As part of the consolidation of its offices into a single, purpose-built headquarters, Clyde Valley Housing Association has abandoned paper and moved to an entirely electronic document and process management system from Documotive.
Clyde Valley’s move to new offices was mirrored by the desire of its chief executive to also institute a cultural change and transform the organisation’s working practices using the latest technology.
Tom Barclay, chief executive, Clyde Valley, said, “By bringing three office into one, the main aim was to improve customer services by offering tenants more privacy when they meet our staff and by providing better access and facilities for clients with special needs. The new HQ will also create a one-stop enquiry point for all customers and reduce the association’s carbon footprint, not least by cutting staff travel between offices.”
Andy McVey, IT manager, Clyde Valley, said, “We identified a number of industry-leading systems that would help us work smarter. The introduction of Documotive’s document and process management system was probably one of the biggest changes in working practice for our staff.”
Clyde Valley had always generated and stored huge amounts of paper, particularly in its housing, finance, development and HR departments, causing both storage and access problems as well as being contrary to Clyde Valley’s new working practices.
McVey added, “There are other limitations to paper-based systems, such as distribution which is a serious consideration when considering mobile working. All of our legacy papers, approximately one million documents, were scanned and uploaded into the Documotive system and our staff now capture inbound documents and update the system in a fraction of the time it took to manage the paper.”
Following the implementation of the Documotive system, any of Clyde Valley’s staff can answer the phone and deal with a tenant’s query as information is immediately accessible and prime documents can be viewed with a click of the mouse. Linda Sneddon, north area team manager, said, “The implementation of the new document management system has allowed the housing staff to access our tenants’ information quickly and easily, without the need to find paper files.”
Alongside the Documotive system, a new Isys time recording and HR management system has been introduced. This also supports holiday requests and allows field-based staff to manage lunchtimes and clocking in and out.
Susan Samson, group accountant, added, “Incoming invoices to the finance department are now scanned into the Documotive system which is integrated with our finance system. This allows managers to access and view invoices directly, reducing paper handling and producing greater efficiencies across the group.”
The Documotive project started in August 2008 and Clyde Valley moved into its new headquarters in April 2009. During the move, the IT infrastructure was only down for four hours.
At the official opening of Clyde Valley’s new headquarters at the end of June, Alex Neil, government minister for housing and communities, said, “Congratulations to Clyde Valley on the completion of its new headquarters with a one-stop enquiry facility, which will ensure staff continue to provide a high level of service to tenants and stakeholders. The association has built over 1200 affordable homes throughout Lanarkshire since its inception and I am pleased to see this process continuing, to provide much-needed quality homes for local people.”
