It’s been six years since Housemark first launched Photobook – the only inspection management platform built exclusively for the sector by the sector. Since then, its usage and reach have grown yearly, with over 50 social housing providers representing over 200,000 homes using Photobook to carry out and manage inspections. It was incredibly satisfying to recently pass the milestone of one million property inspections undertaken using Photobook!
Since its launch, we’ve listened to feedback from the people that use Photobook every day who tell us what we could do to make it work better and make their lives easier. We’ve taken this advice on board, and we’re now very excited to launch Photobook 3 – the new and improved version of Photobook!
Photobook 3 – what’s different?
Imagine taking a walk around your properties, and you notice a health and safety issue or something about to become a problem. What do you do? Take a picture on your mobile device and email it to the relevant person in your team. Write down the issue on your notepad with no photographic evidence to provide context. Then set a reminder to follow up on a report. A few things could happen after this walk:
- You forget to follow up.
- The picture has no context.
- There is no way to track the issue from creation to resolution.
Photobook 3 seamlessly tracks this journey from creation to completion with three core elements which deliver efficiencies within your inspection workflow: Data structure, Reporting Dashboards, and Alert Notifications. These three core elements allow for the easy capture of data, provide context to issues with detailed reporting, and provide notifications that ensure the timely resolution of problems before they impact the safety and security of your residents.
Data Structure allows you to create templates based on best practice, enforce answering with specific options and capture GPS details.
Reporting Dashboards allow visibility of all issues within a building at a glance and will enable you to drill into specific records where necessary. The dashboards provide key performance metrics, including completed vs scheduled and trending buildings’ performance over time.
Alert Notification functionality allows your organisation to create workflows that trigger and send automatic notifications to any specified individual or group of individuals whenever a specific issue arises.
These alerts can help identify patterns and trends with issues that arise over time and help managers implement best practices to resolve these issues.
Other new features in Photobook 3 include Resident Reporting, allowing your engaged residents to participate in regular inspections and raise issues they find within their estates or blocks – we’re sure this will raise the bar in Resident engagement and communication!
We’re confident that Photobook 3 ticks even more boxes. We will be your trusted partner in supporting you to carry out inspections, manage properties, fulfil regulatory obligations and improve the safety and welfare of your residents (as well as the service you provide).
If you’d like to see Photobook 3 in action, our team will be showcasing and demoing it on stand 61 at the NHF Asset Management and Maintenance Conference on 12-13 October. I hope to see you there!