For most local authorities, managing council owned property is a complex and time-consuming work stream. There are likely to be multiple systems holding different information about the properties, all of which is required to give a full picture of each dwelling, garage or shop. The challenge lies in pulling all this information together in a format that allows the relevant teams to manage their tasks efficiently, such as chasing arrears, progressing maintenance or clearing fly-tipping hot spots. This 360 degree view is also vital for customer-facing staff dealing with tenant queries and complaints.
Using the Unique Property Reference Numbers (UPRNs) to underpin the addresses and therefore link the various banks of information to those addresses, is the most efficient and accurate way of doing this.
Charnwood Borough Council
Charnwood Borough Council, like many other local authorities, use a housing database to manage their properties, with a different system being used for the Customer Contact Centre – neither of which were using UPRNs as the address identifier. This meant it was much harder to pull data from different systems together to give that greater insight into a property.
Local Land and Property Gazetteer Custodian, Kevin Davies, recognised that the use of the UPRNs and geo coordinates would greatly support the work of the Housing department and the Customer Contact Centre, enabling efficiencies that would make their jobs easier and more time-effective, while providing better customer service. Working with the Head of Rent Collections and the Head of the Customer Contact Centre, Davies collated a wish list of requirements, identifying what data could and couldn’t be shared due to GDPR, and how the data would be shared and maintained.
The aim was to provide as complete a picture as possible of each dwelling, shop and garage owned by Charnwood, underpinned by the UPRN to ensure one true address. This guaranteed the housing information relevant to that address was accurate, and by using the geo coordinates, displayable on a Geographic Information System (GIS), making it really easy to understand and use. By providing this complete picture of the housing stock to both the Housing department and Customer Contact Centre through daily scheduled updates, the information would always be accurate and consistent, enabling greater efficiency and cohesion in the management of their properties.
Linking data from different systems
Charnwood were already using the Aligned Assets’ LLPG solution, iManage, and matching solution, iMatch, to address match and maintain the LLPG, so the challenge was to identify how these could be utilised to deliver the UPRNs and geo coordinates to the housing database and Customer Contact Centre system.
Each dwelling, garage and shop owned by Charnwood has its own unique housing identifier on the housing database. Using iMatch, each of these were matched to the address data in the LLPG, and the unique housing identifier was imported so it could be used as a housing cross-reference. A UPRN field was added to the housing database so when the address data was exported back, the field would auto-populate with the UPRN.
With the UPRN providing the address anchor, a whole range of information could be pulled together to provide a picture relevant to the team or requirement. The first step towards this was to create two views – one in the LLPG, including the UPRN, geo coordinates and unique housing identifier (being used as a cross-reference), and a second in the housing database, including data required for managing the housing stock owned by Charnwood, including tenure, void-status, type, occupancy, level of arrears, maintenance etc.
As some of the tables in the housing database were not indexed, resulting in slow processing, the two views were used to create a separate indexed table containing the addresses in BS7666 format and the required data from the housing database. This was created in the Microsoft SQL Server housing database by using SQL to join the data from the two views into the new table. This is recreated daily using a scheduled task, to account for any changes in the housing stock such as sales through right to buy, amount of arrears or if any new property is added.
Using GIS for visual publication of data
The information in the indexed table is displayed through Charnwood’s GIS application and made available to the Housing department officers and to the Customer Contact Centre. It groups the housing stock by the estate name that each officer is responsible for with each property position on the map using the geo coordinates from the LLPG database. Each property is themed (colour coded) on a value of a field, such as the level of arrears, void-status etc.
Housing officers can see a visual display of the area they cover, with properties themed on the area of interest they are currently working on.
Hovering the cursor over a single address reveals a map tip displaying all the information in the table about that property:
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Hovering the cursor over the grouping polygon displays the totals of the data on the properties it contains.
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‘By representing the data visually in this way, it’s not only made it so much easier to digest and interrogate, it’s also made route planning for property visits much more efficient, saving housing officers lots of time.’ Kevin Davies, LLPG Custodian, Charnwood Borough Council.
The GIS application is browser based and can currently be viewed on any desktop or laptop, with mobile device capability coming in the near future. It can also be projected on screen or printed as hand-outs, enabling a visual, easy-to-understand presentation of information at management or other corporate meetings.
The views in the LLPG and housing databases can be altered to contain any information that is held and used to create the indexed table to be displayed in the GIS application, so long as data protection allows it to be shared.
When council owned property is sold
The Housing team and Legal department notify the LLPG Custodian when housing stock is sold through the right to buy scheme. At this point, the unique housing identifier is made Historic in the LLPG and the address is no longer visible as housing stock in the GIS application. (H) is added at the end of the number to better identify it in the LLPG. This is helpful for the Customer Contact Centre operators when dealing with calls relating to a property previously owned by Charnwood, as seen below:
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However, if a property is sold under a lease agreement, (L) is added to the end of the unique housing identifier instead of (H). This is not made historic as the property and cross-reference are still active in the housing database:-
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The property is identified as ‘Leased’ in the housing database and is still visible in the GIS application but now displayed as a different colour under the tenure theme, again helpful to the Customer Contact Centre operators when dealing with calls about a property.
The LLPG is used to update the Customer Relationship Management software (CRM) used by the Customer Contact Centre and together with the housing information presented through the GIS application, the operators are more able to effectively retrieve information held on dwellings they currently own or did previously own.
The occupancy data from the housing database is also used to update the Basic Land and Property Unit (BLPU) state of a property in the LLPG but this is currently done manually and referenced against Council Tax data for accuracy.
Future developments
Charnwood are currently working on adding scheduled maintenance tasks such as roof repairs, cavity wall insulation, kitchen and bathroom updates etc to the housing database. This will also be themed and can be viewed by housing officers and management in the GIS application, to aid the scheduling of repair work and/or future maintenance tasks. The data also shows which Super Output Area the property is in when applying for grants based on output area. White squares show work is yet to do, and green squares are completed work:-
© Crown copyright. Licence No. 100023558
Charnwood are also looking at how they can better safeguard their staff on property visits. For example, it would be really helpful to be able to see at a glance whether a tenant is on the Corporate Warning Register. Data Protection allowing, these properties could be colour-coded, signalling the need for Housing officers or Anti-Social Behaviour officers to visit in pairs.
Innovation driving efficiency and cohesion
This innovative use of the LLPG and matching software to enable all housing data to be pinned to the relevant UPRN and geo coordinate has enabled greater efficiency and cohesion for the teams using this information. Housing officers and managers are able to interrogate the data more easily and can therefore respond more effectively to the needs within their property portfolios.
As a result, Charnwood have found it much quicker to glean information about council owned property, as well as ownership and/or maintenance of any property, land and street lighting in the vicinity. It displays data on land ownership, Charnwood street lighting, Charnwood open spaces and amenity maintenance, as well as street lighting and grass-cutting data from Leicester County Council. This data is viewed as layers that can assist the Customer Contact Centre officers when dealing with complaints about street-lighting, fly-tipping, dog-fouling, grass-cutting etc. It also brings in all the LLPG addresses, so is useful when accessing that information on all properties within the borough. Any data held electronically can be added as a layer in this GIS application or linked to the UPRN so it can be included in the data held against an address.
‘It’s truly inspiring to see an LLPG Custodian identifying and enabling other departments within the council to utilise the identifier components of the LLPG to drive the efficiency and cohesion that you see here with Charnwood. A great advocate for the benefits of the LLPG, Davies continues to seek other opportunities to use it for the greater good of the council.’ Dinesh Thanigasalam, Commercial Director, Aligned Assets.
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