With help from Advanced, VIVID looks at how their maintenance operatives are now able to carry out more appointments per day and maximise schedules, by minimising travel time and prioritising issues based on need
VIVID is a Hampshire’s-based provider of affordable homes, managing around 30,000 properties in the South East across Hampshire and Surrey. We have ambitions to build at least 1,200 new homes a year across all tenures, making us a major UK housing association.
A holistic view of our field-based operatives
We have been using the Dynamic Resource Scheduler (DRS) from Advanced for over 10 years within our maintenance and repairs team, to enable them to become more efficient in the way they deliver our services.
The 250-strong workforce now services nearly 30,000 properties, providing responsive maintenance, gas and electrical servicing and repairs and electrical testing over a large geographical area.
Given the scope and scale of work, travel and prioritisation of maintenance issues are essential to ensure available resources are allocated in the most appropriate way.
As a result, we need a holistic view of our field-based operatives to ensure the best service is being provided to customers.
A fully scalable workforce management system
Due to our ambitious plans to expand our property stock annually, we wanted a fully scalable and flexible workforce management system that could meet the demands of a growing organisation and deliver valuable insights into operational efficiency.
We are in the process of centralising our housing management system, having run two concurrently for the last nine months following the merger of First Wessex and Sentinel Housing Association.
Actionable insights to optimise our operations
We chose the current field service management software from Advanced to further empower our operatives. It provides greater visibility of their schedules to help with completion of tasks allocated to them within the assigned time slot.
The latest DRS application ensures that the requirements of each job are met, in addition to delivering benefits to operatives with access to mobile devices and improved time management.
“The system has been easy to navigate, with a user-friendly interface and intuitive functionalities such as pop-up views of engineer schedules and a colour-coded planner to easily identify what stage a job is at”
It also provides customers with greater control over appointments via text reminders, and more flexible appointment scheduling, reducing the risk of wasted or unsuitable timeslots.
Delivering significant productivity improvements
As part of the implementation, we also deployed Advanced’s InfoSuite management information product to complement DRS. It provides actionable insights, enabling the business to further optimise our operations. Our business support team now has real-time visibility of progress and performance information to enable them to react to challenges before customer service is affected.
A first-class repairs service
By implementing this suite of products, our maintenance operatives are able to carry out more appointments per day, and maximise schedules by minimising travel time and prioritising issues based on need. This helps deliver a first-class repairs service to our customers.
Operational productivity has increased by 15 per cent to 77 per cent overall, with operatives carrying out 5.6 jobs per day, up from 4.6 jobs. Void properties and responsive repairs are being turned around in just 9 days – half the original timeline of 18 days.
We have reduced the occurrence of missed appointments by ensuring the best time is offered to the residents, effectively delivering a much better service. As a result of a renewed focus on efficiency gains, we have made savings of £8 million over the last year
Ruth Allan, resource planner at VIVID, said: “It has provided us with a clear and concise method of scheduling, with additional notifications to reduce the number of manually assigned tasks.
“Overall I am impressed with how the system has improved scheduling for our maintenance operatives.”
“From a resource planner perspective, the system has been easy to navigate, with a user-friendly interface and intuitive functionalities such as pop-up views of engineer schedules and a colour-coded planner to easily identify what stage a job is at.”
We are embarking on a mobile working model for housing staff, including neighbourhood managers and tenancy support teams. As part of our future development plans, we will review in what capacity the dynamic scheduling solution can be used to improve other services and maximise allocation of resources.
We absolutely see the value of Advanced’s solutions. Our mobile operatives are required to carry out allocated tasks across a large geographical region, which could be costly and ineffective without dynamic scheduling in place.
The software has transformed the service we offer, and delivered significant productivity improvements. By using this platform, we’re now also in a position to identify areas for improvement and create reactive KPIs through InfoSuite.
Housing Digital Stakeholder Advanced helps organisations create the right digital foundations that drive productivity, insight and innovation – all while remaining safe, secure, and compliant.
Image: Ivan Kruk/Shutterstock
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