Charnwood Neighbourhood Housing has been using Xmbrace’s Opti-Time workforce scheduling system since May 2008, six months after having been set up as an ALMO for Charnwood Borough Council’s 6000 properties.
CNH needed to improve appointment performance and customer care while cutting excessive fuel costs. Furthermore, the Audit Commission identified shortcomings with CNH’s IT services and suggested an appointments system to improve the efficiency of the repairs service. This led to CNH implementing Xmbrace’s Opti-Time dynamic appointment and workforce scheduling system.
Tenants now telephone CNH’s call centre to make an appointment that suits them. Opti-Time then dynamically sorts the repair jobs and allocates them to the most appropriate operatives wirelessly via their PDA, saving time, paper and fuel as the operatives no longer need to drive to the depot to receive their paper worksheets for the day.
After the job has been completed, the repairs operative reports via his PDA that the job is finished and he receives his next assignment, with Opti-Time scheduling the nearest, most qualified operative to the next closest job. Andy Elliot, an electrician at Charnwood Neighbourhood Housing, explained, “I used to be a van driver who occasionally did some electrical work – now I’m an electrician who occasionally has to drive.”
Steve Wilson, director of investment, repairs and regeneration, Charnwood Neighbourhood Housing, said, “The implementation of Opti-Time has seen our performance increase tremendously. Not only is the workforce very pleased with the new system, but also tenant satisfaction has risen from 75 per cent to 99 per cent as more appointments have been made and kept. Furthermore, the time taken to complete repairs has fallen from 23 days to an average of just seven days.”
CNH now offers 100 per cent of responsive repairs by appointment and its repairs and maintenance team is now completing up to two extra jobs per operative each day. Other benefits have included a reduction of fuel usage by more than 1100 litres per month and an increase in staff motivation and morale.
