Home buy case progression management overview
A home buy case is the framework by which an application received from a tenant wishing to buy their rented home under the 'Right to Buy', 'Right to Acquire' or 'Social Home Buy' schemes is managed by the housing organisation using Civica Cx Housing. Typically, a member of the housing organisation would generate a new home buy case following direct contact with a tenant or other stakeholder, as a starting point for subsequent investigation in accordance with their government-aligned policy. A home buy case is structured into one or more sequential stages, which define how a case will be progressed from initial contact through to either a successful tenant purchase or a decline of application, backed by sound reasoning. Therefore, depending on the nature and implications of the applicant's submission, a recorded case can often result in several stages being triggered chronologically over time, as the policy directives are applied. The overall case owner is allocated at the activation point of the case, with each successive stage and all inherent tasks automatically assigned to them, by default. Whilst an entire case can be managed by a single owner throughout its duration, it can be reassigned at any point to take account of staff cover, workload pressures, expert knowledge, etc.
A home buy case is inextricably linked to the associated tasks that constitute the workflow path. Therefore, a case cannot exist in isolation but rather comprises a series of tasks inherent within each active stage, defining the end-to-end progression steps to be conducted by the owner, and before any subsequent stage can be initiated. Hence, in reviewing the progression status of a case, it is important to take a holistic view in the context of the individual task elements. From an end user perspective, all assigned cases can readily be viewed and progressed via the 'cases and tasks' Home pane. This is in essence a 'to do' list, with real time information presented on the status of each case. Simply by double-clicking on an entry included within the list, an end user can launch and progress the case. To keep track of progress, any number of notes can be appended to each case, appearing as discrete entries within the graphical timeline. Similarly, any number of file attachments can be linked in order to provide contextual background, and serve as a single point of reference for all related progression activities.
Defined at stage level, the timeline for a home buy case can be controlled by a Service Level Agreement (SLA), in line with the housing organisation's adherence to government legislation, calculating the required target completion date for each progression element of the case. All task components of the case must then fall within that timeframe i.e. the individual SLA target for an inherent task cannot fall outside of the overarching SLA for the parent stage. A home buy case can be placed on hold in circumstances where no action can be taken for a set period of time. For instance, it would be legitimate to place on hold a case where verification details have been requested from an applicant who is known to be on holiday. As part of the process, a future release date would also need to be specified for the case, ensuring that no open activities remain static without a set progression point.
Separate help articles have been created for each key aspect of home buy case progression management, including: