Integrated Housing & Property Management System (IHPMS)

Description

The core housing management system, Academy has been in place for over 20 years and while various aspects of the system have been upgraded over the years, it remains on an older operating platform. A key function of the housing service is repairs and maintenance which is partially delivered through Academy, E Console and Servitor. Migrating these to one system would reduce costs, improve service and consolidate reporting. The current Academy system will reach end of life in December 2023 and requires to be upgraded to a cloud based software system to allow the Council to operate their Housing management systems effectively. Since the last iteration of this project, these platforms now pose a security risk to the Council as they are hosted on obsolete Operating Systems that are no longer supported or patched by suppliers such as Microsoft. These have also been identified as a risk as part of the Council’s cyber security review. Future development of Academy has ceased. Capita ‘Open Housing’ system which replaced Academy, has now in itself been replaced by Capita’s latest solution ‘One Housing’. A key function of the housing service is repairs and maintenance which is partially delivered through Academy, E Console and Servitor. Migrating these to one system would reduce costs, improve service and consolidate reporting. The Council has a number of other systems, in addition to these which provide functionality that sit out with Academy. As well as establishing a more up to date platform to support current and future business needs and the transition towards a more digitally connected customer base, the level of ongoing system administration and support and potential gains in business efficiency have been highlighted as key drivers for change. A further element of the scope is to assess the capacity and functionality of potential replacement systems to be able to deliver the business requirements of the Estates service in managing the Council’s property and land asset portfolio and related services. In summary, this project aims to address the current age and consequential limitations of the core housing management and property systems, enabling the service to provide the most efficient and effective way of delivering services and meet the Council’s requirements in terms of supporting more modern methods and channels of service delivery. In terms of support requirements, streamlining the number of systems in use to achieve greater efficiency. The procurement was a call off by direct award from the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) RM6194 - Back Office Software Framework, Lot: 1 – Back Office Software. The Framework allows for direct award under the following criteria: - Development of a clear Statement of Requirements. - Apply the direct award criteria to the Suppliers’ catalogues and description of the Deliverables for all Suppliers capable of meeting the Statement of Requirements in order to establish which Supplier provides the most economically advantageous solution. Following a review of the catalogues available in the CCS EMarketplace, it was identified that the catalogues available from Capita Business Services as part of the Capita One Housing system met all off the requirements for the implementation of the new Integrated Housing & Property Management System. It was therefore in the Council’s interest to call off by direct award under the Crown Commercial Service Framework Agreement RM6194 to Capita Business Services for this contract.