Dale Robertson, Head of Corporate Services & ICT & Kathy Brooks, Strategy & Data Management Team Leader deliver a case study presentation at the Annual InPhase User Group 2017. A case study on how we have used the system to help us move from performance reporting to embedding a performance culture and the lessons learnt along the way.

1. Our performance journey
Dale Robertson, Head of Corporate Services & ICT
Kathy Brooks, Strategy & Data Management Team Leader

2. #ThisIsNPH
• Based in Northampton
• ALMO set up in
January 2015
• Manage 11,602 social
properties for NBC
• 877 leaseholders
• 280 staff

3. What do we do?
• Allocation of properties and Housing Register
• Supporting vulnerable tenants
• Housing Management functions including ASB support team and rent
collection
• Housing Repairs and Planned Maintenance Programme Delivery
• Contract out:
• Planned investment works with preferred partner organisation(s)
• Communal area block cleaning
• Estates Grounds maintenance
DON’T DO – housing strategy, homelessness, private sector housing

4. Before NPH………
• Split location site – them and us
• Landlord Services / Strategic Housing
• All senior management went on ‘garden leave’
• Lots of interims, new Chief Executive
• Low morale
• Lots of agency workers……….uncertainty
• Implemented Government Stock Options Appraisal and
became an ALMO because the housing service was failing

5. Failing our tenants……

6. • Void property turnaround times were 44 days January
2015
• Void rent loss nearly 2% of monthly rent income
• Grounds maintenance and cleaning were major issues
• Properties and estates in poor condition due to under
investment
• Lack of trust in the data being reported

7. Where you work matters to
team culture!
• We work in a tip(!)
• Our offices are porta
cabins….and someone
chose green paint
• But the parking is FREE!

9. • We had lots of reports!
• Lots of measures!
• But did we have a
performance culture?....

10. 2015…Reporting went back to the dreaded
spreadsheets!!!!!
PERFORMANCE
CULTURE
PERFORMANCE
REPORTING

11. When NPH was created……..We needed to
regroup as a team and climb a mountain

12. Our team
Strategy & Data Management
• Performance
• Strategy & Policy
• Complaints
• Data Protection
• Customer Insight – Business intelligence –
Consultation - Satisfaction

14. In 2015…..
• Real opportunity to start afresh and tackle the challenges
• How do you get from one step to the next on the ladder because the
system alone can’t make it happen? Or can it?
• Does the culture drive the performance, or the system drive the
culture?
• What was missing / going wrong?
• Needed to look at things as whole
• How we can use the system to change behaviours?

15. • Critical success factors – how do we know
when our team has been successful?
• Our journey map – what does it look like for
us?

16. NPH Performance journey
Year 1
Year 2/3
Business management
Business intelligence

17. • Currently using InPhase to monitor our
business plan, service plans, key performance
measures, operational risks, internal audit
action tracking
• Our lessons learnt

18. Process
People
Accessibility
Openness

19. Before NPH
• Lots of Process
• Suite of reports that linked up finance, resource
management, KPIs…….
• But it didn’t bring everyone with us….only involved
senior managers with the performance team
presenting the data
• Lack of ownership for the data being reported
• Lack of visibility for those who were actually managing
the services
• Reports did not contain the right information
Process

20. What did we do differently?
• Started simple
• Framework set on paper and steered by EMT / Board
about how they wanted the governance work, so
they owned it – evolved naturally
• Establishing the cascade of business objectives from
core plan to service plans and then appraisals
• Process in place, and understood – golden thread

21. What did we do differently?
• Year 1 service planning – content not SMART and HoS
didn’t really know why / or where some of their
actions had come from – still managing the process
on paper
• But did mean by Year 2, launched re-build of the
system - they realised content had to be right as they
were going to be accountable for it for the rest of the
year

22. What did we do differently?
• Cycle – getting it right at the beginning of each year…
• Made it relevant to the business by capturing and
prioritising what's important right now –
• Delivering against what said we would do
• Managing risks
• Following up on internal audit actions
• Work with the individuals to make the process work
for them

24. Using the system to change people
behaviours and culture
• Put it in place and see the change happen
• EMT demo - moment of realisation and
turning point
People

25. System users
Different audiences
• EMT/Board – strategic overview of the
company – business health
• Heads of Service – tailored service plan to
manage their business – dashboards…
• Board – exception reports
• Data entry for those that need just that
People

26. Strategic Overview

27. Strategic Overview – dashboard by service

28. Strategic Overview – service drill down

29. Exception reporting

30. Board – core measures

31. Cascade

32. Linking risks – Operational Risk Register dashboard

33. Risks and early warning measures

34. Heads of Service – Service Plan Dashboards

35. Simple data entry screens

36. Spend time with users
• Not everyone likes process or systems!
• Managing individual personalities – get to
know your users
• Keep things simple, clean – screens, repeat
behaviour flow
• Sell the benefits – how will it help / give them
People

37. Cultural change
• Planning into Year 3 now
• Service planning more meaningful and SMART
• Everyone can see what everyone is doing
• Performance is being managed
• Communicating organisational purpose to everyone, not
just senior managers, still a challenge
Succeeded when everyone really knows our purpose
and their role within it
People

38. Information is out there!
• Previously, only used the system for data entry
• Corporate team produced the reports
NOW
• Wider access to a range of relevant information
• Business management
• Reporting and analytics
• All in the system, in one place – so before included info that was nice to
know, but didn’t help manage the business effectively
• Executive, Heads of Service and Officers all logging in
• Board requested access
• Access means visibility, leads to transparency and accountability
Access

39. Enter once, use many times!
• Providing intelligence by cutting data in many ways – themes, VfM
dashboards
Access

40. One version of the truth
• System reports one version of the truth
• Team working rather than in silo’s
• Transparency of data and open discussion
• Teams and Heads of Service using the data in
team meetings
Openness

41. Our culture……2017
• New building on the horizon
• Tenant satisfaction on the up
• Permanent staff structure
• Managing the business in an informed way

42. Tenant satisfaction improving….

43. Challenges……2017
• Building up business intelligence and Customer
Insight
• Making even more use of the system capability
• IT Strategy….building the capability for data
intelligence through system integration
• Everyone understanding that us all knowing our
purpose is important
• Embedded at the top but more in the service areas
via wider comms – intranet, citizen portal, publishing

44. NPH Performance journey
Year 1
Year 2/3
Business management
Business intelligence

45. • Don’t have all the answers, but food for
thought
• What’s you map? What environment are you
working in? Don’t over do the process, talk to
people as well
• Realise the benefits

46. Our Performance journey
Dale Robertson, Head of Corporate Services & ICT
drobertson@northamptonpartnershiphomes.org.uk
01604 837110
Kathy Brooks, Strategy & Data Management Team Leader
kbrooks@northamptonpartnershiphomes.org.uk
01604 837583