Leicester City Council has completed the implementation of a new mobile working system from Wheatley Associates. The council manages 22,000 properties and employs over 450 trade operatives.
Wheatley Associates’ browser-based GRASP software, covering appointment booking, work scheduling, tracking and mobile communications, has been integrated with LCC’s existing Capita housing management system for complete synchronisation of the mobile workforce’s work details, including jobs booked, amended or cancelled through the customer call centre and visits made, work carried out and appointments booked in the field. GRASP also links to LCC’s Agresso stores and materials management system to make remote store requests, orders, bookings and usage reports easier to handle.
Ian Craig, head of direct services, Leicester City Council, said, “Achieving the right balance of efficiency and customer satisfaction is a difficult and complex problem which is magnified by the size of our workforce. GRASP is enabling us to drive out inefficiency, improve productivity, scale to our workforce and concentrate on enhancing the experience of our tenants.”
Amrik Singh, planning and major works manager, Leicester City Council, “Planning daily work schedules for such a large mobile workforce and ensuring that the right people with the right skills are on site at the right time isn’t easy. GRASP not only provides us with the basis for planning our work schedules but also enables us to respond dynamically to the changes happening in the field for all our operatives.”
LCC plans to extend the use of mobile software to more than 1,000 mobile workers covering other council departments such as social services and the clerk of works.
