“Using ECINS has been a like a fresh flannel after washing with a brick for years”
Chris Day, Housing Support Worker, 180° Norfolk 

HE: You’ve been using ECINS as part of Norfolk’s 180° IOM Programme, what’s your general view of the system?

CD: It’s lovely to have a system that is quick to get in to and is designed for the user, it is just so easy to use. Everything is in a timeline format showing the latest information and the gallery view is really useful as we have a caseload of clients and it makes it much easier to see their current status at any one time without the need to scroll through loads of images. ECINS’ icon-based format presents the data in a very simple manner that is totally user-focused.  Working your way around the system is straightforward as the site navigation is set up in such a way that it is totally obvious where you need to go in order to find the information you want.

HE:  How do you use the system, does it help you on a daily basis?

CD: Our focus as a housing provider is to support offenders in finding suitable accommodation on their release from prison and situations change throughout the day that we need to report on and monitor.  There are four of us in our team and we all use ECINS to record and share information. We get updated information every day that we upload to the system and one-to-one visits with our clients are recorded on to ECINS. Because ECINS allows us to set access permissions we can partition sensitive information that we want to share only with certain parties.

HE: How has ECINS changed the way you and your team work?

CD: It has enhanced the way we work as a team as it provides a constant source of information that we can all access whenever we need to. The fact that information is accessible and readily available even when colleagues are away from the office means that we are able to provide better support to our clients too.  We work with clients on a daily basis and we are constantly discussing what is happening.  ECINS has effectively created for us a central information hub that can be accessed from anywhere.

HE:  What would you say has made the biggest impact?

CD: The time savings we’ve been able to make since using ECINS has been enormous. We’ve been able to significantly cut down the time we spend on data entry and searching for information, it is just so quick. We now spend far less time in the office and, as a result, far more time with our clients. The other most useful element is the constant trail of work that is recorded and therefore accessible to the whole team.