The challenge
Eraneos is guiding the Amsterdam housing association Rochdale in its transformation to a data-driven organization, so that Rochdale can continue to provide its tenants with good, affordable housing and the best service now and in the future.
Where the organization used to operate on a combination of fragmented, sometimes incomplete data and interpretations, now Rochdale will be able to work with consistent information provided by the newly established Data Competence Center. This will optimize the basic tasks of the housing corporation, allowing employees to focus their attention on what is needed: providing tenants with fast and good service. A transition that not only focuses on obtaining a good and complete data structure, but much more importantly: on creating internal support, understanding and an organizational structure that is future-proofed.
Eraneos worked with Rochdale and PWCo to create an Agile approach and a Data Competence Center (DCC), a reporting and analysis structure, data definitions and modeling and implementation.
Planned development is made possible by an agile, learning organization, with a keen social antenna. Rochdale’s service is aimed at solving simple questions quickly, simply and without fuss, and scaling up when things get more complicated. In this way, the organization fulfills its objectives of being predictable, reliable and personal.
The approach
The Netherlands has traditionally had a strong social rental sector, which is affordable and of good quality; for low and middle incomes. Climate change, economic recession, global migration and political unrest are putting the (social) rental sector under pressure. Woningstichting Rochdale is also experiencing this. How can it continue to provide its tenants with good and affordable housing? How does Rochdale offer its tenants the service they need? How to keep vacancy rates as low as possible? How does Rochdale keep its housing stock up to date? And as an organization, how do you ensure a maintenance program that is comprehensive and cost-effective? All these questions, combined with an outdated IT system, prompted Rochdale to now commit to a data-driven organizational structure. Because this will soon enable Rochdale to anticipate these and future challenges quickly, completely and flexibly.
The outdated management information system no longer meets the technical and substantive requirements and wishes of the organization. On the one hand, this means that management information is limited and, on the other, the basis is insufficiently standardized in terms of technology and content. Not being able to answer questions such as “is a housing unit with or without a garage?” and “what is the definition of a garage?” make work unnecessarily complicated. Moreover, the result is that internal and external comparisons and analyses cannot be carried out.
Eraneos has established a long-term strategy, working toward data-driven work. In this strategy, we work with five pillars:
- Systems & architectures to order the technology into a robust and sustainable platform;
- Identify and develop products & services that the organization needs;
- Develop and standardize processes, such as establishing basic definitions;
- Train and set up the organization so that there is support and the right mindset is developed;
- Colleagues to identify new roles and fill them with the right people.
Using a scrum approach, the organization is incrementally transforming from business intelligence to integrating data analytics and ultimately forecasting by 2025/2026. And while the broad outlines of this planning are in place, a project plan is laid out each year to achieve this goal. The complexity, technological developments and a learning organization make the scrum approach ideal for such a project.
Rochdale is one of Amsterdam’s largest housing corporations. With a mission to provide good and affordable housing, in strong neighborhoods, for people with a relatively low income, Rochdale provides housing for 80,000 residents in the Amsterdam metropolitan region with over 38,000 homes. Rochdale is highly motivated to make a solid contribution to solving the housing crisis. The demand for affordable housing far exceeds supply, leaving the right to a home far out of reach for many people. And there is more going on. In some neighborhoods, livability is under pressure. Moreover, the looming climate crisis requires major investments to improve the sustainability of our homes.
Het resultaat
In the first phase, the basis for data analysis within the organization has now been established.
Systems, processes and products
From a dashboard and reporting system to a data warehouse 2.0 – a data management system to unlock business intelligence activities – standardization is needed. Because with data standards, governments, corporations, systems, employees and tenants all speak the same language. This allows you to compare apples to apples and allows you to act transparently and quickly when dealing with tenant questions, compliance or investments, for example. The industry-wide VERA and CORA standards of the Aedes umbrella organization were used for standardization. These standards have been implemented and translated into the data dashboards by cooperation partner PWCo.
Organization & colleagues
Although data-driven work is now often seen as the holy grail, it remains only a means to achieve your goals. After all, a data-driven organization only really works if the organization moves along with it. In the process, employees learn what everything entails and grow along with the systems. The Data Competence Center creates new roles, such as data scientists, data engineers and data analysts, and roles such as data stewards become more meaningful. As in any organization, at Rochdale there are people who are proficient in excel, working on data adaption. These people have been mobilized to internally fit the new roles.
What’s next
In the coming years, Rochdale will continue to work on rolling out its long-term strategy. Rochdale wants and needs to be better able to respond to major issues such as housing fraud, indoor climate and challenges such as more building, nitrogen, climate and sustainability. Step by step, Rochdale is moving toward being able to use data to predict and respond to these issues more and more effectively. In the next phase, the steering information of the customer contact department will be organized. By collecting this information properly, staff will have more insight. This allows them to respond to tenants faster and better. For example, if there are many complaints coming from a particular neighborhood, then the connection can be made faster and action is also possible sooner.
Ultimately, the Data Competence Center, should provide quality data, clear reports and thus help make the lives of staff and tenants better. Tenants notice this through better coordination and service , contributing to the livability of the neighborhood where they live. Rochdale benefits from reduced costs, better service and greater efficiency by, for example, smartly planning maintenance and houses being vacant for less time between transfers. And while that now requires a major culture change, it ensures that everyone dealing with Rochdale truly recognizes its promise “Rochdale gives Home.”
Let’s create sustainable change together.
