This is the last Blog of 2011. It seems a good time to take a glimpse at what is coming in 2012.

Caseworks is destined for an exciting time as we start to roll out our Android Product. I thought it was time to lift the covers and give readers a glimpse of what is coming.

We have been much more ambitious with the Android project than we were (or were able to be) with the previous Windows product. This one is not going to be locked into any single function, not even going to be useful only for ASB Casework.  By looking at the broad range of functions which our customers will want, we are looking for a completely customisable product which will work for Environmental Issues, Estate Inspections, Estate Scoring, Tenancy Audit and ASB Interview recording.



Readers may be asking why we are investing in new products, when it is clear that we have entered an Austerity Age, which could well last for the next 5 years and will kill Public Sector spending.

We believe, that despite the cuts - and possibly because of them - government will have to keep on investing in the latest technology in order to deliver the same services with less resources. Mobile Technology has the potential to make much better use of staff time, by getting rid of those hard cover note books, and the time spent keying into a computer system in the office. It has to be the way forward, and Tablets (probably not iPads), are bound to become the mobile computer of 2012.

However, we arent stopping at rebuilding our Mobile Application. We are also going to release the next major version of Caseworks during 2012. This will NOT be an upgrade, but a complete rewrite, based on .net technology, more flexible, more customisable, more modular than the current version and potentially not restricted to the principle of "casework" - maybe we will find a niche for it in the Private Sector.

Peter Hall

It really is the case, that every new customer - and even those who have decided to re-customise their system, like Lewisham - adds one or two bright new ideas to the Caseworks system.  Lewisham is one of the oldest users of the system, but following a complete turnover of staff decided to recustomise the system this year, to better match their organisation and policies.

Peter Hall

Peter Hall

I was fascinated to read the bad tempered (The Times said "bullish") performance of Steve Ballmer (Microsoft CE) in the Web 2.0 summit this morning in which he chose to criticise the Android operating system compared to his new Windows 7 Mobile. I expect some people reading this have never even seen a Windows 7 mobile phone, which says it all. I have yet to see a single advert for a commercial product supported by a Windows 7 app, always they say "download apps for the iPhone and Android", sometimes Blackberry gets a mention.

Peter Hall

Pressure of work has stopped me writing a blog entry for a few months, but I am sure I am not alone in finding myself motivated to express some comment on the extraordinary events of recent days, which seems directly related to Anti Social Behaviour.

Our team has been working hard in Woolwich, setting up the ASB Module for London Borough of Greenwich. It is impossible not to feel horror and outrage at seeing the Weatherspoons pub which we have several times visited reduced to a burnt out hulk after the inferno shown in this picture.

However, much self ritious disgust has been expressed by one and all into the effects of the riots, and now the debate has moved on to why, and what next.

Before all this happened, a prospective employee suggested to me that a "Gang Module" might be a good addition to the database, as there is a need to monitor the members of Gangs, whether or not they have been linked to ASB and work with them to get them out of this evil culture. Her remarks seem all too prophetic and Mr Cameron's speech that he is going to "Wage War on Gangs" made me think that there might be mileage in such a product.

Unfortunately I then read the rest of his speech today, and learned that Mr Cameron was going to "fix 120,000 problem families" (not families with problems), by 1. Giving all 16 year olds some sort of Community Service sentence, whether or not they engage in criminal activity 2. Further restrictions on Benefits for the jobless 3. Ending the "chilling effect" of human rights and Health and Safety legislation 4. Reforms of school discipline.

Mr Cameron might have taken the time to read the other reports in the same papers which showed that the Met had arrested 1,580 people of which only 330 were juveniles. It may be that much of the problem is dishonest adults who are leading our children astray. It may be, we should take more time to understand the problem.

Peter Hall

I am not sure whether it is me getting older, or Microsoft being past its peak, but it really feels that every new piece of software which Microsoft brings out is "almost as good as the thing it replaced". I thought I would share a few frustrations with readers, in the hope that it will be of use.

I have recently bought a Windows 7 laptop, running IE8 and installed Office 2010 finally replacing my Windows XP machine running IE6 and Office 2003. Well obviously the graphics are better, and maybe it loads faster (though that could be just the effect of a new machine).

But I quickly discovered that so many pieces of software didn't actually work, and far from being "simpler" as the adverts claim, almost everything is more complex due to an added security layer.

Two really vital tips which should come with the instruction manual

1. If you want all of your Office programmes to run as they did before, you must run them as "Administrator". This is not always obvious - click on Properties for the Office Application and select "Compatibility" as in this picture and tick the box for "run this programme as an administrator". Macros / vb code may not run normally otherwise.

2. If you want to run software not intended for Windows 7 - particularly establishing VPN links - you must run the "Virtual XP software" which, amazingly, brings back your Windows XP and IE6 as a window on your machine. The download link is
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx

If you are using Office 2007 or 2010 for the first time, you won't know where any of your tools are - just put your problem into Google - loads of other people have had the same problem, and it is much quicker than the Microsoft help.

ALSO, remember that some of the people you send emails to may still have Office 2003 and they wont be able to read your Office 2007 or 2010 documents. Always use Save As and save as 2000-2003 version if you are emailing out.

Office 2010 is more impressive, but from my point of view, all of the gains are wiped out by the fact that auto-complete of email addresses isn't working on Outlook. Also, there is still no indexed search facility on Outlook, making text searches of emails painfully slow and the Contacts section is still a load of rubbish, giving no way of easily copying and pasting full contact details out of Outlook.

AND FINALLY, and actually what has prompted this Blog, is that I received a phone call today from an acquaintance who has recently purchased a Windows 7 Mobile, and discovered, that as a matter of policy, there is no Active Sync and no way to synchronise with Outlook and other documents on your PC. You are intended to use "Zume" for media, and hot mail for emails / contacts etc. We now have a situation where you would be better off buying an iPhone or Android phone if you want to synchronise with a Windows application - but Windows 7 does sync with XBox!

Overall, there is a common thread to all of this, and that is that since Bill Gates' departure, Microsoft has been taken over by the Media department and the Finance Department and is no longer the technology driven company it once was.

In these difficult financial times, all of us, especially Local Authorities should be looking to migrate to Open Source software - Open Office and Android -rather than paying more money to US corporations.

Peter Hall

Peter Hall

This is the last Blog for 2010. This is the time to look back at the year and see how Caseworks has developed in just 12 months.

Here is a summary of our achievements.

Four new customers signed up
A new DV module
A new Gateway Module
A new Supported Housing Module
A new Tenancy Support Module
A new Estate Management Mobile application
A new ASB mobile web site

In addition, numerous new fields and new pages in the existing modules have been added and many customers have commissioned new reports, full or partial upgrades and new correspondence.

Several milestones have been passed. We passed the 1.5 million case pages earlier in the year and are now very close to 100,000 cases entered by our 3,000 registered users. Behind the scenes we are also breaking records. The number of database tables is nudging 500, the number of customisation records has passed 50,000 and the number of Lookups has now passed 1,000.

Perhaps the most visual demonstration of the size and scope of the system is the amazing number of Transaction buttons - now numbering 570 between all of the modules.

Christmas is a time for playing with new toys, so I used my new iPad to create this Blog, and to put together a combo of some of the Transaction Buttons in the system. Have a good New Year!

Peter Hall

The Northern Housing Consortium, describes itself as "The Voice of Housing in the North" and at their conference in York in December, it certainly lived up to that label. Below is the sight which greeted exhibitors and delegates in York on 1st December.

Inside was warm and hospitable, food was excellent. Surprisingly, plenty of delegates turned up for the conferences and to see the stands. On the right is the new HUBSolutions stand, boasting "more functions than your iphone" .


Some people reading that boast may think it is a little over-the-top, but as we near the end of 2010 the rate of development of the Caseworks product has never been greater. In this year alone, we have created the Domestic Violence Module (live in Portsmouth), the Gateway Module (testing almost complete in Portsmouth), the Supported Housing Module (testing almost completed at Riverside Housing Group), the Tenancy Support Module (testing almost complete at East Durham Homes and Leeds City Council), the ASB Mobile (testing about to begin at Solihull) and a new flagship product, the Estate Management Mobile (commissioned by East Durham Homes, Hyndburn Homes and Riverside Housing Group).

Peter Hall

I have just returned from, what we thought was a very good SLCNG Conference this year.

Peter Hall

Contour use a Vulnerability Assessment to determine the priority of the case. The outcome of the assessment determines whether the case goes to the specialist Community Safety Team or to the Local Housing Office. This seems a pretty good response to the Pilkington Case, as in fairness, determining the priority of the case purely by the type of Incident makes no allowance for the impact of small, persistent abuses to a victim who may be isolated and have problems of their own.

I am pleased to say, that we were yet again able to rise to our "customisation workshop challenge" - you tell us what you want, and we will include it overnight. Contour went through their need on a Friday morning, and by Monday morning we were able to demo the first prototype, by Tuesday morning we had a fully working system with redirection of cases included.

Here is a screen shot of the new Vulnerability Record included in a "Coloured Red" case.

Peter Hall

I am going to allow myself a little self-congratulation this week. Ardent readers of this Blog, will have seen my suggestion that a great deal of public money could be saved if Councils and Government Departments gave up the rat race to install and upgrade Microsoft Office, at great expense, and adopted Open Office as their standard instead.


Scroll down a little bit, and look at my entry of the 30th June, entitled "Budget Cuts - a painless idea".


Now click on this hyperlink from the Guardian Technology Blog

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2010/aug/26/local-government-spending-open-standards-saving enititled "Councils 'could save at least £51m' with shift to ODF and open source" and you will see that Charles Arthur has had the same idea (8 weeks later). Interestingly, he has been able to put some figures on the saving by comparing UK IT costs with those of Spain, and come up with a figure of £51m, or, if you want to work it out for your own Authority, £200 per desktop per year. Now if you are reading this in your air conditioned open plan office just count the PCs and laptops and see much money could be saved. Multiply that for every section in every department, and every Local Authority, Housing Association and Government Department and £51m looks quite conservative.


My only criticism of his blog, is that it gives the impression that Open Office is incompatible with Microsoft Office, and therefore every major application which interfaces with Office would have to be re-written. He argues, that the Government should tell software companies to do just that.


Actually it is far from incompatible, and in my Local Government experience, many major systems don't really inteface with MS Office anyway. Caseworks is an exception in having an interface with both Word and Excel.


I have tested both. Word would be no problem, our mailmerge correspondence will open just as well in Open Office. We manipulate Rich Text Files on the server directly, we dont use Office to do that.

Excel Lists are no problem, they can also be read perfectly well in Open Office.


Excel Pivot Tables are a small problem, though not insurmountable. Open Office has a function which is the equivalent of Pivot Tables called Data Pilot. When you first open your Pivot Table in Open Office it appears to only do Drill Down, but when you read their Help, and do what it says - Data - DataPilot - Refresh - there is some magic and you get a DataPilot table out of your Pivot Table with all the functionality you would expect. Here is the proof - an Excel Pivot Report, live in Open Office... (I created the chart in Open Office, by the way)



If I am honest, I havent yet gone over to Open Office and abandoned my MS Office, but if it was a choice between this and cutting staff or services, I would do it tomorrow.

I would also argue, don't stop at Open Office. There is an abundance of free software out there which you could be using. I am currently reading up on MySQL, which appears to be a perfectly sound database option as an alternative to SQL Server and the horrendously expensive Oracle.

Now, to be honest, the conversion to MySQL would be much more onerous.


Readers will know, I am also sold on free maps (see Blog before last), and now I am looking at free GIS software - infact I am going to a conference about that in a weeks time and I will report back in this blog - so keep reading...

Peter Hall

If you are interested in statistics, people are adding a page every three minutes during working hours, and have so far entered 85,000 cases.

In addition, nearly 225,000 "Notification Records" have been added to Notify and Respond / Estate Mananagement.

Peter Hall

Peter Hall

Nothing to do with Caseworks this time - but addressing an issue which will be taxing Caseworks Managers for at least the next 5 years. How to make a painless budget cut.

• It really is compatible with Office, you can open Word, Excel and Powerpoint files and edit them and save them as Office files very easily


• There is MUCH less of a learning curve going from Office 2003 to OpenOffice than there would be going to Office 2007. I am still scanning the numerous "ribbon menus" trying to work out where Microsoft has put things.


• It does pretty much everything Office does, and a few things Office 2003 didnt do, like exporting to PDF.


• I still havent come to terms with the new Access 2007. The Open Office Database was a pleasurable throwback to the old Access look and feel which I have lost.


• Open Office Drawing programme offers you a version of Visio.

That's my idea for now. Share your ideas with our community for painless cuts by commenting or by emailing caseworker@hubsolutions.co.uk

Peter Hall

Like many others, especially those from the Microsoft tradition, I was more than sceptical about the value of the IPAD format. Too big for your pocket, and no keyboard, was my initial reaction to the media hype.


However, 10 minutes in the Apple Store in Brent Cross shopping centre, logging onto our new ASB Mobile and I am converted. It is a real pleasure to use; bright, crystal clear, the two-finger zoom control adds so much, and unlike so many other mobile browsers everything works really well.

Peter Hall

Caseworks on a Blackberry?

Peter Hall

I've said it before, but it is always good to get a bit of positive feedback, and few customers can match our East Durham ASB Manager, Amanda Fulcher, for a vivacious response.

I did this small report for her, and this was the response:-

"WOW thank’s Peter

The report is great.

Amanda"

Peter Hall

The Caseworks Report Writer was deployed on a customer site for the first time this week, and first impressions where favourable.


Eileen from Riverside Housing Group emailed me


"Thanks for this [the Report Writer User Manual] – have had a quick go and it is really easy to use. I can see this being of great use to our Managers when they need to do reporting."


The report writer was mentioned in the last Blog, but here are a few more screen shots from the User Manual.




















Interested? Email caseworker@hubsolutions.co.uk for the full manual and more details

Peter Hall

It has been a long time since the last Blog. Why? Overwork! The whole team has been working flat out adding functionality to the system and meeting customer needs. My own thing has been the Domestic Abuse Module for Portmouth and the Supported Housing Module for Riverside, but I may save them for a later blog. I want to dedicate this blog to the amazing achievements of my developers, who have all expanded the system in different directions and stretched their own skills to the limit.

Peter Hall