Newport City Homes takes an agile approach to information technology

IT in Housing Exhibition, Olympia, London, 23rd November, 2010: – Digital mapping and geographic information systems (GIS) software developer Cadcorp has announced that Newport City Homes has selected Cadcorp SIS Map Editor, Cadcorp SIS Map Modeller and Cadcorp GeognoSIS software for its corporate GIS.

Newport City Homes (NCH) came into existence in March 2009 when Newport City Council transferred its housing stock to this not-for-profit Registered Social Landlord (RSL). Just 18 months later its IT department has been recognised at the Computing/BCS UK IT Industry Awards Ceremony as ‘Small IT Department of the Year’, for its success in setting up a completely new IT infrastructure and team.

The judges praised the team for making a real impact to the local economy, and engaging with individuals who are not normally IT literate. The outcome was described as a solution that could be replicated elsewhere.

An important component of that new IT infrastructure was a system for managing information about the two things of central concern to a housing association – people and properties. “We recognised we had to get our own GIS,” explained Neil Jones, Head of Information Services “and we needed to get it up and running very quickly if our services weren’t to suffer.”

“We looked at a number of GIS products”, Jones continued. “We decided that Cadcorp SIS technology was a good match for our need to move quickly. We have found it a simple matter to import property data from Newport City Council’s existing GIS. All NCH staff can now access this information online using a web mapping solution provided by Cadcorp. We have also integrated web mapping into our Microsoft Dynamics CRM system, with the result that call centre operators now have on screen maps to assist them when answering calls”.

“Housing associations are not immune from the current pressures to do more with less” said Mike O’Neil, CEO, Cadcorp. “Newport City Homes has shown that it is possible to achieve IT excellence even with limited resources, and we are proud to be a small part of their success.”

About Cadcorp

Cadcorp^® is a UK based developer and supplier of world leading web mapping and geographic information systems (GIS) software. From its headquarters in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, Cadcorp's sales, support, distribution and partner network stretches worldwide.

 Cadcorp SIS^® - Spatial Information System^® software suite – is an integrated family of standalone, web, developer and mobile GIS products. Our cost-effective solutions help organisations in the public and private sectors maximise their investment in geographic information by making it easier to share spatial data between people and between systems.

 As a long-standing technical member of the Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc^® (OGC), Cadcorp has been at the forefront of the application of open technologies and standards-based solutions. Cadcorp is an ISO9001:2008 and ISO/IEC 27001:2005 certified company, an Oracle^®Partner, Ordnance Survey^® Developer Partner and Northern Ireland Land & Property Services^® (LPS) Licensed Partner. In the UK, Cadcorp is a corporate member of the Association for Geographic Information (AGI) and a corporate member of the British Cartographic Society (BCS).

For more information please visit: http://www.cadcorp.com

ENDS

Editors: For further information contact: Richard Spooner, Tel: +44 (0)1438 747996, e-mail: Email Contact

or Neil McLeod, Tel: +44 (0)1666 504293, e-mail: Email Contact