Housing Information and Advice software
What do we need to consider?
Where do we start from? Existing software systems incompatible Internet – poorly maintained Intranet – poor relation Incomplete electronic and paper manuals Inconsistent staff training No process planning Partner agencies add complexity
What results from this?
Duplication of effort Lack of credibility & sustainability Staff confusion about ‘authenticity’ Silo-working mentality No advice ‘backbone’ for staff Poor quality of public advice
What do we want?
Good advice, delivered by confident, well supported staff
Quick access to information, for staff Easy public access to Housing Options Public should be encouraged to self-refer All types of housing advice must be made
available in varied formats from a single source
...but first
Decide how we want to help people Do we need to insist on face-to-face contact? Or does a lack of resources prohibit this? How important is self-help and what are the
dangers? How much of what kind of advice, delivered
in what way?
Practical considerations
How will we ensure advice is up to date? Do we have the staff resources to maintain it? If advice is given in different formats (e.g.
Internet, leaflets, staff manuals) how do we keep them synchronised and ...
...avoid inconsistency Finally – not all LA’s have the same advice
requirements– so how can we harmonise?
ELC Preferred Model
Housing Information and Advice
database
Full Advice Procedure Manual for advisors
and others
Self-advising material at ELC
Sites
Self-advising material on ELC
website
Pdfs of topics for printing