Housing Associations collect and generate an immense amount of information about tenants, their properties, and their services. They benefit their communities the most when this data is understood and harnessed. 

A continuous real-time service that finds and analyses issues within database environments, aggregating all data within a single platform and with alerts triaged in relation to business impact. Pinpointing issues before they escalate and mapping trends in database performance allows for environments to remain optimised and fit for purpose.

THE IMPORTANCE OF DIGITAL MATURING IN HOUSING ASSOCIATIONS  

It makes sense then, that digitally mature, highly-data literate Housing Associations will define the future of excellent tenant services and housing association data management will be at the heart. 

Whether that’s making urgent capacity decisions with every implication accounted for, offering tailored energy consumption advice, predicting maintenance needs or any other means of improving outcomes, being data-driven gives Housing Associations the insight to know what’s coming and the tools to act.  

And this means innovative, streamlined tenant services and an organisation that runs like a well-oiled machine, whilst being underpinned by a resilient and performant data solution. 

HOUSING ASSOCIATION DATA MANAGEMENT STRATEGY CHALLENGES   

Although housing association data management functions, tools and responsibilities continue to swell, Housing Associations will remain on the back foot without a coherent strategy for collecting, organising, governing and analysing data. The reasons are threefold:  

• Firstly, housing association data management must protect and leverage significant data and deliver change from insights as quickly as possible.  

As you’ll know, the impact of a strong (or, conversely, inadequate) decision is tangible in this sector. Tenants feel the action, or lack thereof, viscerally and quickly. But converting data into results is notoriously challenging when thousands of data points are at play. These challenges are then amplified due to the data sources and databases often sitting in different locations, with some being in private infrastructure (on-premise) and others being hosted on a public cloud, such as Azure or AWS.  

• Secondly, the objectives of Housing Associations are ultimately people-driven. So does being data-driven mean being at odds with your vision? No, not at all – as long as your decision makers have access to effective business intelligence and remain pragmatic.  

For example, imagine if the data suggested reducing maintenance schedules to achieve year-end financial goals. A people-powered data analyst with access to the relevant information would foresee the costly consequences, managing tenant complaints, replacing rather than fixing, etcetera. So, they’d treat the data as a trigger for investigation rather than a decision.  

• And thirdly, despite the importance of using data modelling for quick actions, Housing Associations need to get the big, long-term decisions right, as a social enterprise.  

Housing association data management must balance overall business strategy and day-to-day, efficient task management and governance. This calls for reliable, specific real-time data and unified dashboards that integrate disparate tenant data. The data sources and data pipelines will need to be managed to ensure ongoing availability and performance optimisation.  

BUILDING A DATA MANAGEMENT STRATEGY FOR STREAMLINED TENANT SERVICE  

The value of collecting, understanding and deploying housing association data management is not to be underestimated.  

A solid housing association data management strategy can make or break the prosperity of tenants and organisations alike. Keeping communication and services moving at pace is central to a well-functioning housing association, and robust data infrastructure is the not-so-secret weapon.  

Follow these steps to establish a data management plan to increase tenant service delivery efficiency.  

1. ASSIGN A DATA MANAGEMENT OWNER

Every improvement plan begins with delegation, but this step is perhaps even more important for housing association data management due to the people-powered element we mentioned earlier.  

Your data owner must have several qualities: they’ll be skilled analysts, confident decision-makers, business-minded and crucially, they’ll understand tenants and champion their needs with the power of data.  

Your data owner will be responsible for collecting and using data, so they must be capable of balancing micro-details with the big picture. Your data owner will:  

• Manage data unification, verification, interoperability, governance and privacy  
• Determine how data is utilised internally and externally  
• Facilitate new integrations and improve existing ones  
• Analyse how data processes are contributing to tenant service streamlining  
• Collate and analyse emerging data needs, from tenant demand and market trends  

• Contribute to conversations about how data can streamline tenant services  

The reality is that these skills are often hard to find and retain, so your Data Management may be delivered through internal expertise, a specialist Data Services Partner, or often through a combination of both.  

2. MAP THE FLOW OF DATA

To streamline tenant services, Housing Associations need an efficient way of sharing data. Making decisions that benefit tenants depends on everyone talking about the same data in the same way, and accurate, free-flowing data is critical to that.   

Unsurprisingly, your data owner needs a comprehensive understanding of how it flows throughout a housing association, including between tenants and third parties.  

As a start, data owners should assess:  

• Types of data sources 
• How data sources are hosted and accessed  
• Systems, applications and services fed by data  
• Adherence to governance and compliance  
• Interdependency and interoperability between data sources  
• How data contributes to business objectives  

Risks, gaps and opportunities in data flow  

Ultimately, your business will need to ensure you have access to the right data, in the right place and in the right format to enable the most effective decision making. 

3. CREATE DATA STREAMLINING OBJECTIVES

A good housing association data management strategy should balance control and flexibility. An approach like this ensures tenant and organisational information is used appropriately without restricting the efficiency and productivity crucial to tenant service response.   

In short, data streamlining objectives must simultaneously focus on minimising risk and increasing the speed by which tenant services are delivered.  

In particular, think carefully about minimising data gaps, increasing accuracy and expanding data sources with integration, interoperability and governance as vital strategic enablers.  

The performance management and ongoing optimisation of the database within your environment are a key facet of a successful outcome; if your data sources aren’t well tuned, your ongoing reporting and data visualisation will be impaired.  

4. REVIEW DATA PRIVACY MEASURES  

As with any sector, Housing Associations aren’t immune from data vulnerabilities. But why is this important to streamlining tenant services?  

Well, to make data-driven decisions quickly, you don’t just need integrated, fast IT infrastructure. You need real-time data – and lots of it.  

In Housing Associations, a significant proportion of data flows from the consumer side, specifically tenants and their properties. And data is increasingly coming from digital solutions such as self-service applications and sensors.  

As a result, you’re relying on tenants to opt-in to the data sharing that’ll streamline service delivery. To encourage opt-in, Housing Associations need to show tenants that their data is safe and used appropriately, which means building concrete data privacy measures into your data streamlining project. For more about data management, click here.  

Node4 are specialists in enabling technological change in the housing sector to benefit associations and tenants alike. By integrating systems and data sources and leveraging intelligent solutions to maximise data insights, we help Housing Associations establish data practices that power streamlined, conscientious tenant services.  

For more about what we do, click here and arrange a no-obligation discussion with us.