Housing Corporation Accolade wanted to be able to schedule repairs more efficiently and effectively. Their system relied largely on paper records, and not everything was automated. For example, customers had to wait at home for half a day for the technicians to arrive. So Accolade chose ORTEC to help optimize its scheduling process.

1. Housing Corporation Accolade wanted to be able to schedule repairs more efficiently and effectively. Their system relied
largely on paper records, and not everything was automated. For example, customers had to wait at home for half a day
for the technicians to arrive. So Accolade chose ORTEC to help optimize its scheduling process.
Challenges in the world of Accolade
Before, it was impossible to optimally schedule
repair work, because the process did not take into
consideration the location of the craftsman at any
particular moment. The customers also did not
know exactly when the craftsman would arrive,
so they often had to wait at home for half a day.
This made the schedule more error-prone and
difficult to manage.
Accolade recently centralized their first-line
customer contacts in the new Woonpunt
department. Where this work was previously
conducted from the cities of Drachten, Franeker,
Heerenveen, Joure and Sneek, most of the
employees were transferred to the location in
Heerenveen.
How Accolade aimed to optimize its world
In order to optimize the scheduling process for the
technicians, Accolade chose for ORTEC Service
Planning. The interface with the website allows
tenants to log in online and to report repairs and
schedule an appointment. The appointment is
then registered and ORTEC’s scheduling solution
automatically assigns the right craftsman for the
job. Linkage with PDA for real-time management
and reporting of completed orders.
The solution
ORTEC Service Planning with web interface
The results
+ Information can be called up from a source
anywhere, anytime
+ 25 percent increase in craftsmen’s productivity
+ Increased customer satisfaction
+ Employees can be assigned to more jobs over
several locations
+ More efficient work method
+ With a direct link between ORTEC Service
Planning and a PDA, craftsmen no longer need
to print out an order sheet, and can start from
their home address in the morning
Order sheets
Telephone repair requests come in to the
Woonpunt office location. If a resident requests
a repair online, then it is processed completely
automatically. “Over the past month, 90 percent
of the repair requests came in by telephone and
10 percent were submitted via the website”,
according to Hiltsje Rinsma, Accolade Woonpunt
Manager. Accolade hopes to increase the number
of repair requests submitted via the website.
“In order to encourage that, we award do-it-
yourself gift certificates to people who submit
Industry:
Professional and public
services
About Housing Corporation
Accolade
■ Total number employees:
almost 200
■ An average of 6 people work
at the Woonpunt location in
Heerenveen every day
■ 26 craftsmen
■ 2,500 repair requests per
month
■ 8,000 - 9,000 telephone calls
per month
■ 17,000 residential units in:
Drachten, Franeker,
Heerenveen, Joure and
Sneek
Casesheet
Housing Corporation Accolade
‘Our craftsmen’s productivity
increased by 25%’

2. their requests via the website. We then promote the
campaign in our residents magazine, with fun quotes about
their experiences submitting repair requests online.”
Optimum scheduling
Housing Corporation Accolade draws up the schedules for its
craftsmen two days in advance. The schedule leaves enough
room between jobs to allow for emergency repairs. The shifts
are divided into half-days.
“Now that the system is properly organized, the schedule
automatically takes a number of factors into consideration.
For example, if the tenant submitting a repair request is also a
member of the Homeowners’ Association, then we are responsible
for the interior of the home, and the association is responsible
for the exterior”, explains Jochum de Vries, Accolade Application
Manager.
All of the Woonpunt staff are trained to receive repair
requests: Hiltsje Rinsma: “Before, only one team was trained
to receive requests. It was also much more complicated,
because the employees had to memorize hundreds of
different codes. With the system we have now, it’s not
only simpler, but taking repair requests has also become
a fun part of the job. We came up with the design and the
steps that need to be done to complete a repair request in
collaboration with the web application specialist Malengo.”
At Accolade, the Woonpunt staff rotate among the various
units: from the store to taking repair requests and processing
the paperwork.” Accolade employs two planners, who
manage the schedule in real-time by scheduling emergency
repairs and coordinating the schedule at the end of the day.
Questions via Twitter
As more and more repair requests come in via the website
and the telephone traffic decreases accordingly, the
employees can focus on other tasks. Hiltsje Rinsma:
“But new communications channels are opening up. For
example, we already receive questions via Twitter, and
we’re planning on using Facebook as well in the near future.
Two of our employees thought it would be fun to answer
the Twitter questions, and they were so enthusiastic about
it that other colleagues want to work with Twitter as well.”
says Rinsm Hiltsje Rinsma and Jochum de Vries explain
that digitalization brings other changes with it as well:
“Our main office and the offices in the larger cities are now
open only three days per week, and the smaller towns are
only open two days per week. We aren’t closing our local
offices, but we’re working more efficiently. Fortunately, the
tenants are very positive about the new methods for working
and scheduling.” Jochum de Vries: “Of course, satisfied
tenants is an excellent result, but we also have some ‘hard
numbers’. For example, as a result of optimal scheduling,
the productivity has increased by 25%. Where the craftsmen
used to be able to finish eight orders per day, they can now
complete ten. That’s because they don’t have to drive from
A to B and then to Q and back to F. We take the craftsmen’s
locations into consideration. That makes the route planning
much more efficient. Plus, where the craftsmen had to collect
their order sheets at the start of the day, now they only have
to turn on the PDA. Thanks to the direct link between ORTEC
Service Planning and the PDA, we can adjust the schedule in
real time and the craftsmen can easily report the completed
orders. In the future, we may even be able to plan longer in
advance, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. For
the moment, we’re focusing on perfecting our solution.”
Want to learn more about our solutions? Contact us at: info@ortec.com www.ortec.com