Who are MHS?
The mhs homes group manages 9500 homes in the Medway, Maidstone, Gravesham, Dartford, and Tonbridge and Malling areas of Kent.
What challenges were they facing?
After working with E&F Solutions to build a proof of concept (that secured funding for their Dynamics 365 business case) mhs were keen to deploy dynamics to help customers in their supported accommodation. The team looking after these customers faced several challenges including:
- Storing detail on a variety of spreadsheets
- Printing a large amount of paperwork for initial tenancy sign ups and customer visits
- Difficulty tracking and reporting on all the great work they did with customers
- The amount of time being spent completing paperwork
How did E&F Solutions help?
E&F Solutions worked in partnership with the mhs technology and Supported Housing team. This involved working together to understand the business process and then creating a Microsoft Dynamics 365 solution that enabled the Supported Housing team to go digital. We worked tirelessly to bring the Supported team along with us, enabling us to meet their business need and provide a product they felt they owned. The project also included joining forces to enable data from the housing management system to flow to and from Dataverse. This supported the rest of the applications team who were developing a variety of PowerApps to help streamline general needs processes. The partnership approach embedded E&F Solutions into the Technology team and contrasted with the more traditional approach of handing work over to the supplier (although that was always an option if the mhs team needed to)
Any bumps in the road?
The quantity and quality of the data was a challenge…we needed to ensure Dynamics reflected what was in the housing management system but also future proof so that mhs could continue building Dynamics and PowerApps moving forward. We worked closely with the brilliant internal team who gathered the data, created the integration between the housing management system and dataverse and linked Customers, tenancy, and properties. .
The results
- Several key processes digitalised – including Needs & Risk Assessments, Support Logs, Contact forms.
- All actions logged and tracked through to completion.
- Ability to view the contact that’s been had with customers in supported accommodation.
- 30 minute reduction in the time taken to complete a Needs & Risk Assessment
- Reduction in paperwork printed – freeing up time for customer visits
“Chris was very easy to work with, and the process of learning and building at the same time was a great way to work. He has been very patient with us and is responsive to any queries raised. ”
Toni Dickinson, ICT Business Applications Manager