How Cobalt Housing took 30 integrations live in a single day
Liverpool-based housing association Cobalt Housing moved from a housing management system shared with another provider to its own MIS ActiveH environment. Manifest Software Solutions, now part of Infoshare+, extracted Cobalt’s data from the shared system and built the new connections through its Universal Adapter integration platform.
About Cobalt Housing
Cobalt Housing is a registered housing association managing around 6,000 affordable homes for approximately 15,000 residents across North Liverpool.
The challenge
Cobalt’s housing records were held within a system and database shared with another housing provider. More than 1,200 repairs were still live and had to be carried through the transition. This had to be delivered through a single co-ordinated cutover while protecting the continuity of Cobalt’s day-to-day services.
The solution
Cobalt procured the service through the G-Cloud framework, providing a route that is also available to other housing providers. Universal Adapter connected ActiveH with the systems required to deliver Cobalt’s new operating model, including Totalmobile, Xledger, compliance and document management systems, and Cobalt’s data platform. All 30 integrations went live as part of the same cutover, making it one of the largest same-day go-lives delivered by the Universal Adapter team during more than ten years of work in social housing.
“Separating and cleansing our data from two shared sources was critical, but so was rebuilding every connection that depended on it. We took all 30 integrations live in one day, with Infoshare+ working alongside us as one team throughout.”
Chris Fray, Head of Digital, Cobalt Housing
The results
Repair orders and appointments now pass between ActiveH and Totalmobile, with progress information and photographs returned electronically. This allows the Solutions team to diagnose a repair and confirm an appointment while the resident is still on the phone.
The new digital infrastructure helps support Cobalt’s wider work for its residents, for example the Bluebrook House development, which will provide 50 affordable one- and two-bedroom apartments for people aged 55 and over.
Read the full case study
Download the full case study to see how the go-live was planned, tested and delivered, and what has changed for Cobalt’s repairs, finance and compliance teams.
