Testing Times

Philip Egan, one of ReACT’s prolific  consultants, gives an overview of his recent work.

“Hello readers, I’ve got a bit of a mixed bag for you this month. 

The past few weeks have seen a combined workload largely relating to testing, reporting, and data analysis.  I’ll take each one of these elements in turn if I may and explain a little further into the work that I have been carrying out.

Testing

With the ReACT 4 release just around the corner and primary development complete we have been shaking and breaking the application to its core.  The internal testing started by designing and producing detailed test plans to make sure every element of the new application is tested under load, by users of varying security levels.  With the test plan complete and scheduled tasks allocated to various members of the team it was time to start the testing.  We have adopted a phased filtration approach, with the first failed tests being logged and fed back to the development team in one batch.  Once we have a new release with the issues addressed, due by the end of today, we have a second tier testing plan to follow which will entail re-testing the reported issues and following the entire test plan once more to ensure that none of the resolutions cause knock-on effects elsewhere within the application.  During this second phase of testing any issues will be logged and fed back and a similar pattern followed until every element of the application passes all tests under various environments to ensure that we have a sound and solid product ready for implementation from the launch made during our user groups in September.

 Reporting

As my main skill base is related to SQL Server development my primary role within ReACT 4 aside from testing is the design and development of the new reporting suite which we are incorporating into the product.  A large number of our support queries over the past two years and more have largely been caused by confusion over reporting figures and queries regarding why the numbers in one report don’t match up to the numbers in another report.  We have also had a large number of requests from people who like a particular report but would prefer to have the option to filter by the date the case was completed rather than the date the case was received.  To address these key issues we have reduced the reports available within ReACT to 4 primary reports available from the application menu. 

These reports consist of –

1. PIs
2. Satisfaction
3. HouseMark
4. Diversity 

Each report can be filtered by any or all of the following parameters, only the date range is mandatory –

1. Start Date
2. End Date
3. Company
4. Region
5. Area
6. Sub Area
7. Secondary Sub Area
8. Primary Officer
9. Date filter type (Date Received / Date Completed / Survey sent for Satisfaction Report

If further detail is required to investigate the actions / incidents / cases / individuals which make up a reporting figure then that number can be clicked on to drill down to a detailed list showing the makeup of the figure or slice of the pie.

• Any individual’s name can be clicked on to see the profile and history of the cases the individual has been involved in.
• Any case reference can be clicked on to see the case file with the details regarding that particular case.
• We hope and believe that the new reporting suite will be well received by Performance Managers and envisage that these reports will be run on a monthly or quarterly basis with figures produced for your board of directors and published to make like comparisons quarter on quarter and year on year.

Data Analysis

Taking a step away from ReACT 4 for a little while, during the past month I have also been involved in a sideline project working with John Wickenden, Knowledge Manager at HouseMark, to produce a more detailed analysis section of the “ASB Benchmarking Analysis of Results 2010/2011” with particular reference to the makeup of early intervention actions.

Following the kind contribution of datasets from the organisations listed below I developed a set of queries to extract overview data of cases, incidents, and actions from the past reporting year.  This data was collated and passed on to John to interrogate and pattern match to produce results which are now available in the report detailed above.

As I type the HouseMark ASB Benchmarking Conference is taking place down the road in Coventry so hopefully you will have access to the report now if not soon and find the detailed breakdown particularly useful.

The geek inside me particularly enjoyed this project and we hope to embark on a similar project next year and take it to another level with more in-depth analysis in other areas.  Any requirements or feedback on this matter would be appreciated.

Thanks to the following organisations who helped us with this project –

1. Acis Group Limited
2. Adactus Housing Association Limited
3. AmicusHorizon Group
4. Christian Action Housing Association
5. Community Gateway Association
6. East End Community Homes
7. Gateway Housing Association
8. Gloucestershire Housing Association
9. Green Vale Homes
10. Havebury Housing Partnership
11. Irwell Valley Housing Association
12. Newlon Housing Trust
13. NSHousing
14. Pennine Housing 2000
15. Poplar HARCA Limited
16. Severn Vale Housing Society Limited
17. Spitalfields Housing Association Limited
18. The Community Housing Group
19. Tower Hamlets Community Housing Limited
20. Venture Housing Association Limited
21. Westlea Housing Association Limited
22. Wolverhampton Homes

 Thanks for reading

Phil Egan

ReACT’s 2011 Webinar programme

Our free webinar programme is up and running, with the full schedule available on our website and on our forums. For the first time, we are hosting  four exclusive webinars for ReSOLVE users, whilst our ReACT customers can expect a different session every month.

Upcoming webinars include:

 11am on 22nd February: ReACT Risk Assessment

10am on 28th March: ReACT and the ASB Review

11am on 12th April: ReACT HouseMark Uploads

11am on 26th April: ReSOLVE Basic Case Entry (for new users)  

A couple of our delegates have reported problems with firewalls, when they tried to joining webinars in the past. We recommend checking with your IT department the week before the webinar, using GotoWebinar Technical Specifications.

We look forward to seeing you there.

By Natalie Phillips

ReSOLVE Summer Development Progress update

 You may recall from my earlier blog post on  24^th May that I talked about the planned development changes in the ReSOLVE application, to include reports that provide the data required for HouseMark Complaints benchmarking.

As it happens the rota for my blog date has fallen within the same week as the next phase of development for the changes.

The work scheduled for this week is to develop the database and the changes required behind the scenes to include the relevant data for reporting and integrate it into the ReSOLVE application.

Following this week’s work we will then be running various internal tests to make sure that the application is ready to be installed on customer sites.

We expect that the update to be ready for installation from week commencing 9^th August.

Following on from the ReSOLVE release, HouseMark will be activating an automatic upload facility in autumn so that you can upload your benchmarking statistics directly into their website, rather than spend time inputting the figures manually.

For details of costs and to schedule your upgrade please contact the ReACT and ReSOLVE team on 0121 384 2513 and select option 4.

CIH Annual Conference 2010 Review

Kate, Mike and Paul on the ReACT stand at Harrogate

 

by  Mike Blomer  

The social housing world held its annual get together in Harrogate from the 21^st-24^th June with delegates and exhibitors alike speculating about what would be in store for us during the next few years. We had already heard that the TSA would probably fall victim to Government cut backs, that VAT would increase and benefits are to be cut. So with all of this in the background what would conference be like? And would the rumours of the conference leaving Harrogate in favour of Manchester turn out to be true?  

(We now understand that the conference will stay in Harrogate for the next 2 years, with the organisational responsibility moving to the CIH Events Team).  

Matching last year, ReACT shared a stand in Hall A with the Social Landlords Crime and Nuisance Group. This arrangement again proved to be very successful with Kate Hill, Paul Johns and myself ensuring that our part of the stand was staffed at all times. Tuesday morning proved to be the busiest period with the largest number of visitors to the stand over the three days of the event. It was certainly apparent that both delegate and visitor numbers were down on previous years – I will be interested to know the organisers take on this opinion.  

With  threat of cuts in allowances and development funding, we did not expect anti social behaviour to have a particularly high priority – but it did have an airing in the context of deprived communities and David Cameron’s “big society”.  

 The minister was not all that forthcoming. He confirmed that the TSA would be subject to early review (seemingly confirming its demise) and that the housing function of the Local Government Ombudsman could be merged with the Housing Ombudsman Service. In fact he gave a typical politicians address, saying much and giving nothing. We now await the autumn review.  

The social side of the Harrogate Conference was alive and well and, surprisingly for some, dominated by England v Slovenia in the World Cup! Even the conference agenda was temporarily suspended and the game shown live on a big screen in the main hall, with free alcoholic refreshments on offer to the 200 or so watching.  

I was invited by CIH to speak at the Ideas Exchange on “the use of systems for tackling ASB”. Open to exhibition visitors the session was held on all three days. First day there were 20 attending, 18 on day two and on the last day; 22, so it was not overwhelming. But any publicity etc., etc.  

ReACT Team Member Kate Hill, attending Harrogate for the first time said:-  

“Having heard so much about Harrogate my expectations were high and I was a little concerned I might have been let down. To my delight, it truly lived up to all the hype and talk I’d heard; a great buzz surrounded the halls, along with a true reflection of the positive attitudes in the housing industry despite the concerns ahead.   

I’m already looking forward to next year!”

What constitutes a good complaints system?

An informal flexible approach to managing complaints is recommended before moving on to your complaints process.

The procedure should be easy to follow and have as few stages as possible, aiming at completing the internal consideration of the complaint within weeks not months. It is, therefore, imperative that a complaint be escalated through the procedure promptly.

Ordinarily, the complaint should be first considered by a person responsible for the service against which the complaint is made, and whose responsibility is to investigate the claim and give a complete response.

If the complaint is not resolved, the complainant should be asked to give reasons.

Generally, the next stage should involve a manager or person with no functional responsibilities directly relevant to the service that is the subject of the complaint. The job at this stage is to check how the complaint was handled at first stage in the light of the reasons given by the complainant, and to see whether the matter could have been handled better – and, if so, whether the outcome should be different.

If the complaint remains unresolved, it should be considered by an independent panel as soon as possible within the organisation. Ideally, the panel should not be totally or mostly formed by salaried staff. The role of the panel is to review that:

• The procedure was followed,
• The complaint was dealt with as formulated by the complainant (or her/his authorised representative), and
• If a remedy was offered or actioned, it was proportional to the complainant.

Take a positive approach to complaints

You may want to encourage your tenants to give you feedback about the services you provide. Compliments are nice, but complaints can offer an invaluable early warning signal. They can alert you to problems before they get much worse and can also help you demonstrate that even when things go wrong you are able to act proactively. They can give you a good opportunity to build trust and understanding with your tenants. Even when complaints are not justified, they can still offer you the chance to manage the expectations and perceptions of your tenants more effectively.

Keep good records

There is no need to document every single item of information in the course of dealing with a complaint. What is important is to leave a comprehensive and clear trail of the key decisions and who made them, a good chronology, and adequate references to documents and evidence used to inform the case.

A well administered case file will help you, your colleagues who might have to review the case after you, the Ombudsman if he gets involved – and, above all, the complainant.

(All extracts were taken from the HouseMark Complaints guide produced in partnership with the Housing Ombudsman Service, January 2010)

ReSOLVE has been designed exclusively for social housing landlords who need a cost-effective, easy way to record and manage general complaints.

For more information on ReSOLVE please visit www.resolve-complaints.co.uk

ReSOLVE summer development

It’s not all about anti-social behaviour here in ReACT towers; we also have the ReSOLVE application which offers a way in which organisations can log and monitor general complaints about the service provided.

My current project in the product management aspects of my role is to analyse the HouseMark General Complaints Benchmarking Guidance manual and translate that into the required changes for the ReSOLVE application.

Incorporating these changes will not only keep ReSOLVE at the forefront of logging complaints and the related procedures within the housing world but it will also mean that any users reporting to HouseMark General Complaints benchmarking system will have a report providing all of the relevant data fully labelled ready to be inputted into the HouseMark website.

Things won’t be staying there, oh no sirree, during the following phase we will integrate a short routine which will import your benchmarking statistics directly into the HouseMark website.

So what amendments to the software will we be introducing to meet these requirements?

These are the following key development changes…

1. A “Service request” flag per complaint will be available so that an organisation can segregate between complaints and requests for service.
2. Cases can be categorised and reported upon based on resolution types such as “Upheld”, “Not Upheld”, and “Partially Upheld”.
3. A fully configurable “Service area” list will be available so that an organisation can analyse and report upon complaints within key service areas of the business such as “Allocation”, “Repairs and Maintenance”, and “Housing Support Services”.
4. A “HouseMark General Complaints Benchmarking Preview Report” will be available within the ReSOLVE application so that each and every one of the performance indicators within the guidance manual can be reported upon by any date range so not only is it useful for HouseMark benchmarking it is also perfect for internal KPI reporting.
5. A “HouseMark General Complaints Benchmarking Upload” facility will allow all indicators to be uploaded directly from within the ReSOLVE application to prevent vast volumes of work in terms of collecting the data and then entering it into the HouseMark website.

As well as the changes introduced to tie in with HouseMark Benchmarking we also introducing some changes to greatly improve the efficiency of logging complaints and escalating complaints to closure to give staff more time to deal with complaints and less time spent logging the complaints.  These changes include the following…

1. A rapid case entry screen which allows complaints to be logged from within one screen, and straightforward “Expressions of dissatisfaction” / “Service requests” / “Compliments” can be logged and closed within the same screen.
2. An “Escalate” button will be available within the action page so that if a complaint needs to escalate to the next stage it can be escalated and the subsequent actions will automatically be created from a single button click.

The next release of ReSOLVE will incorporate the above features and is currently in the design and specification stage.  Development and testing will take place over the summer months. We will be publicizing the release date on the blog and letting customers know, via their account manager.

To find out more about ReSOLVE, please visit our product page, or request a brochure.

Are you up to speed with your ‘Local Deal’?

Local standards are a high priority for many of us in the housing world at the moment. As a result, I have looked through HouseMarks’ recent revised guide for tenants and landlords on “How to develop and monitor local performances”.

As I visit new and existing customers, it is becoming clear that the TSA is looking for organisations to offer more specialist, local services to meet local needs. The report gives advice for those engaged in the ‘local deal’ about how to meet and reach the local standards set by individual organisations. They aren’t looking for housing associations to begin again, but are asking for a structure built on what already exists; adapting working methods and making use of customer consultations to empower local communities.

Take a look for yourselves and get some useful tips to support your local strategy going forward.

http://www.housemark.co.uk/hmresour.nsf/lookup/PIGuide.pdf/$File/PIGuide.pdf