Like many housing associations, Parkhead Housing Association faced challenges in managing governance processes, from time-consuming paper-based meetings to tracking strategic objectives and risk management. In search of a more streamlined and efficient solution, they turned to OneAdvanced's Governance and Risk Management solution; transforming their operations, reducing admin burdens and enabling them to focus on delivering value to their community.
Background
Client: Parkhead Housing Association
Industry: Housing
Product: Meetings & Board Management, Risk Management, Governance platform and Objectives module
About: 1,700 properties with 57 staff in Glasgow, Scotland
Established in July 1977 as one of Scotland’s first community-based Housing Associations, Parkhead Housing Association has a strong track record of development, innovation and fantastic work in the local community.
The Challenges
Parkhead Housing Association shares the challenges they faced when trying to manage their governance, including conducting meetings, controlling risk, and tracking strategic objectives:
• Using a paper-based system to organise meetings and track goals was tedious for the team.
• Constant administrative burden when printing and distributing meeting packs, with time and resources taken to plan meetings for boards and subcommittees costing between £27,000- £30,000 a year.
• Switching to a DIY electronic system was still time-consuming and clunky to use.
• Tracking strategic objectives was difficult with a lack of version control.
Time for a Change
When reviewing the cost of doing business for the organisation, Parkhead decided to look for a more efficient, functional and time-saving system for their board and subcommittees.
Matthew Reid, Corporate Services Manager at Parkhead Housing Association, shares the steps the organisation took in order to streamline their governance process.
“We conducted an in-depth review of our governance structure and engaged with an external consultant. We looked at several areas across the board and were looking to streamline a number of operations that were reduced to a number of subcommittees and meetings at the time. So, once we cut down on our subcommittees and the number of board meetings a year, we then needed to move to a more strategic, high-level way of reporting performance information, managing meetings and controlling risks for our organisation.
The Solution
After assessing their governance structure, Parkhead Housing made the decision to implement a system that would be secure, reliable and have everything in one place. The organisation adopted Governance and Risk Management solutions from OneAdvanced as a way to reduce time and resources that would have been spent by staff in the past.
Matthew said, “We first heard of OneAdvanced’s Governance and Risk Management solutions when we were at a housing conference in Scotland. We were on the search for a scorecard approach to performance information and a more manageable way to conduct meetings.
Keeping in line with compliance and governance processes is crucial for any housing association. Parkhead Housing found that using a unique all-in-one system like OneAdvanced’s Governance and Risk platform allowed them to reduce the administrative burden of a paper-based system.
OneAdvanced’s Governance and Risk platform overview
- Easy to use, highly intuitive software ensures adoption by the board.
- Last minute changes are easy to incorporate so packs are distributed earlier.
- Capture, evaluate and manage risks and opportunities of any type in one place and under a single flexible framework.
- Assign strategic objectives to specific owners and map to organisational themes and structure.
- Mitigations, controls and responses are all clearly captured separately from actions and future plans giving a better understanding of the current state and the target position.
- Clear and more transparent audit trails for risk registers.
The Outcome
Matthew shares how each product has played a role for Parkhead Housing, and keeping these tools in one place has allowed the team to focus on making the right decisions.
“In terms of integrated governance, having meetings, risks and performance management tools all in one place is beneficial and has worked well for us as an organisation. We no longer waste time, energy and resources on building up board packs”
From saving resources for board packs to saving time making decisions at meetings, Matthew gives an insight into how the OneAdvanced solution has helped him.
“I can’t stress enough how much as an organiser that the product has helped when servicing the board and the subcommittees and producing performance and risk information, whether internally from the leadership team or for the board meetings as well
By streamlining meetings, enhancing risk management, and improving the tracking of strategic objectives, Parkhead Associaton has not only saved time and resources but also strengthened their decision-making capabilities.
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