London housing department gets mobile makeover

A London borough housing department is to get a dramatic IT makeover in 1999.

Hammersmith and Fulham Council will install an integrated data imaging and workflow system and will expand mobile working, in an initiative dubbed The Millennium Project.

Area housing manager Roger O'Sullivan says the project will have radical effect on the way the housing department works. "We don't want to buy a housing management system that reflects how we work now," he said. "We want the public to come into our offices and be seen instantly by officers who have all the information at their fingertips."

He continued: "The system will force staff to follow correct procedures. Right now lots of procedures aren't followed or are followed differently in different offices. This will make offices more generic."

Currently the housing department has several unrelated IT systems for rent accounts, repairs, empty properties, finance, communications and housing benefits. Some areas of the business are still entirely paper-based. The systems have grown up over the last ten years and none of them are integrated.

"We never had a vision of where we want to be in 10 years time," explained O'Sullivan.

Under the Millennium Project, staff would be pushed into services and out of back-office administration. Hot-desking and teleworking are possibilities, with more staff out in the field armed with laptops and handheld computers.

"The staff will be re-skilled to be the cutting edge of housing services," said O'Sullivan, who is working closely with trade unions to ensure a smooth transition. The council would not reveal the level of investment.

A team will spend the next six months researching and outlining the project. The council may look for a partner to complete the scheme on a private finance initiative. The tender will go out in 1999.