Wales & West Housing Association has completed the implementation of K2’s Blackpearl and Smartforms to augment its existing Microsoft Sharepoint capabilities. The software is now being used by over 300 end-users.
Wales & West previously relied on Microsoft SharePoint and several other key IT systems in areas such as housing and repairs, but none of these different technologies were connected to each other. To improve the efficiency of its processes, as part of its plan to find a better way to collect business data, share it across various systems and make it accessible to mobile employees, Wales & West shortlisted two workflow solutions during its selection process.
Gareth Abramczyk, Sharepoint administrator, Wales & West Housing Association, said, “We could see straight away that K2 was easily the most capable and complete solution, but it wasn’t until we received the product training that we realised just how many doors it would open for us.”
The housing provider has since developed six separate business applications using K2 Blackpearl and K2 Smartforms. One particularly useful solution allows mobile employees to access information about historical property repairs while they are doing site visits. Using any web-enabled mobile device, employees can log in, load up a K2 form and enter their enquiry details.
Abramczyk said, “K2 gives employees views of all the data they need, in one place, without having to return to the office and go from one system to another.”
Another mobile solution enables employees to collect data about ad-hoc maintenance jobs in the field. Data is recorded in a K2 Smartform using a mobile device and automatically sent to the relevant back-office systems.
Abramczyk said, “Employees can now do in seconds what might otherwise have taken hours. K2 allows us to pass data safely from what is essentially an insecure web to a secure intranet. It creates an efficient, easy-to-follow process for tenants, while also saving administrative time.”
