Seamless email integration into Orchard
Established in 2000, Saxon Weald is a housing association managing approximately 6,750 homes across Sussex and Hampshire. Providing affordable rented and shared ownership homes for individuals and families, as well as properties exclusively for the over 55s.
Manifest Software Solutions was appointed as Saxon Weald’s integration partner to interrogate incoming emails, allowing seamless communications between tenants and staff.
Exchange web services was used to route the email into Orchard, creating a work item for each email. The Outlook web client has been embedded in Orchard to allow staff to view and reply to emails using all the features available in Outlook. Any replies are also automatically captured and attached to the contact history in Orchard.
Results
Saxon Weald previously didn’t have any reporting and emails were being missed. Now, staff can now reply to an email within the CRM system and can clearly track email threads. The system is seamless, and staff look in the same place for information.
For customers, the housing association responds faster and Saxon Weald can see when they have responded, providing more information about what people are contacting them about.
Lee Wiginton – Business Applications Manager says:
“Orchard has its own email integration which we found was limited for our purposes, so we wanted to take it further.
This is a first for Saxon Weald and a large piece of work. This is our second iteration of this project and enables Saxon Weald to reply to an email within the CRM system, tracking email threads.
Software we integrate with:
Total Mobile
Working with Saxon Weald, Manifest Software Solutions built a bespoke interface between Total Mobile voids solution and the Orchard Direct Works application.
Lee Wiginton, Business Applications Manager says;
“Previously we didn’t have any integration with Orchard. Manifest Software Solutions built a bespoke interface between Total Mobile and Orchard to speak to each other as they have the skills to get systems talking. The Total Mobile voids solution has been tightly integrated with the Orchard Direct Works application.”
Lee adds;
“We wouldn’t have delivered it without Manifest Software Solution’s help. It enabled us to put in a system for empty homes and planned works. It means we can now easily track those jobs, whereas before it was spreadsheet based.”
DRS and Job Manager
Manifest Software Solutions is working in partnership with Saxon Weald and One Advanced to build all the integration to implement Advanced’s Job Manager mobile solution.
Lee Wiginton, IT Applications Manager says:
“We looked at the market and needed a replacement for SVS – a repairs mobile system. We found that Job Manager was the right fit, but it didn’t have a standard integration with Orchard, so we engaged Manifest Software Solutions.
Aside from installing the housing management system, this is the biggest project internally we have done at Saxon Weald. Manifest Software Solutions is working in partnership with One Advanced to deliver this, building all the integration to make sure it hangs together.
Working with Manifest Software Solutions is great, as they always want to make every project a success and make sure they do whatever it takes to deliver. They pull everything together including working with suppliers. You can rely on them to do a good job. I can’t fault them.”
Integrating with Grafton Merchandising
Saxon Weald’s housing management system has an interface for ordering materials for the repairs service but Lee Wiginton, Business Applications Manager says;
“It didn’t quite do what we wanted it to do so we asked Alan if Manifest Software Solutions could help.
Manifest Software Solutions manipulated the interface files to get into the right format to work with the bill-based system. Without their involvement, we wouldn’t have been able to do it.”
Email integration
Saxon Weald required integration that allowed emails sent to the main mailbox to be automatically imported into its housing management system as a work item for the contact centre to review. Users can now view a history of contacts and can even open the emails from within the housing management system. The email launches in the native Outlook application allowing the housing officer to reply with a properly formatted email. The sent email is then automatically captured by the integration and added to the contact history.