North Star has become known for its innovative thinking and passion to improve service through technology. Their recent award-winning project to replace their end-of-life legacy Housing Management System (HMS) with BRIKHousing (powered by MS Dynamics) was probably one of the best implementations seen in the sector in recent years.
Read below how Golden Marzipan have supported North Star on their journey for the last three years to ensure successful delivery of their new, modern, fit-for-purpose, easy-to-support housing management system: “HMS Endeavour”.
Stage One: Legacy housing management system assessment – stick or twist?
Golden Marzipan had been supporting North Star’s digital team for some time when they asked for our advice regarding their HMS strategy. Their incumbent supplier had informed them that the system version they were using was going to be retired in a couple of years and North Star wanted to use this opportunity to review their options.
We worked closely with North Star to assess what worked well and not so well in their legacy system. We helped them identify features they would like to see in a new HMS and defined what expectations they had from their supplier.
We believed North Star broadly had four options:
- Replace fully with a like for like system
- Replace fully with a system that offers newer technology
- Replace with a hybrid offering (partial replacement)
- Stick with the incumbent until a newer technology is available
It became evident very quickly that options three and four were not going to work for North Star as colleagues were frustrated with their incumbent system and the digital team relationship with their supplier was strained. The functionality North Star wanted from their new system along with their expectations of their supplier meant that a full replacement (and decommissioning) of their legacy system was needed. We facilitated several workshops to help North Star colleagues reach this conclusion in an objective and rational way.
Stage Two: Software selection – safe or pioneering?
As North Star had decided they wanted to replace their legacy system, we worked with them to identify potential software vendors. We facilitated some early soft market testing with several suppliers to review options but also to help drive enthusiasm and explore the art of the possible with colleagues.
The systems reviewed fell into two brackets: (1) Traditional HMS from a long-standing vendor well known in the sector or (2) Newer technology – from either new vendors, or established vendors who were new to the sector.
Golden Marzipan worked closely with the North Star team to assess how each system would help them achieve some of their key objectives from their “Vision to 2023” strategy. We undertook a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis and compared the benefits and risks of their two options in detail.
We worked with them to score all the options objectively and select a preferred way forward. The route they chose was to look for solutions that were based on the Microsoft Dynamics platform as they felt that would offer them the right blend of flexible, trusted, and modern technology.
Stage Three: SI Partner selection – cultural fit?
As North Star had chosen to pursue a Dynamics platform strategy and Microsoft’s route to market is through its partners, the next step was to select the right SI partner to help them implement the solution and work with them longer term.
Golden Marzipan developed and led a bespoke tender process to help them select their preferred partner, assessing a broad range of criteria including:
- Functional modules (CRM, Repairs & Maintenance, Rents & Tenancy Management, Compliance, Voids, Asset Management & Development and Other)
- Non-functional technical requirements
- Delivering the specification and implementation plan to time, cost and quality
- The partner’s approach to innovation and social value
- Suitability and experience (cultural fit and relevant case studies)
A robust scoring mechanism was used which included a panel review of all the tender responses, along with detailed costs and commercial analysis. We also facilitated on-site presentation and interview sessions as we recognised the success of the project would come down to the cultural fit between North Star and their partner.
The preferred partner chosen was RedkiteCRM (now part of Infinity Group).
Stage Four: Implementation project assurance
The delivery programme commenced in Summer 2023 and had to complete by Autumn 2024 as the legacy HMS would be retired in Spring 2025. The project became known as “HMS Endeavour”, which not only highlighted their new voyage of discovery but also had meaning to colleagues as a local reference to the history of North Star as an organisation.
Golden Marzipan worked with North Star to develop a project governance framework that supported a modular based implementation plan over 18 months, enabling them to roll out BRIKHousing and the MS Dynamics platform in a phased and controlled way by launching a new module every 2-3 months.
We helped establish the project Steering Group which met monthly throughout this period and more frequently at critical times in the project life cycle. Permanent members of the Steering Group included a blend of key project sponsors (North Star executive leaders), internal project manager (their Head of Digital & Data), supplier project manager (senior representation from Infinity) and independent project assurance (governance expert from Golden Marzipan). In addition to the permanent members, accountable managers from the relevant departments were brought into the group based on which module was being progressed each month.
Golden Marzipan’s role was to ensure project governance was effective, that project reporting was accurate, and to guide and challenge appropriately. We advised on governance and technical matters as necessary, and helped keep the project team honest. We also helped North Star’s Digital and Data team set up a new Change Approval Board to manage change requests post go-live and create a legacy of continual change with appropriate governance which will be used long after the project ends.
The result and the learning
HMS Endeavour was delivered successfully within budget and within the agreed timeframe, enabling notice to be served on the incumbent supplier as planned and sufficient time for decommissioning to be conducted before support was withdrawn.
North Star is very pleased with the outcome and the project has been recognised by all parties involved as being extremely successful, including at several award ceremonies.
There are many reasons for this success, but Golden Marzipan believe the most influential were:
- Selecting a modern flexible technology platform which is easy to integrate with
- Exec-led strategy to take the product out of the box and adjust internal processes to fit
- Modular implementation approach
- Cultural fit with their SI partner
- Quality of the training and embedding approach
- Governance approach and right blend of membership on the Steering Group
Feedback
At the end of the project, a celebration day, lessons learned exercise and closure meeting were held to thank all those involved in its success and identify areas that could be improved further.
Feedback for Golden Marzipan from Steering Group members included:
“Andrew’s support, expertise and challenge have been critical to the success of this project”
– James Walder (Chief Executive)
“We pulled a blinder having Andrew on the Steering Group. It was useful having him there as a permanent member of the group to guide, challenge and assure us throughout our journey”
– Carole Richardson (Executive Director of Customers).
“Andrew helped us through every step of our journey. He helped guide us in the early days to make the right decisions for North Star in a professional and thought-provoking way. He was always available during the implementation for guidance when needed, and did a great job of helping me shape the governance of our project and keeping us honest throughout. Andrew helped me right size the level of content at the Steering Group and ensured it was timely and appropriate to ensure success at pace. I would have no hesitation in recommending Andrew for a similar role in the future”
– Sean Lawless (Director of Insight and Transformation)
