Philadelphia Housing Authority Implements Oracle® Applications to Improve Customer Service
Enterprise System Helps Agency Maintain Transparency and Accountability
Redwood Shores, CA 07-FEB-2007 06:08 AM Oracle today announced that the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA), the fourth largest housing authority in the United States, has implemented Oracle’s PeopleSoft Enterprise Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and PeopleSoft Enterprise Support to help provide a more positive service experience for housing authority customers and the public. PHA worked closely with Oracle Consulting to create a unified customer interface and case management system.
As the biggest landlord in Pennsylvania, the PHA develops, acquires, leases and operates affordable housing for city residents with limited incomes. The agency receives more than 4,000 calls per day from tenants, applicants and vendors. In order to manage requests efficiently and provide a positive customer experience, the organization needed to streamline its customer interface.
Previous to the PeopleSoft Enterprise Support implementation, customers had to call numerous phone numbers, often waiting a long time, to reach housing authority departments, and the PHA had no system for tracking or managing customer inquires. Now, the PeopleSoft Enterprise system - integrated with telephony solutions from Verizon, Nortel and AMC - allows callers to reach a unified, interactive voice response (IVR) system that provides standard answers to frequently asked questions. Additionally, customers, vendors and housing choice voucher (HCV) landlords can access specific information regarding payments and waitlist status.
If users are not able to obtain the information they need, the system connects them to appropriate PHA employees who provide further assistance. The CRM system equips PHA employees with each caller’s inquiry, case history and rent information, allowing them to provide faster, more personalized service. The case management system tracks calls handled by PHA employees, ensuring that they resolve each inquiry and reduce paperwork. More than 300 PHA employees use the system.
PHA selected Oracle because of its standards-based, best of breed functionality; its virtually seamless integration between the CRM product suite and other PeopleSoft Enterprise and legacy products; and its extensive development team and worldwide support network. In addition, the PeopleSoft Enterprise platform allows PHA to roll out new modules quickly.
“By improving the efficiency of our support system, we have improved service to our customers while lessening the workload for our employees,” said PHA Executive Director Carl Greene. “PeopleSoft Enterprise Support, along with our other Oracle enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications, helps us serve more than 80,000 housing authority customers in the city of Philadelphia.”
“As a public agency, it is important for the Philadelphia Housing Authority to maintain a high level of accountability and transparency,” said Oracle Public Sector Senior Vice President, Mark Johnson. “We are pleased to work with PHA to streamline its business processes and meet a vital need for low cost housing in Philadelphia.”
In addition to implementing PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM and Support, PHA previously replaced its legacy enterprise systems with PeopleSoft Enterprise Financial Management, PeopleSoft Enterprise Human Capital Management, and PeopleSoft Enterprise Supply Chain Management, in order to improve efficiency and transparency agency-wide. Overall, the organization has seen results across business processes, including:
* Automated Financial System - PHA established a more timely, cost-effective transaction processing system by connecting PeopleSoft Enterprise Accounts Receivable with PeopleSoft Enterprise General Ledger
* Improved Maintenance Procedures - Using PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM Field Service, PHA can capture, report and analyze financial data such as the actual costs of time, labor and materials for performing maintenance work on thousands of housing units throughout the city. The system has helped the agency minimize costs, reduce inventory shrinkage and track maintenance employee productivity
* Decreased Workload - By streamlining workflow, PHA decreased the workload of its employees and reduced paperwork, giving employees more time to focus on core job functions
* Real-Time Financial Data - The new financial management system provides accurate, current insight into financial information and allows PHA to generate reports on operations, supply chain management, housing management and other operational areas
PHA plans to roll out the PeopleSoft Enterprise Support system to 150 additional first-tier agents in 15 locations across the city. In addition, the agency plans to continue to extend the functionality of its Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise applications by upgrading PeopleSoft Enterprise Financial Management; supplementing its PeopleSoft Enterprise Supply Chain Management system with the implementation of the PeopleSoft Enterprise eProcurement module; developing new housing-specific CRM applications including PeopleSoft Enterprise Applicant Waiting List, Eligibility Processing and Tenant Management applications; and adding marketing functionality to support event and media planning.
Filed under: Oracle
