EDM Group has completed a project at CityWest Homes to convert the paper tenancy files of its 12,300 tenants into a digital format. CityWest staff now have instant access to tenancy records and information, resulting in improved efficiency and better staff collaboration. The project began in October 2008 and finished in March 2009.
CityWest is an ALMO responsible for managing Westminster City Council’s housing stock. Before the start of the project, CityWest stored all of its paper tenancy records across 16 local estate offices. If a document was needed in one location but stored in another location, the file had to be photocopied and physically sent across. The process of converting these documents into digital format has now made this process redundant.
CityWest has reduced its records from 5.3 million to one million documents, a reduction of 80 per cent. The project has also freed up additional office space for CityWest to incorporate community service departments such as employment advice and voluntary organisations.
EDM completed the back scanning over 5 months. Documents scanned included tenancy agreements, parking permits, storage information, records of complaints and disputes and general tenancy management issues.
EDM managed the transfer of documents from CityWest’s 16 estate offices to EDM’s dedicated scanning facility in Wolverhampton. Here the images were scanned and prepared for exporting onto CityWest’s own network and made available to staff through a secure access point.
Eric Sharpe, interim project manager, CityWest Homes, said, “EDM Group has helped CityWest Homes to implement this project successfully and has allowed us to extend access to key information throughout the organisation in a secure environment. Location will no longer be an issue for our staff and the availability of information across the organisation will greatly improve productivity.”
