Acutance Projects

Work on Asset Management specification, suitable for Microsoft Dynamics D365 use with Techlabs London IPC iPropertyCloud

Following an A2D procurement of a new NEC HMS, acting as a Critical Friend to higher management and ICT during this key project

Guiding my client through an efficient implementation of NEC housing, replacing Castleton MRI Housing

A key FMS procurement for one of Ireland's biggest AHB's

Assistance to prepare MHA to migrate from previous FMS based billing to Homemaster HMS rent accounts

A structured piece of work to examine credible and practical modern HMS options, to existing upgrade path from two legacy OH OpenHousing site systems and determine best options forward.

Work with HomelessLink to review new product offering

Critical Friend

Project working with management and key stakeholders/ICT, in preparation for HMS procurement and replace of Civica UH (Universal Housing)

Work for CEO and ICT/Senior Management, on strategic CRM and data platform choices

Assistance in supplier liaison, data migration, UAT & go-live

Homelessness Prevention solutions review

Critical Friend - Product offerings

Critical Friend, on tap as required remotely or onsite

Following the process of bringing Cheltenham Borough Homes ALMO back into CBH in mid-2024, undertaking a review of Aareon QLX, Versaa, Hydrogen BI (Clearview) and MRI Documotive

Joined the Disruptive Innovators Network, at the Paddington meeting to present on ‘The State of the current Integrated Housing Systems options’

A review of project performance and practical options forward

Work to examine potential marketplace solutions, through team workshops, providing potential successors to Aareon QLX , Promaster and others

Critical Friend during NEC implementation

Guidance in exploring appropriate modern Cloud/Browser options for a complex charity housing, care and other multiple community services provider

Build of requirements and assist with procurement process, compliant with Southern Ireland Irish Republic AHP and Differential Rent requirements

Replacement sought for Paloma WRAPP. Work completed to understand the charity’s requirements, through an analysis of available Cloud and browser options to future-proof the organisation. Omniledger Pyramid 2.0 selected and successfully implemented, within 4 months

Complex project to improve integrations and process, involving FLS, FLS Accuserv, Microsoft Dynamics D365, working with a wide variety of staff, suppliers and FIX360, the YHG DLO Internal contractor team

Soft-market engagement and tender selection of Rubixx HMS for Housing & Financials

New HMS procurement to replace MRI Castleton Kypera Housing

Full report on ICT applications, ICT structure and Repairs Journey review, with recommendations

Onsite workshops in ACHA & AFHA office locations, Helensburgh, Dunoon, Lochgilphead

Detail specification work and assistance to procurement team during COTS procurement of NEC Housing, for client & Contractor areas. Successful framework procurement using CCS

Full review of existing A2D solutions related to Asset Management - IE D365, Civica UH/Universal Housing, PT Property Techtonics Lifespan etc Produced recommendations report, including D365 options, budget costing, timescales etc

Assistance on MIS-AMS ActiveH Assets and Repairs, integrations to Totalmobile Contractor solution

High level planning assistance for internal DLO / internal contractor systems - scheduling, field service, stores/materials

Work to review HMS and improve income and payment processing

40k home provider, looking for alternatives to MRI Orchard and other legacy solutions

A complex project involving OneAdvanced DRS Dynamic Scheduling, a customer services CRM platform, SAP bespoke contractor solution and NEC housing online

5,500 home council landlord in Gloucestershire

Critical Friend for procurement process for scheduling, field service and job management systems

Barking and Dagenham Trade Partnership repairs team work to assist with integration, UAT, rollout and training materials delivery

HMS options review, to replace Civica UH (Universal Housing)

Specification & Procurement support for new care & field service solution

Project in Barnsley South Yorkshire, to review existing bespoke SAP DLO contractor solution and assist in defining detail functionality for procurement of a new internal job management, scheduling, stores and mobile field management solution.

Define detail requirements and assist in procurement, for Cluid one of the largest AHB's in Southern Ireland

System specifications and procurement assistance for new DLO/internal contractor solution, including scheduling & field service

Digital transformation review and Critical Friend assistance to : - Merge two Aareon QLX/QLF databases - Assist in selecting HMS replacement for new group

Recovery of project already 3 years in, original time frame estimated as 18 months

Full review of housing and contractor solutions, including DRS Dynamic Scheduling, Greenock & Port Glasgow, Scotland

NEC Housing systems, review of Applications/ Waiting List systems provision

Initial HMS & contractor solutions review of Anite/Northgate OHMS, followed over Covid lock down by a systems procurement via CCS framework, for new Cloud / Browser solutions

Analysis of contractor systems being added to the RSL, specification and rapid procurement of new DLO systems, including job management, scheduling, van tracking, field service Solution implemented with critical friend help, in only 3 months home

Digital Transformation review

Assisting a 34 home provider to move from manual methods to first housing solution

Work with a HMS/systems supplier, to pre-check an ITT tender, prior for submission. NB: Acutance Consulting have no 'favourite' suppliers, nor commercial relationships taking commission or similar. ACL have worked with suppliers to check tenders where we are not involved in the ITT issue or any other aspect of tender process.

Work to mediate with D365 development partner in CRM development on Microsoft Dynamics

Work to analyses Microsoft Dynamics project add-ins and propose way forward to reduce potential project costs

Project to replace Civica UH (Universal Housing) and Castleton Kypera FMS financial system

Work with supplier to review product changes and wider HMS potential marketplace

Critical Friend work with UK HMS supplier

Work on new digital operating model and review of current HMS/FMS solutions to enable transformative change

Review of lose ends following new system implementation

CCS procurement, followed by Critical Friend support until phase 2 go-live of Capita OneHousing

Leaving Paloma to Homemaster

Creating Safe, Comfortable Homes in London | Notting Hill Genesis

Rectification of an over-running HMS implementation Homes for people to live well

The project at Pierhead Housing (now Prima Group) in Merseyside, involved the take-on of over a thousand de-merged units from Leasowe HA, previously part of Your Housing Group. The project was initially planned to tight timescales and was completed in April 2017. Merge of new data into an existing system is a delicate operation. Acutance Consulting were engaged with responsibility to facilitate the smooth extraction of required data, from YHG Orchard systems and the secure addition of stock into the Pierhead Aareon QL database. This involved much coordination with stakeholders and staff that could extract data to migration requirements, validate & safely load into Pierhead live systems. A full migration plan was drawn up to deal with Rent, Asset, HR and document data, as well as other transitional items, such as smooth hardware and telephony provision, for the Leasowe office. Working closely with Aareon, a data migration package was created, to allow multiple test refreshes to be undertaken independently. Detailed UAT testing signoffs were created to validate the data, how it functioned within Pierhead processes and assurance that no Pierhead data was corrupted. Close to the target go-live date, a full timetable was drawn up, to enable all necessary data to be migrated, loaded, reconciled over weekend, with a smooth Monday go-live.

Review of rural stores DLO management and recommendation of solutions

Soft-market solution analysis for small providers, procure of Castleton Kypera HMS, Critical Friend to a successful go-live. Data conversion & reconciliation

Torus, a new 23,000 home RSL Group in NW England, was formed from a merger of Helena Partnerships and Golden Gates Housing Trust, in Apr15. Tony Smith was engaged to review all group systems in Sep15 and recommend ways forward to procure a unified platform for efficient operation, transformation and future growth. 27 different systems were in use, which is not unusual in merger situations, with potential costs exceeding £4m. Tony had the wide range of skills to contrast, compare and contract analyse existing systems and technology stack, in relation to the current relevant products in the sector marketplace, particularly in respect of risk and potential cost. Initial recommendations were that costs could be reduced by at least 55% and significant potential group-wide efficiency benefits, could be realised. A number of short, intense pre-market engagements were undertaken Using a proven methodology that engaged project staff and end users, while articulating a tight set of requirements to bidders, Acutance Consulting guided Torus through a fast, tight and successful procurement of over 20 modules for Housing, In House Contractor, Finance, Mobile, Self-Service and Document Management, during Jun16. Critical friend support was provided during implementation with the preferred bidder, throughout Spring 2017 and successful go-live as planned in January 2018. Assistance with multiple supplier and partner liaison, project board attendance, data extraction/migration/reconciliation, finance system assistance, digital partner and self-service support, Asset Management, Planned/Cyclical maintenance and assistance with EMT/SMT project updates was provided. Tony Smith drew on his extensive contacts & experience. Around 300 staff and over 120 mobile users were live, on a unified platform of only 7 systems, from the original 27. This project covered the whole procurement journey, from business case inception, right through to effective go-live.

An amalgamation of Helena Partnerships (St Helens) & GGHT (Warrington Golden Gates) formed Torus Group. This required a review of existing Civica & Capita solutions in place, plus several third party solutions. Soft-market exercise undertaken in late 2015 A unified set of detailed system requirements were created and framework procurement undertaken Acutance acted as critical friend during the resulting successful 19 month procurement

Project to replace legacy Civica HMS

A very rewarding project working with the Scottish Council Hub leads, to define detail training requirements LMS delivery, coordinated via North Lanarkshire Council in Motherwell. Final procurement achieved in late 2019, with all councils and agencies in Scotland participating to provide, moderate and make content available for more effective homelessness signposting and prevention

Critical Friend work with MIS-AMS ActiveH Housing Solution

Undertook a full review of case management processes and assisted in set up and implementation within the MIS-AMS ActiveH HMS solution HHP

MIS-AMS ActiveH Critical Friend work

A full review of Impact Housing Association applications and ICT infrastructure

Critical Friend work to collate requirements and assist in procurement

Walsall Housing Group (whg) commissioned a full review of current mobile, scheduling, assets, planned/cyclical maintenance, complete repairs customer journey and reporting. Resulting gaps identified resulting in existing systems applications in this area to be reviewed in detail, in comparison with alternative packages. WHG management decided to move to an OJEU procurement for replacement Contractor and mobile solutions, with rich integration to dynamic scheduling. All 280+ DLO contractor operatives were involved in the procurement to select appropriate devices, improve their ICT skills, full comprehensive design of new processes and detailed training. Union representatives were also consciously involved from a very early stage. This was completed in October 2014, with a preferred supplier. Further assistance to whg will be provided, in order to ensure that the benefits of the implementation are realised as soon and as reliably as practical. Acutance Consulting also worked with whg on a new stores procurement and EDI integration between these two systems, to further realise cost and efficiency improvements, for tenants, trade colleagues and management. whg (Walsall Housing Group)

With the assistance of Tony Smith, Project Brunel enabled Yarlington Housing Group (YHG) to review the HMS marketplace and undertake a full OJEU procurement. The project team were impressed with the refreshing approach taken, and flexibility provided. Within very challenging time-scales, keeping strictly to OJEU timings, 11,000 home YHG were guided successfully through the process. YHG have been assisted where challenges have arose in the project and targeted help has been provided, to smooth out issues and problems, to the satisfaction of customer and supplier. The continuing role of 'Critical Friend' has proven valuable in helping YHG achieve all the aims/outcomes of this complex transformation project.

From February 2013 onwards, any legal & contract constraints, on my work with ActiveH customers expired. A variety of work has been undertaken since, with a wide variety of housing associations and groups, throughout the British Isles, using one or more Active-H HMS modules. This has included process & IT review, training, implementation, procurement, Workflow, BI (Business Intelligence), SQL and other reporting, system overviews, mobile, interfacing and implementation. Inclusive, typical modules; Active Desktop, Rent Accounting, Lettings, CRM / Omfax, Assets, Contacts, EDM, TIPs, Case management, Repairs, Contractors, Planned / Cyclical Maintenance, ledgers / financials etc. All projects completed on target, within budget and completely tailored to customer needs. A number of recommendations from users can be found elsewhere on this profile.

PfH (Procurement For Housing) are specialists in purchasing framework management for social housing and NHS care organisations throughout the UK. This project focused on turning around financial transformation project, to manage millions of pounds of transactions each month more efficiently and provide we portals for customer members and suppliers to interact smoothly. Although based on challenging timescales, a functional specification was quickly produced and from a number of key introductions to bidders, a preferred supplier selected. Further work was carried out during later testing phases and services provided as critical friend to the project.