A notebook full of visits and an evening of typing
Housing officers spend much of their week out on their patch: new tenancy visits, welfare checks, tenancy issues, arrears conversations, complaints, estate walks. They go to each visit with printed notes or whatever they remember, write in a notebook, and come back to the office or sit at the kitchen table in the evening to type everything into the housing management system.
Some notes get typed days later, some in summary, some not at all. A repair spotted during the visit goes to the repairs team by email. A support need goes to a colleague by message. When the officer is off, nobody knows what was said.
Why officers work this way
- The housing management system is designed for desktops and is slow on a phone.
- There is no offline access for homes with poor signal.
- Officers cannot see the tenancy history easily on the doorstep.
- Follow-up tasks for other teams are sent by email.
- Photos are taken on personal phones and not attached to records.
The officers are not the problem. Their tools assume they sit at a desk.
What delayed notes cost
Officer time in the evenings is the obvious cost, along with the burnout that comes with it. Records that are late or incomplete leave colleagues without the context they need, particularly for vulnerable households. Tasks sent by email get lost. When a case becomes a complaint or a legal matter, the record of what was said and done is thin.
The mobile visit app we build
- Before a visit, the officer sees a summary of the tenancy on their phone or tablet: household, rent account, open cases, recent repairs, contacts and any alerts about how to approach the visit.
- During or right after the visit, the officer records notes by typing or dictation, with speech transcribed for them to check.
- Visit templates for common visit types, such as new tenancy or welfare check, prompt the right questions and record answers as structured data.
- Photos are taken in the app and attached to the record, not left on a personal phone.
- Follow-up tasks, such as a repair, a referral or a callback, are raised from the visit and sent to the right team or system.
- The app works offline and uploads when it reconnects.
- The visit record is written back to your housing management system as a contact or note, so colleagues see it the same day.
| Visit task | Today | With the app |
|---|---|---|
| Preparing | Printouts or memory | Tenancy summary on the device |
| Notes | Notebook, typed later | Recorded during the visit |
| Photos | Personal phone | Attached to the record |
| Follow-ups | Emails to other teams | Tasks raised from the visit |
| Record | Days later, if at all | Written back the same day |
What officers record and how visits are carried out follow your own policies. The app supports the officers; it does not replace their judgement.
What officers get back
Evenings are no longer for typing. Records are current, so colleagues covering a patch can pick things up. Repairs and referrals raised during visits reach the right team. Managers can see visits and tasks without asking each officer. And the record of what happened in each home is there when it is needed.
Is this how your officers work?
- Housing officers type up visit notes after hours.
- Notes are written on paper during visits.
- Officers cannot see tenancy history on the doorstep.
- Follow-up tasks are sent by email.
- Photos from visits sit on personal phones.