All Change!

Hi Everyone!

Time for me to pop up in your Inbox again, and update you on what I’ve been up to this year. I note from my blog at the end of 2016 that I was looking forward to a “truth-based, fact-centred 2017” – seems my hopes have not exactly been realised; we appear to still be churning through a period where ideology trumps (pun intended) evidence and reason, a world where the sheer volume of fake-news makes it hard to be sure of the truth, and a time in which the quality of debate and discourse – especially on social media – has plumbed ever greater depths. I can only imagine how much this period will dominate the School and Uni history syllabus for future generations!

On the Hewes home front, my year has included the extreme sadness of saying goodbye to the inspirational Jan Maes in April, and the extreme pride in seeing my son pull on a GB vest for the first time, at the European Junior Athletics Championships in July. It’s also been an expensive year, with one son celebrating his 21st, the other hitting 18 – and my wife (she won’t thank me for publicising it!) clocking up the big 5-0! So, a big thank you to the nine Keystone customers who have made use of my services in the past 12 months, and indirectly helped to pay the bill for these milestones!

My Keystone work this year has seen some common themes, including general education, training and support, Sustainability modelling, data quality reviews, and module re-implementation and re-launch. I also seem to have become a mini proxy Keystone Helpdesk for a few customers! As I’ve often said – send me an interesting/challenging question about Keystone, and I just can’t help but reply!

I must say that during 2017 I’ve seen some excellent use being made of Keystone. Most people have got their heads around the use of Completed Works Rules, to make sure their data gets updated in a timely, consistent and efficient manner – though few have extended these rules into the updating of KSI or Energy data, and I would encourage you all to do so.

I’ve seen KPM being used really effectively by a number of you, to manage your maintenance contracts – and this is great to see. When we first took on the challenge of Planned Maintenance a decade ago it seemed a very difficult nut to crack. So much software existed in the sector, aimed at this requirement – and virtually ALL of it either never implemented, or fallen into dis-use. “Don’t even go there” was the advice from many, but we stuck to it, and with the support of a few early adopters such as Bernicia Group, Cross Keys Homes and L&Q, who helped us understand the issues that stood in the way, we got there. Of course, in many organisations, resistance to change was the hardest obstacle to surmount – and in some cases it proved insurmountable – but the common factor amongst those that succeeded was usually one or two key individuals who had the vision, the determination, the resilience and the seniority to push through the change. Hats off to you all – I’m sure you know who you are, and have recovered from the bruises!

Properly resourcing Keystone (and any asset management system) at all has always been an issue for social landlords – which has always been surprising given the size of the maintenance budgets that it is used to plan and manage, and the criticality of the compliance issues that it seeks to support. But even rarer are those organisations who employ someone in the role of a Business Analyst, who can plan and oversee the business change that needs to be brought about to make modules such as KPM, KSI and KRM successful. This isn’t necessarily down to a reluctance to spend the money on an individual – just finding someone who sufficiently understands the business context, the capabilities of Keystone, and the technicalities of key deliverables such as interfaces is a huge challenge (at Keystone we had the same challenge, in finding BA’s) – and then you still have to overcome the resistance to change too.

I mentioned earlier how I have found an increasing demand to help organisations re-launch or re-implement some of these Keystone modules – where the original implementation, despite all good efforts at the time, foundered on the rocks of business change – but as I say, it is so pleasing to see shining examples of the software being used in the manner that we envisioned when we set out on development at Keystone.

One of the most frequent, and seemingly impossible challenges with KPM and KSI in particular revolves around the exchange of data with third parties. Trying to get the contractors to interact with Keystone in an effective manner seems unreasonably difficult. On the face of it, it shouldn’t be hard – sending them a file of the works required, and they in turn responding with the related completions sounds simple enough. However, the contractor you appoint for their expertise in delivering the service at a ‘value for money’ price frequently isn’t the one with the best IT services (which they have often out-sourced themselves anyway), and whatever the agreements, whatever the promises made, the interface often breaks down.

There are, of course, a number of ways in which you can implement these interfaces – from KGI’s, to bespoke interfaces, web service API’s, and contractor portals – but they all require a common understanding, desire and competence to be successful. Again, that key person, acting for you, interpreting the business requirement, understanding the technologies, and leaning on the right people at both ends, is frequently the missing piece in the jigsaw. (And we all know how hard it is to find that jigsaw piece!).

Unfortunately, there may be a high demand for the kind of people who can bring about business change, implement new business processes and create new interfaces over the next few years, assuming that Brexit goes ahead, so I can’t imagine that social housing will find it any easier to find the people they need to fully succeed with systems like Keystone. I hope that I will be able to step into some of the Keystone-shaped gaps.

I’ll sign off by thanking again all of you who have made use of my services this year. It has been an absolute pleasure working with all of you, and to feel that I have played my part, however small, in making Keystone more successful in your organisation. I’ve updated stock condition and asbestos data, implemented sustainability models, carried out data quality reviews that now include asbestos and energy, and supported you in pushing the likes of KPM, KSI and KRM into live use – and I’ve enjoyed every minute.

Keep up the good work, keep the Keystone challenges coming, and see you all soon.

Rob