more different business
applications with all the attendant issues of information residing
in data silos. It seems common practice for staff to have to
access multiple systems and either view information piecemeal or
re-enter the same information many times across different
applications. This has also lead to an over-reliance on the use of
spreadsheets to hold consolidated information which often threatens
the integrity of the data.
We have also seen a shift away from the
expectation that the housing management system is the centre of all
focus, as this tends to have an over-reliance on putting the
property asset at the heart of the business and this dominates the
business systems architecture.
Instead, we have seen a big increase in the
use of Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) systems that focus on the people the
association interacts with, be it the tenant, landlord,
stakeholder, local authority etc. and the use of CRM creates a
shared 360 degree view of all their client communications and
data.
There has also been a strong move into
eProcurement systems, also known as Spend Control. Many organisations have
sought to reduce costs and eliminate maverick spend by controlling
commitments, rationalising suppliers and devolving purchasing
responsibility away from the core finance team into the hands of
authorised users.
Another key area is that of the financial
accounting and reporting system. These applications should enable
organisations to maintain financial control and to provide
managers, trustees and regulatory bodies with the information they
require in order to assess how well the organisation is performing.
Organisations need systems that allow you to capture raw financial
data accurately with the minimum amount of administrative overhead,
record it in a way that enables meaningful analysis, and report on
it quickly and easily. Our clients typically
use SunSystems as their financial and
reporting platform.
The overall ideal systems and solution
architecture for Housing Associations would now appear to be in
line with the model below (see diagram).
In this model, the main supporting ‘pillars’
are formed by the Finance and Reporting, CRM & Housing
Management, and eProcurement applications that sit alongside each
other. These are integrated together, drawing from a common set of
SQL databases for ease of data flow and access.
More importantly, information is being presented to the user
via familiar tools such as Microsoft Office or Outlook, or via a
single layer such as an intranet provided by Microsoft
SharePoint.
The main benefits of this model are:
- Enhanced visibility and ease of access to
critical information at the centre of the organisation
- Elimination of duplication
of data and provide a single source of information
- Integration of finance systems
with a wide variety of other line-of-business applications such as
CRM, eProcurement and Business Intelligence
Powerful reporting and analytics capabilities that provide
meaningful and valuable information to the right people at the
right time via a familiar interface, enabling them to make better
decisions and to serve their customer more effectively.