Eildon First RSL in Scotland to Implement New Project Management Tool
Date: 28/04/2011
Eildon Housing Association has just finished implementing the SDS Sequel, a dedicated project management tool that will be used to manage Eildon's development programme. Eildon went live with Sequel at the beginning of April; the first RSL in Scotland to adopt the system.
One of the first projects to be managed by Sequel is the Dovecot Development in Peebles, part of the wider Peebles Housing Strategy. The £7.9M project at Dovecot Road is on site and will provide 59 new flats, of which 37 will be for 'extra care' housing and 22 will be for general needs housing, all for affordable rent. The 'extra care' housing development is a new concept in the Scottish Borders. It will provide housing for older people to enable individuals and couples to live in their own homes, with 24 hour support available from an on-site staff team.
David Shelton met Eildon's Director of Technical Services, Laurence Cox, at the NHF Finance Exhibition back in 2009. At the time, their development and finance teams were using spreadsheets for appraising and managing developments. As part of an ongoing investment in new management information systems it was felt that a fully integrated, clear and concise system, development specific, was needed to control day-to-day cashflow and project management as well as providing full reporting and management information that could link in with other systems.
In December 2009, after a detailed scoping study, SDS were invited to set up a demonstration of Sequel at Eildon's offices. There followed a period of assessment before a trial version was installed for both the development and finance teams. Over the following months SDS and Eildon worked closely to ensure the system was best suited for their particular needs, which included some initial training.
In July 2010, Mark Walton took over as project leader at Eildon, who then carried on moving forward towards full installation of the system. Finally, after thorough testing and analysis, the system was purchased and installed at the end of last year and is now being used for their ongoing development programme.
Mark Walton reports that "the system is currently being used for cashflow management and workflow. We are actively working to expand this to the other functions, and in particular linking the property management section straight into our own housing management system".