Happy Christmas
Christmas is the season of silly snaps of meals and parties, and HUBSolutions is no exception. People always like the ones which show someone in a compromised position, but our meal never got to be quite that silly, maybe the presence of the younger generation, and David wanting to get back to add some more issues to the Issue Log somewhat contained the Christmas spirit.
The meal seemed an ideal opportunity to publish our photos, as I am sure there are some staff who customers have only spoken to over the telephone or by email. From bottom left around the table, they are Prathibha who started the Caseworks Mapping facility, Kitty, Selvi's five year old daughter, Selvi, who built all the Caseworks Web Pages, Me, Arlene who does the accounts and a spot of Caseworks training, David who does most of the Caseworks training and a great deal else besides, Krish who created the email facility, mobile working and finished the mapping facility and Manish, whose Oracle skills power our various Revenues and Benefits Applications.
Absent, were Kishore (who took the picture) and colleagues in other countries, David Scott - in Scotland, Zareena - in Saudi Arabia and Chris Parker skiing in the Alps.
The meal seemed an ideal opportunity to publish our photos, as I am sure there are some staff who customers have only spoken to over the telephone or by email. From bottom left around the table, they are Prathibha who started the Caseworks Mapping facility, Kitty, Selvi's five year old daughter, Selvi, who built all the Caseworks Web Pages, Me, Arlene who does the accounts and a spot of Caseworks training, David who does most of the Caseworks training and a great deal else besides, Krish who created the email facility, mobile working and finished the mapping facility and Manish, whose Oracle skills power our various Revenues and Benefits Applications.
Absent, were Kishore (who took the picture) and colleagues in other countries, David Scott - in Scotland, Zareena - in Saudi Arabia and Chris Parker skiing in the Alps.
EMAIL TheBlog@hubsolutions.co.uk with the snap of your ASB Team Christmas party - we would all like to see it!
Finally, Christmas is more than anything about children, whether you are religious or not, and I couldn't resist including this sweet picture of Kitty, the first (but not the last) baby to be born to a member of staff while working for HUBSolutions.
Happy Christmas and New Year!
Comments
Men in Red
18 December 2008 10:04 | Mobile, South Lanarkshire | Permalink
Guess who they are!Eddie McCall and Rodger Harley, two of South Lanarkshire's army of 30 + trusty Wardens who patrol the streets day and night looking for things like this - a load of old rubbish.
A deliberate act of Anti Social Beahviour, and what are they doing? No, not playing Solitaire!
The rubbish is being recorded so that a photograph, the GPS Coordinates and full details of its volume can be uploaded to the Caseworks Database and forwarded to the Cleansing Department the same day. 
There is a close-up on our News page, which lets you see the PDA Smart Phone more clearly. As readers will know, the Blog is a little bit less formal, and I always like to find a lighter side to any story. A little while after I took the first picture, the phone rings. Would any of my readers care to provide a speach bubble for this call? Yes, a bit like Private Eye. Come up with a good one, and you will get a prize.
On a more serious note, there was light rain when I took this picture, and it is forecast to be heavy rain, every day for the next four days. After six weeks of wet and often sub-zero weather, isnt it amazing that all the devices are still working! Actually, isnt it amazing that Eddie and Rodger are still working!!
Comments (1)
The Caseworker is Out!
12 December 2008 08:09 | Caseworks Newsletter | Permalink
Issue 4 of The Caseworker hit the World Wide Web this week, and is already filling many user's In Box. Those of you who also read this blog, please give me a bit of feedback! Either comment on the Blog, or email Caseworker@hubsolutions.co.uk
Anyway some feedback has arrived in my In Box so I will share it
"The caseworker model looks and feels very nice .... St Georges Square looks amazing as ever and brings back fond memories" Gerry McDougall, Portsmouth
"I have to say I really enjoyed reading The Caseworker....... A great update for me since i've been away for some time now." Zareena
Many thanks to both of you - and to my colleague David for sending them all out.
For those who haven't seen it, this is a "thumb nail". EMail Caseworker@hubsolutions.co.uk for your copy.
Christmas Cheer
06 December 2008 13:13 | Scotland, Mobile, South Lanarkshire, Glasgow Community and Security Services, Caseworks Newsletter, Glasgow | Permalink
Christmas coming... then it will be time for new year's resolutions. Mine, is to ensure I do at least one blog entry each month - whats yours? You can tell me by clicking the comments box, then you will be committed.
The Caseworks Newsletter is going out soon, with a rather impressive picture of Christmas in Glasgow on the front page. It seemed a good idea to include it here, to cheer up anyone feeling a bit depressed by the Credit Crunch. Whatever the weather, and whatever the financial situation, Glasgow is determined to have a good Christmas, and I have no hesitation in recommending readers to come here for a Christmas break Check out their website to see the rest - http://www.winterfestglasgow.com/
mmm, has this got anything to do with HUBSolutions or Caseworks or are we going a bit off message here? Well slightly. I have been spending most of my time in Glasgow for the last six weeks, so when I say the city, shopping, night life, cultural events and surrounding countryside are great, I am talking from experience. More importantly, I have recruited our first Scottish employee to help me out with the volume of work.
There is quite a lot of job satisfaction up here right now, with Glasgow Community and Security Services expressing delight with the new Mediation Database and other goodies which my colleague, David, and I have delivered. Then South Lanarkshire has gone live with the Mobile solution, and yesterday declared it to be a success worthy of publicity. I am hoping to get a photo of one of those wardens working in wintry conditions, keying some vital piece of information into his smart phone, for transmission to Caseworks Notify and Respond. All credit to my colleague, Krish, for this achievement, having taken the prototype Mobile solution to pieces and rebuilt it as a completely robust and sophisticated piece of software.
The Caseworks Newsletter is going out soon, with a rather impressive picture of Christmas in Glasgow on the front page. It seemed a good idea to include it here, to cheer up anyone feeling a bit depressed by the Credit Crunch. Whatever the weather, and whatever the financial situation, Glasgow is determined to have a good Christmas, and I have no hesitation in recommending readers to come here for a Christmas break Check out their website to see the rest - http://www.winterfestglasgow.com/
mmm, has this got anything to do with HUBSolutions or Caseworks or are we going a bit off message here? Well slightly. I have been spending most of my time in Glasgow for the last six weeks, so when I say the city, shopping, night life, cultural events and surrounding countryside are great, I am talking from experience. More importantly, I have recruited our first Scottish employee to help me out with the volume of work.
There is quite a lot of job satisfaction up here right now, with Glasgow Community and Security Services expressing delight with the new Mediation Database and other goodies which my colleague, David, and I have delivered. Then South Lanarkshire has gone live with the Mobile solution, and yesterday declared it to be a success worthy of publicity. I am hoping to get a photo of one of those wardens working in wintry conditions, keying some vital piece of information into his smart phone, for transmission to Caseworks Notify and Respond. All credit to my colleague, Krish, for this achievement, having taken the prototype Mobile solution to pieces and rebuilt it as a completely robust and sophisticated piece of software.
A sign?
20 August 2008 15:11 | Permalink
Back in business?
Well I took a holiday from the Blog, largley because of the workload crisis caused by Leeds, so it is perhaps appropriate that the most interesting feedback I have had from my Blog has come from that same Yorkshire City. Remember this sign post, I bumped into on my first trip to Leeds - features in an earlier Blog?
Leslie, who has been a trusty intermediary at Leeds, between HUBSolutions and the Leeds ALMOs sent me this fascinating piece of research.
"I was having a look on your website to see if I could find anything about the user groups - we're going to set up an internal user group here for Caseworks.
I got sucked into the blog & came across a question about the throw yourself into the sea signpost. Please see below, if you're still curious. Two Christian artists, Pippa Hale and Stuart Tarbuck, have been posting unusual lines from the Bible around Leeds to mark a city-side festival of the visual arts. Their project is called Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin -- words from the story told in Daniel (Daniel 5: 25-30) which appeared on King Belshazzar's palace wall and warned him of his impending death. There are 13 of these Biblical quotes, which include some of Jesus's sayings, posted on signposts, paving stones, park benches, shop widows and billboards. The public are likely to be taken aback by some of the lines chosen, which include: "Go throw yourself into the sea," and "Blessed are the breasts". The latter is taken from Luke 23: 29: â??Blessed are the barren women, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed,â?? (NIV). Outside Toni and Guy's, a fashionable hair salon in one busy shopping street, appear the words:
"The hairs on your head are numbered".
So now you know! Lesley Aird"
Oh, and by the way in just three months Leeds have entered several hundred cases, and yes it is the time of the year to plan the next Northern User Group.
Thanks Leslie for getting me back into Blog mode - feedback makes it all worthwhile!
Well I took a holiday from the Blog, largley because of the workload crisis caused by Leeds, so it is perhaps appropriate that the most interesting feedback I have had from my Blog has come from that same Yorkshire City. Remember this sign post, I bumped into on my first trip to Leeds - features in an earlier Blog?
Leslie, who has been a trusty intermediary at Leeds, between HUBSolutions and the Leeds ALMOs sent me this fascinating piece of research.
"I was having a look on your website to see if I could find anything about the user groups - we're going to set up an internal user group here for Caseworks.
I got sucked into the blog & came across a question about the throw yourself into the sea signpost. Please see below, if you're still curious. Two Christian artists, Pippa Hale and Stuart Tarbuck, have been posting unusual lines from the Bible around Leeds to mark a city-side festival of the visual arts. Their project is called Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin -- words from the story told in Daniel (Daniel 5: 25-30) which appeared on King Belshazzar's palace wall and warned him of his impending death. There are 13 of these Biblical quotes, which include some of Jesus's sayings, posted on signposts, paving stones, park benches, shop widows and billboards. The public are likely to be taken aback by some of the lines chosen, which include: "Go throw yourself into the sea," and "Blessed are the breasts". The latter is taken from Luke 23: 29: â??Blessed are the barren women, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed,â?? (NIV). Outside Toni and Guy's, a fashionable hair salon in one busy shopping street, appear the words:
"The hairs on your head are numbered".
So now you know! Lesley Aird"
Oh, and by the way in just three months Leeds have entered several hundred cases, and yes it is the time of the year to plan the next Northern User Group.
Thanks Leslie for getting me back into Blog mode - feedback makes it all worthwhile!
Thankyou to South Tyneside
25 May 2008 12:17 | South Shields | Permalink
I thought I would have to dedicate this Blog entry to the staff at South Tyneside, who made me very welcome last week, and booked me into a lovely hotel overlooking the harbour mouth. South Shields must surely be one of Britain's lesser known seaside resorts, but it really has a magificent sandy beach second to none, brilliant restaurants and a fascinating history with connections with Grace Darling and the Venerable Bede.
Part of the purpose of the latest photo competition in The Caseworker is to promote the destinations where our customers work, and this is a real hidden gem. The photo is the view from my bedroom window (yes, a port hole) in the Little Haven Hotel. I will get my web developer to set up a photo gallery to show readers my other pictures.
Oh, and it was two days of hard work, as well, productive for me and the Client I think.
Memory for Caseworks
This is the first blog entry for a month. An unbelievably busy one, in which I have been working on the Leeds implementation for a part of every day, and found time to visit customers in the Midlands, Scotland and the North East and have two days holiday on the continent.
However, back on the Blog now, and keen to share with customers a little learning experience about memory. I have come to the conclusion that you cant have too much of it, and the "recommended memory" for new customers needs to be considerably increased. It came as a bit of a shock when the new Leeds system was unbearably slow in training. The server never seemed to be working very hard, but the relatively small amount of on-board memory (1 GByte) was permanently used to capacity. I recommended they increase it, and within 24 hours an upgrade to 3 GBytes was performed and the problem was resolved. Since then I have been looking at the memory other customers have, and found the record to be held by South Tyneside at a staggering 10 GBytes. I had the pleasure of using their system on Thursday and Friday, and the benefit was obvious. Every page - including some of their staggering 500 + link cases - loaded with lightning speed.
The lesson, memory is cheap, waiting is expensive!
Day 10, 100% success ratings
19 April 2008 08:25 | Leeds, Help Facility, Notify and Repond, Implementation, Action Plan, ALMO, Tension | Permalink
Back in London, and a chance to go through the Customer Feedback forms we handed out on a very rushed Friday of meetings and workshops.
Definitely a success. There were 5 representatives from the 3 ALMOs present on day 10.
Score for "Was the amount of time spent about right" - 5 out of 5 said YES.
Score for "Do you feel Caseworks can accommodate your needs" - 5 out of 5 said YES.
Any doubts?
One delegate indicated a desire for more understanding of the system before the session started. One regretted not having worked out their own procedures better before the two weeks started. One delegate wanted more individual time for his ALMO, rather than everything being a team activity.
General Comments?
Maddy Edwards, East North East Homes, said "Time spent on customisation was quite intense at times, but was necessary in order to achieve the desired outcome"
Our thoughts?
Very hard work! It felt like doing two jobs at once - a day of workshops, followed by an evening of customisation and enhancements.
Very difficult to deal with, effectively three customers, in the same workshop. Each ALMO could easily have justified their own database. I had a great deal of sympathy with the representative who would have liked one-to-one time. I hope we can provide some of this in subsequent meetings planned in Leeds.
Customisation might have been easier, if everyone had better understood the system and if they had got together and found more common ground on their procedures and forms, before we started.
Is there anything in this for other customers, who have had to wait for upgrades / enhancements?
Definitely. We have implemented many enhancements, most of which will be of general interest. Here are some of the more significant ones.
Definitely a success. There were 5 representatives from the 3 ALMOs present on day 10.
Score for "Was the amount of time spent about right" - 5 out of 5 said YES.
Score for "Do you feel Caseworks can accommodate your needs" - 5 out of 5 said YES.
Any doubts?
One delegate indicated a desire for more understanding of the system before the session started. One regretted not having worked out their own procedures better before the two weeks started. One delegate wanted more individual time for his ALMO, rather than everything being a team activity.
General Comments?
Maddy Edwards, East North East Homes, said "Time spent on customisation was quite intense at times, but was necessary in order to achieve the desired outcome"
Our thoughts?
Very hard work! It felt like doing two jobs at once - a day of workshops, followed by an evening of customisation and enhancements.
Very difficult to deal with, effectively three customers, in the same workshop. Each ALMO could easily have justified their own database. I had a great deal of sympathy with the representative who would have liked one-to-one time. I hope we can provide some of this in subsequent meetings planned in Leeds.
Customisation might have been easier, if everyone had better understood the system and if they had got together and found more common ground on their procedures and forms, before we started.
Is there anything in this for other customers, who have had to wait for upgrades / enhancements?
Definitely. We have implemented many enhancements, most of which will be of general interest. Here are some of the more significant ones.
- An Interview Preparation Screen, which will compliment the planned mobile solution
- A Counter Allegation facility, which will save everyone a lot of time
- A Tension monitoring database, previously requested by two customers
- Action Plan enhancements
- Context sensitive Help facilities
- Numerous enhancements of Notify and Respond, to make it suitable for Estate Inspection
Day 9, Leeds Cafe culture
Day 9, found me abandon the workshop to my colleague David, in pursuit of a missing 70,000 properties from the Property Gazetteer. A brief meeting with Rachel, sorted this out, and left me in the city centre, with time to kill and a lot of work to do on my laptop.
People who know me, know that one of my habits, is finding a nice cafe which has powerpoints and plugging myself in with a very large latte and cake for an hour or two. Leeds boasts plenty of interesting venues, and, indeed the walk around town, was interesting. I passed this giant chess game outside the library, and then walked into the city art gallery (well worth a visit) and the cafe. The Council run cafe was quite a magnificent Victorian tiled room, which at first sight seemed to offer everything except power points - they obviously did not want to spoil the 100 year old tiles. However, the problem was solved when I noticed floor level trap doors, under which were double sockets. Excellent - and the coffee was nice as well!
Night 7 in Leeds
15 April 2008 13:24 | Property Gazetteer, Leeds, Implementation | Permalink
Its nearly 10pm on Night 7 - and this is the view from my hotel window. Yes, the HUBSolutions Office Manager, Arlene, has put David and myself in a hotel right next to the giant Tetley's Brewery. Was this deliberate? We may even have indulged in a glass or two this evening.
The day shift worked hard today, testing the new data entry forms, and the Action Plans. I must confess, I took time out from the workshop to cross the city and pick up a fresh property extract from the NLPG team - hopefully, with all the properties included this time around! Now I have the rest of the night to import it ready for tomorrow's testing.