London Borough of Hounslow covers 23 square miles from Heathrow airport in the west through to the suburb of Chiswick in the east, covering both town and country. With a population of over 216,000 people, including many ethnic minorities, Hounslow is culturally diverse. London Borough of Hounslow manages 80 schools and is required by the DCSF to report on condition, suitability and sufficiency of school buildings.
London Borough of Hounslow has been a Technology Forge customer since March 2000 following a tender for an Asset Management System. Operations and Strategy Officer, Hilary Arthur, has worked at London Borough of Hounslow since 2003.
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| HA: |
As an Operations and Strategy Officer I monitor the financial aspect of all education capital projects and liaise with schools. I am responsible for anything that falls under AMP (suitability, sufficiency, condition, energy, capital projects and CAD plans). |
| HA: |
tf. facility helps me do my job as it holds all data centrally, thereby saving time and effort. I use it complete suitability submissions and sufficiency surveys.
My favourite module is Project Management, I have seen it grow with data since we set it up. It proves particularly useful in the management of our education capital projects. Project Management has provided us with the ability to locate all relevant project data, such as budget figures, tender figures, project contact information and project stage dates effortlessly. The specific tool that has proved the most useful is the capability of being able to link items of work from the Condition and DAA modules, therefore updating identified work once the project is completed. We have received positive feedback from Councilors on the information that we have been able to provide on capital projects that have taken place within their particular ward. The downside is not having enough time to spend on the system - there is so much to know and so much you can get out of it. |
| TF: |
What issues did you have before tf. facility was used? |
| HA: |
Before we implemented tf. facility our condition reporting was very poor, resulting in London Borough of Hounslow receiving poor feedback from the DfES in 2002. We have used tf. facility to drive forward improvements in condition collection and reporting and we received a really good score from the DfES following this.
Before implementation schools used to write in and 'bid' for capital funding, the system ensures project allocation transparency. The main challenge going forward is getting more involvement from schools so that they can access their own data and use it. There is so much potential, we need to prioritise our time so that we get the most out of the system. |
| TF: |
What would happen if tf. facility was suddenly turned off ? |
| HA: |
Without tf. facility we wouldn't be able to complete the necessary Building Schools for the Future or Primary Capital Programme prioritisation without using manual intervention leading to the opportunity for error. I don't understand how councils can prioritise without tf. facility. |
| TF: |
What advice would you give to a new TF customer or someone thinking of buying tf. facility? |
| HA: |
There are so many pieces of advice to give to those setting up a system. The main benefit is having all the data stored in one place, data is entered once so there's no issue with conflicting data. The programs are very consistent so minimal training is required, it is really easy adding more modules and extending its use. It's also really useful to liaise with other TF customers and learn from their experiences. The Technology Forge are a good company to work with, their Help Desk is very prompt and if they're not sure of the answer they'll be back in touch very quickly. |
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For further information contact:
Louise Smales, Sales & Marketing Coordinator, The Technology Forge
Tel: 01943 855014
Email: louise.smales@technologyforge.com
© The Technology Forge 2009 |
