STREAMLINING COMPLIANCE MANAGEMENT
Propeller’s software is improving efficiency, compliance and reporting for a busy repairs and maintenance team working across hundreds of homes in South Liverpool.
In partnership with Avela Services, Penny Lane Builders delivers repairs and maintenance to thousands of homes in the social rented sector. Known as Avela Home Service, the joint venture carries out the work on behalf of South Liverpool Homes (SLH).
Formed in 1999 following a large-scale voluntary transfer from Liverpool City Council, SLH currently owns and manages approximately 3,850 homes predominantly in Speke and Garston.
Driving efficiency
Responsible for electrical compliance, and gas servicing and maintenance, Avela Home Service was seeking to streamline its approach. A new contract had widened the company’s remit, driving the need for more efficiency and accuracy.
Avela Home Service was already using Propeller’s workforce management software for gas servicing and maintenance and began to explore how it could bring all its compliance requirements into the same system.
“Our overall aim was to centralise how we view and manage our compliance, service and testing functions,” explains David Nesbit Compliance & Sustainability Manager for Avela Home Service/Penny Lane Builders. “On average, our operatives visit around 700 properties annually. We were using a couple of different platforms, but these were creating a scattergun approach and grey areas in terms of responsibility.
He continues: “We’d been using Propeller successfully for several months, so it made sense to try and integrate our electrical requirements into the same platform.”
Joining forces
Working in partnership, the Propeller team evolved the software to meet Avela Home Service’s needs, enabling it to streamline its compliance management while creating time and cost efficiencies.
The new solution enables all compliance areas to be managed through a single platform containing all the required legislative certificates for both electrical and gas equipment. These certificates are created digitally on a mobile App and can be validated on site, saving time, improving service levels, and minimising the risk of non compliance.
All information recorded during the checks is fed into a dashboard providing a real-time view of compliance for Avela Home Service and South Liverpool Homes.
“The support we received from Propeller throughout the electrical integration process was fantastic,” reflects David. “All system changes take time to bed in, especially when the technology is used by multiple operatives. Inevitably, there were lots of questions and queries along the way, but the Propeller team was really responsive and always willing to help.”
Adding value
As well as improving compliance management, the Propeller software is designed to improve the efficiency of Avela Home Service’s engineers. The team can be managed remotely and in real time with job data provided instantly. Intelligent scheduling enables the company to automatically allocate work by priority, availability, location, and skills.
All documentation for each property can be completed electronically by operatives. This is stored on the Propeller system along with photographs, materials and costing information.
As legislation has changed, the software has evolved further to help Avela Home Service carry out regular fire door checks in line with Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022. Fire door maintenance and inspection programmes can now be managed digitally by the team. Fire doors, including time-stamped images are digitally recorded into a database along with a history of inspections for auditing purposes.
Benefits for all
Now fully embedded, the Propeller software is generating benefits for Avela Home Service, its operatives and South Liverpool Homes.
“The overall visibility of the Propeller system has made a big difference to our compliance management,” says David. “At any one time, any stakeholder in the process can get an accurate snapshot of where a property is up to in terms of compliance, servicing or access. The ability to generate tailored reports is another key advantage.
“The feedback we’ve received from our electricians out in the field has been very positive,” he adds. “With only one piece of software needed for job management, servicing and compliance, this makes each process much easier, especially the certification aspect. They can simply use the mobile App to complete a condition report and return it using the same system.”
Concludes David: “We’re very happy with the software and service provided by Propeller and look forward to continuing our successful partnership.”
