South Liverpool Housing Group

South Liverpool Housing Group leapt from a zero star rating with uncertain prospects for imprvement to two stars with promising prospets. Interact has contributed to this success and acts as the hub of information and communication for the Group.

The Organisation

In October 1999 approx 4,000 homes were transferred from Liverpool City Council to South Liverpool Housing. SLH Group is helping to transform the area through major investment, pioneering partnerships and by placing the community at the heart of everything they do. SLH Group comprises:

South Liverpool Housing – the group parent, a non-charitable company limited by guarantee and a Housing Association registered with and regulated by the Housing Corporation. The primary activity of SLH is housing and property management.

South Liverpool Regeneration – a charitable industrial and provident society concerned with wider economic, social and environmental improvements.

“Compared to other solutions we reviewed, Interact offered the most comprehensive range of features with the core software. Furthermore, the plug-in business application modules were by far the most sophisticated whilst being easy to use and enable us to add functionality to our Intranet in a phased approach.

Interact has had a very positive impact on our organisation, improving communication and streamlining processes”

Colin Arnold, Head of ICT, South Liverpool Housing Group

The Challenge

Following an Audit Commission Inspection in 2004 SLH was given a rating of zero stars with ‘uncertain prospects for improvement’. This assessment was received against a backdrop of rumours of mergers and lead to a lack of stability, a poor reputation and low staff morale.

As part of their drive for improvement SLH recognised that they needed to improve internal communication, as well as improve company processes and achieve cost reductions, if they were going to turn the organisation around. They recognised the value that an effective Intranet could have in helping them achieve these objectives.

Prior to implementing Interact, all of SLH’s company information was stored on network drives. This resulted in the following problems:

Many files were duplicated across team and individual drives
No search facility so documents and files were difficult to find
No means of document version control

SLH used a lot of paper based process systems e.g. annual leave request forms. This was time consuming and inefficient. The organisation had a printed telephone directory for staff members and key contacts which required regular updates and reprints – another time consuming process resulting in high printing costs.

The Objective

SLH needed to implement an intranet solution which would:

Centralise procedure and policy documentation
Improve internal communications
Improve company processes
Minimise duplication and reduce costs

SLH took a judicious approach to planning their Intranet project and went through a number of key stages before deciding on the best solution.

Planning:
- They created a project team and encouraged total participation from team members
- Designated intranet champions in each department
- Held regular project team meetings

Research:
Invited different suppliers to demonstrate their intranet solutions and created a scoring mechanism based on:
1. Intranet features
2. Ease of use
3. Screen presentation
4. Capital outlay
5. Maintenance costs
6. Recommendation from other customers

Shortlisted Suppliers:
- Created a shortlist of intranet solutions
- Reviewed customer recommendations
- Re-examined technology, costs and ease of use of proposed solution

The Solution

Following this comprehensive research, SLH decided that Interact would be the best intranet solution for their needs and it scored highest against the strict criteria specified above. They also felt that there was added value in using a supplier who offered a partnership approach rather than acting merely as software vendors.

South Liverpool housing recognised that in order for their Intranet to be a complete success and engage users they needed to get staff buy-in and continue to develop their Intranet. They have achieved this in a number of ways:

Delegating content management to their intranet champions
Effective training
Before launching their Intranet SLH held weekly editing afternoons where department representatives got together to discuss and add content to the Intranet
Held a competition to name the intranet – with an iPod for the winner – and branded their intranet ‘The Grapevine’ (put in grapevine screenshot here)
Organised a launch event where all staff were introduced to the Intranet and shown how to use it
They hold quarterly review meetings with Intranet Champions – this ensures that the intranet is kept fresh and up to date
Regularly introduce new applications after launch – this prevents the intranet becoming stagnant and ensures staff keep using it.

Key Benefits

Improved communication - Provides staff with a ‘one stop shop’ for company and departmental information. This was particularly important leading up to and during the audit inspection.

Improved workflow – the Absence Manager module has enabled SLH to streamline this key HR function resulting in a massively reduced workload for the HR team.

Improved document management – All SLH policies and procedures are now managed centrally and accessible via the Intranet. Users always have access to the latest information.

Improved morale – as well as the more functional, business specific applications, SLH have incorporated ‘softer’ features, to pull users into the intranet. They have implemented the Football Challenge application and run regular competitions and announce winners on the Intranet.