Manifest Software Solutions is using its Universal Adapter to streamline invoicing processing for Clanmil Housing and its maintenance contractor Connect Transform Sustain (CTS) in Northern Ireland.
Prior the implementation of Manifest’s software, there was only limited integration between CTS and Clanmil’s IT systems; CTS had Totalmobile’s repair scheduling software and Clanmil used Civica Cx.
CTS invoices are submitted to Clanmil via email attachments, and this couldn’t be changed. The challenge was therefore to convert the emails into electronic invoices. Further challenges included handling multiple VAT rates, such as the zero rate of VAT for disabled adaptions and the responsive repairs rate of 20 per cent, and each invoice had to be correctly addressed to the correct Clanmil Group company.
The entire integration needed to be completed within four months. To meet the tight timescale, Manifest built the bespoke integration using its Universal Adapter integration framework combined with its knowledge of housing repairs.
Alan Swift, managing director, Manifest Software Solutions, said, “We successfully delivered this project within the tight timescales because all of our technical implementation staff have extensive housing IT experience.”
The project enabled job completions to be sent to Universal Adapter to process statements and to automatically produce invoices. Universal Adapter also updates Totalmobile with the latest status of the order which gives CTS the ability to view the status of orders such as ‘awaiting authorisation’ or ‘rejection’.
On completion of each job in Totalmobile, Universal Adapter notifies Clanmil that the work is done (Totalmobile tells Universal Adapter that the job is complete which then updates the job status in Civica Cx), variation requests are sent to Clanmil, and variations are then claimed by the interfaces after the operative has finished the job.
Clanmil can now email a statement containing a unique reference and a list of all jobs which can be invoiced. Universal Adapter automatically produces a PDF invoice which is emailed to Clanmil.
Joel Caldwell, IT systems manager, CTS, said, “The integration has been successful, enabling faster processes and better data insights, helping to cut unnecessary costs and providing greater clarity and structure for us and Clanmil.
“Manifest is responsive and has worked rapidly to tight timeframes. Manifest is incredibly reasonable from a cost perspective and has been a pleasure to work with – nothing is outside its realms of possibility.”
Lynsey Grant, programme and projects manager, Clanmil Housing, said, “The initial phase of the project automated the sending of repair orders to CTS and streamlined the invoicing process, saving time from an administrative perspective. Manifest has continued to work with us and CTS to make further improvements, including extending the integration into a more collaborative tool, providing automated triggers and alerts.”
