Date published: 16 March 2021
With 32,500 homes, 70,000 customers and an ambitious development target of building 1,500 new homes a year, Stonewater manages mountains of data on its new homes every day.
Data about its developments is managed by Pamwin, software widely used across the public and private housing sector and is then transferred to Stonewater’s housing system, ActiveH, once the scheme is completed.
To date, the transfer has been completed using spreadsheets and lots of manual input from Stonewater’s development team, making it a tedious and time-consuming task – which could result in errors.
This month, the housing association has successfully transformed the process and launched a data integration with ActiveH.
Now, Stonewater’s systems automatically transfer the property details from Pamwin to ActiveH, as well as offering additional enhanced features to support other areas of the business.
Joe DeMeyer, Business Systems Developer at Stonewater, said: “This project hits so many buttons. Because it allows for the seamless transfer of information we can operate much more efficiently. Up till now we have had to input data via CSV files and manual processes, which is time-consuming, duplicates effort and increases the opportunities for error. This approach means there is one single true source of data.”
In addition to automating the data transfer, the system will now also distribute information about any new development to all relevant colleagues.
For example the finance team will receive information on social rent calculations, revenues audit reports and financial services reports including the postal addresses of the new properties.
Meanwhile, for those in housing and asset management, the integration means the automation of asset attributes should reduce the chances of any incorrect asset details being assigned to the property.
For housing management colleagues, the integration minimises the risk of homes not going live on Stonewater’s system in time and any rents being attributed incorrectly.
Holly Edwards, Head of Lettings, commented: “Data is so vital to all the work that we do, especially when it comes to the letting of our homes. It is important that when homes do come up for let all the information is there at our fingertips. The integration provides assurance that our data is timely and accurate, allowing the efficient and accurate re-let of our homes in the future.”
“The benefit for our customers is clear. We can now provide them with a faster, better and more accurate service when they move into and live in one of our new homes.”
Chris McLaughlin, Managing Director of MIS ActiveH Management Systems said: “It’s fantastic to see this integration go live at Stonewater.
“Well-designed integrated systems are key to ensuring that the data held in different systems is accurate and up to date, as well as freeing up staff to spend more time on the things that are important to the organisation. With Stonewater’s ambitious development programme, I’m sure they will start to see the benefits of this integration right away.”
Charles Brooks, Programme Director from 3C Consultants, said: “This was a complex project involving three different parties and the first time Pamwin and MIS had enabled real time integration. Thanks to Stonewater’s commitment to dedicated project resources and strong project governance throughout, the project has been successfully delivered in a timely manner.”
Following the successful launch, Stonewater is already looking at ideas for a second phase of the software’s development including new property documentation, a service charge handover memo and nomination notes.
Project sponsors, Director of IT, Amit Patel and Director of Development (South & West), Matthew Crucefix, said: “This digital transformation has truly created value and added efficiency to services for various stakeholders, by innovating and adapting to rapidly changing circumstances. We are really proud of the team in delivering such an outstanding piece of work.”