Anchor House
IP Convergence in Charitable Housing.
It helps homeless residents develop confidence and self-esteem through welcoming accommodation and it's "Aspirations Programme" that uses technology to aid and abet against poverty and social exclusion. By moving individuals from computer illiteracy to literacy, Anchor House believes that technology significantly improves the chances of residents being accepted into society and for jobs. The 'Aspirations Programme' has been created using a modern communication system, despite Anchor House having no internal IT expertise, which allows the delivery of services throughout the building in a flexible, scalable and cost effective way.
Aspirations Programme technology-enablers;
- Pre-payment telephone system for residents (providing voicemail) using an IP PBX to deliver a low cost/ high flexibility system.
- In-room TV systems including television channels and custom content e.g. on-demand training and information services.
- Swipe-card room entry, controlled access to public areas and CCTV for improved accountability of events and resident activity.
- Internet and WIFI areas with control policies for use and content filtering and PCs with 'reset to standard' configuration to ensure they are robust.
The Challenge
Anchor House commenced a building redevelopment and improvement plan in 2007. As part of this, IT Services company, Foehn, was brought in to design and implement an IT and communications infrastructure that would enable Anchor House to deliver its 'Aspirations Programme and to enable efficient working practices. "We knew what we wanted to achieve, but had been searching for a suitable IT partner for more than 12 months," commented Keith Fernett, Director of Anchor House.
" We needed an IT 'one-stop-shop'. Someone that would provide us with a strategic platform for growth, a modern communications system for today and manage it for us," he continued. The technologies needed to improve business communication channels between Anchor House and the residents, provide residents with communications to the outside world and allow third parties, such as training organisations, to provide services electronically. Anchor House planned to expand the range of services it offered so the solution also needed to be flexible enough to accommodate changes and open enough to allow for interaction with external third party systems. Additionally the business and administrative processes needed to be streamlined through the technology to increase efficiency and staff productivity.
The Internet Protocol and Open Source Route
Foehn built the core system around an Internet Protocol (IP)-based network which is high speed and acts as a hub for each area of Anchor House to connect to. "Using an IP-based network means that all systems adhering to the IP standard can communicate over the network including internal applications and third party services via the internet. It is also scalable so new services can be added at will," said James Passingham, founder and Technical Director at Foehn, Ltd. "We investigated a number of solutions with the final choice incorporating many open source technologies. Open source software is openly published and contributed to and is a fraction of the cost of commercial software. There is commercial support available for open source software these days, so it's not just a matter of download it, use it for free and good luck. For systems integrators like us, it means that we can make changes to the software quickly and at low cost, adding real return on investment to the client."What's on the network?
Telephony Services
The telephone system provides services to the residents, staff, and business tenants. The system is capable of providing different features and routing depending on the type of user. All users of the phone system receive advanced telephony features such as voicemail, but telephone services for the residents, for example, are set up to use a pre pay calling system. Outbound calls are provided via the internet and a voice over IP network (VoIP). This reduces costly line rental for Anchor House as the voice calls travel over the internet lines removing the need for a fixed number of lines for concurrent calls. The staff uses standard telephone lines to make outbound calls. This is desirable as the number of concurrent lines can easily be quantified. Call centre features have also been incorporated into the system to manage inbound calls such as call queuing.
Media Services
Each room has been equipped with a television system that runs over the IP network. As well as broadcasting standard television channels to the residents, the system provides custom television content and internet services such as web browsing and email directly to the rooms. The custom television content allows Anchor House to provide training and informational services on demand to each of the resident's rooms. Content can be provided selectively, so that a resident will receive a message on his television screen to confirm an appointment for a job interview, for example. Web browsing and email allows the residents to participate online and manage their communications with potential employers. The system is controlled to prevent abuse and provides the residents with an email account that remains with them when they successfully progress from Anchor House. Public areas are also equipped with wallboards to display information within the reception area.
Security Services
Foehn implemented CCTV and Access Control which is also operated and controlled by the IP network. Each room is equipped with a door entry system and each resident is issued with a 'smart card' that manages their access. Smart sensors are positioned at entry points to Anchor House and controlled areas, such as access to the lifts and open computer rooms, to control the resident's access. The system keeps a log of the access so staff can track resident activity and provide occupation information to emergency services if required. Additionally the access control system integrates with the CCTV system so access control events can be directly referenced against images from the CCTV recording system, for example a resident entering the lift. In this way accountability for events at Anchor House is easy to obtain.
Internet Services
The IP network provides access to the internet for all of Anchor House, from the administration networks to the resident's rooms, training rooms, and Wifi (wireless internet) areas. The internet is utilised for browsing, email communications and for voice services. The technology provides control policies for this internet access. For resident or public internet access, content filtering systems control the access to allowed and restricted web sites to prevent abuse of the system. The system ensures the administration of internet traffic is separate from the residents and public traffic, due to security and utilisation considerations and to provide a higher level of service to the administration network.
Training Services
Anchor House provides training and open access areas for residents and visitors. PCs are provided in these areas and are potentially open to abuse. To overcome this problem, Foehn has delivered technology solutions to ensure that no matter what changes are made to the PCs, following a reboot they will be reset to a standard configuration. This makes sure that the systems are always available for use and don't require regular repair, thus reducing on-going support costs.
Office Services
Anchor House also uses the network for application services that you would expect to see in any modern office environment; groupware such as Microsoft Exchange provides messaging and appointment scheduling; application suites such as Microsoft Office provide the productivity tools and industry specific application that support housing managers all get delivered over the network.
Realising the benefits
The introduction of enabling technologies to Anchor House has had a dramatic effect on its operations, the productivity of staff and the ehabilitation of residents. Staff are empowered to perform their roles more effectively through software applications which are scalable and flexible enough to accommodate new or changing operating requirements in the future. Residents receive information and training through a rich set of interfaces and learn to use computers. In turn, computer use fills up time that may otherwise have been spent behaving in a manner that is considered inappropriate. "We set residents tasks which require them to surf the internet for the first time, " continued Fernett. "We give them a mentor, a resident that has already been taught how to use the technology, and off they go. It could be as simple as buying a train ticket or checking cinema times but it's considered a real achievement once the task is complete. "A lot of our residents have previously taken the wrong path in life resulting in imprisonment or addiction. The technology that we provide encourages them to take responsibility and be accountable for their lives once more."
"People can't get a job these days without computer skills so we ensure our residents have this box ticked. In fact we have to actively close the computer rooms down at midnight so we can get residents to bed. By providing these services our residents' prospects and aspirations are improved and the effect that Anchor House has on their lives is greatly increased, " he concluded.
Anchor House has won national awards for Service User Involvement, Community Involvement and the Department of Communities and Local Government has recognised it as a centre of good practice by awarding it £2.5m to refurbish a further 75 Individual Learning Zones ( bedrooms) complete with the technology supplied by Foehn.
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