30/01/2008 : Hand held technology to improve BHP estates

BHP are piloting a new service that will revolutionise the maintenance of communal areas on council estates. Estate inspectors and neighbourhood officers will be equipped with palm sized computers to upload information straight onto the office system and send work orders directly to contractors whilst on site.

Currently, officers visit BHP estates across the Borough on a daily basis recording information about communal repairs. They then have to return to their offices and raise works orders which they send to the contractors. They may even need to go back to the site if our contractor needs more information or details about the location or problem with any work orders.

The new PDA's allow staff to do all this at the touch of a button, including the monitoring of estate cleaning and grounds maintenance.

BHP estate inspector Garfield Thompson said:" So far everything has gone well. The new equipment means I can spend more time on estates sorting out resident issues rather than being sat in the office typing up notes from the previous day. We hope we will be able to do twice the work in half the time."

Linda Footer, head of governance and communications added: "Introducing the PDA's into this type of work makes so much sense."

"Now our officers can spend time carrying out more inspections and estate walkabouts with our residents rather than sat in the office replicating work. We can get around more estates each week and get problems dealt with much quicker."