Oklahoma City Housing Authority Implements Informer Dashboards for Data Visualization

• Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Visualization
• Functional Applications - Remote Monitoring & Control Systems

• Cities & Municipalities

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• Software Design & Engineering Services
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For the Oklahoma City Housing Authority (OCHA), who provides housing and rental assistance to low-income people and their families with over 7,000 dwelling units, accessing important data was often a frustrating, complicated task. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has various reporting guidelines for housing authorities that require a significant amount of data to ensure compliance. More urgently, HUD is beginning to require dashboards as a way of presenting this data and OCHA had no easy way of quickly and easily developing the necessary visualizations.

The Oklahoma City Housing Authority (OCHA) is a public housing agency that provides housing and rental assistance to low-income individuals and families. With over 7,000 dwelling units under its management, OCHA plays a crucial role in ensuring that affordable housing is available to those in need. The organization is responsible for adhering to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) guidelines, which include extensive data reporting requirements. OCHA's mission is to offer safe, decent, and affordable housing while promoting self-sufficiency and improving the quality of life for its residents. The agency is committed to meeting HUD's evolving requirements and leveraging technology to enhance its operations.

At the recommendation of their solution provider, Progenixx, OCHA selected Informer Dashboards to quickly and easily create and share data visualizations. Informer Dashboards provides OCHA with interactive data presentation options requiring almost zero training with no programming needed to create. Charts and visualizations are created using an intuitive drag and drop web-based interface and real-time rendering refreshes dashboard widgets automatically as the data is changing. Progenixx worked with OCHA to build standard reports and dashboards that tracked key metrics like new hires, new applicants, open work orders, purchase orders, lease-ins, work orders, inspections and more using charts and gauges that provide management with multiple data views on one screen. The web-based views are highly customizable and all data is secured down to the data element. For example, management at OCHA now have access to a dashboard entitled “Percent of Emergency Work Orders Closed Within 24hrs,” which they use to quickly monitor efficiencies and then drill into specific orders for additional analysis. “We found Informer Dashboards very flexible and easy to develop and modify,” said Greg Clarke, Director of Technical Services at Progenixx. “In fact it was more difficult to determine the desired output that management wanted than to create the dashboards. The drill down capability is especially useful, allowing management to drill into specific data to determine actions to take quickly.”

• After incorporating Informer Dashboards, OCHA is finding data reporting easier than ever. Executives and staff are able to quickly and easily access information they need to make data-driven decisions and are now prepared for HUD’s dashboard requirements.
• OCHA can now track and analyze critical information in real time to improve efficiencies and identify issues that require attention using data comparisons and alerts.
• David Calvert, Information Systems Manager at Oklahoma City Housing Authority, is excited to be able to expand data discovery capabilities to management without the need for technical training. “Informer’s easy-to-use interface allows management to access data they need to see and customize data views themselves, taking the burden off IT staff,” said David. “I’ve been very impressed with Informer Dashboards; it’s made the entire reporting process much more efficient.”

• OCHA manages over 7,000 dwelling units.
• The implementation has enabled tracking of key metrics like new hires, new applicants, open work orders, purchase orders, lease-ins, work orders, and inspections.