A CLEVER little hand-held device is now being used by Two Rivers Housing staff to save time, reduce costs, and cut paperwork.

The Voids team who clean and repair houses when they become empty, ready for new tenants to move in, spend most of their time travelling between properties. The handy device will enable them to have all the information they need to do their job in the palm of their hand – without needing to head back to the office.

Kim Jordan, who supervises the Voids team, said: "Before I had the PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) I would go to the office to collect my paperwork, carry out the inspection, fill in the paper forms, return to the office to type the information onto a computer, then print out a work sheet and give it to the operative, who would have to come to the office to collect it. Now, I don't even have to come into the office."

Instead, Kim can access and input all the information via the PDA, which leaves her free to carry on to the next address. At the same time, members of the team who carry out the repairs can move from job to job, picking up and submitting their work sheets via their PDAs, without having to drive to and from the office at Mitcheldean.

"All these jobs are pinging around the Forest electronically now rather than us running around in vehicles to collect and submit and process them," she added. "It's much more efficient and it's cheaper and greener too, saving us money on fuel, people's time and reducing exhaust fumes as well."

Voids team member, Chris Powell said: "This is much better for me because it saves time and cuts out the paper trail. We have got to move with the times and this is a much more modern and up-to-date way of working."

This initiative is part of the £500,000 investment Two Rivers has made to improve efficiency and services to tenants. The next project that is about to come online is a system that will streamline the process associated with letting houses by bringing information together that is currently held in different places.