Adullam Homes has begun to deploy the mobile version of OmniLedger’s Pyramid solution to housing, maintenance and support staff. As part of the implementation programme, one of Adullam’s support workers logged her working day to get an idea of the possible savings; this is what she found:
At home: check that my device is charged up and is updated. First visit is in Bakewell to help a tenant applying for PIP. The first use of my device is to check the phone number and address of the tenant to put on the form; then make a call to make an appointment for blood tests. Finish the form, complete the Support Meeting and make notes on the tablet. I then ask the tenant to sign the form as a record of our meeting. This is saved onto the meeting note and passed to the Pyramid back-office system. I then agree an appointment for the next meeting and record this on the Planner on the tablet.
It’s too early for the next meeting so I find a local wi-fi hotspot and use the facilities to complete some notes and make some calls. All my notes and records are automatically passed to and recorded in Pyramid’s client records.
The next visit is to a tenant in a village in the middle of nowhere. I pick up the tenant and take them to the mental health assessment centre and use the car journey for a support meeting. Again, I use the waiting time to update notes onto Pyramid, make calls to other service users and partner organisations, make new appointments, update my Pyramid Action Logs and drop the tenant back home.
The third meeting is a tenancy sign-up in a neighbouring town and again this is processed in Pyramid Mobile and passed back to the main back-office system. At this point I have no signal, but I can work offline, knowing that Pyramid will automatically synchronise my data as soon as I get a signal. The service user has been homeless for nearly six months and has finally been allocated a flat. I continue to make notes as we go along to remind me what she will need help with, such as setting up utilities and getting pre-payment cards. I then arrange a furniture pack from a local YMCA and then drop the service user off.
Time for lunch. All of today’s actions and meeting notes have been automatically updated onto Pyramid and copies are automatically emailed to my Outlook folders.
The fourth meeting is with a service user to pick up a food parcel.
The fifth and final meeting is to drop off the food parcel to a family on the way home; they have no transport and it’s too far for an agency to deliver. I update the action on Pyramid after the drop off and go home.
Miles driven: 67;
Hours taken: 8.5;
Estimated time saved: 2-3 hours.
Adullam Homes has now rolled out more than 40 devices to key staff and is set to deploy a further 20-30 more over the next few months. Other Pyramid modules will be deployed on these devices to allow staff to record incidents, complaints, ASB cases, safeguarding issues and outcome assessments.
Phil Gardiner, operations manager, Adullam Homes, said, “The current usage figures of forms submitted by staff direct onto Pyramid using mobile devices is phenomenal. We can email repairs direct and access personal details, such as rent accounts and tenancy details. We have added other bespoke forms for areas such as health and safety, voids, property inspections and housing benefit.
“This has helped our staff to engage more with tenants and service users as they now have confidence that things are being reported and actioned because they can see what staff are doing there and then. Staff have described using tablets as ‘a real time saver and a real life saver too’. Our staff have now embraced using tablets as simply the normal way of working.”
