The 2012 Version of Caseworks is out and Android is on the horizon

This is the last Blog of 2011. It seems a good time to take a glimpse at what is coming in 2012.

Caseworks is destined for an exciting time as we start to roll out our Android Product. I thought it was time to lift the covers and give readers a glimpse of what is coming.

We have been much more ambitious with the Android project than we were (or were able to be) with the previous Windows product. This one is not going to be locked into any single function, not even going to be useful only for ASB Casework.  By looking at the broad range of functions which our customers will want, we are looking for a completely customisable product which will work for Environmental Issues, Estate Inspections, Estate Scoring, Tenancy Audit and ASB Interview recording.



Readers may be asking why we are investing in new products, when it is clear that we have entered an Austerity Age, which could well last for the next 5 years and will kill Public Sector spending.

We believe, that despite the cuts - and possibly because of them - government will have to keep on investing in the latest technology in order to deliver the same services with less resources. Mobile Technology has the potential to make much better use of staff time, by getting rid of those hard cover note books, and the time spent keying into a computer system in the office. It has to be the way forward, and Tablets (probably not iPads), are bound to become the mobile computer of 2012.

However, we arent stopping at rebuilding our Mobile Application. We are also going to release the next major version of Caseworks during 2012. This will NOT be an upgrade, but a complete rewrite, based on .net technology, more flexible, more customisable, more modular than the current version and potentially not restricted to the principle of "casework" - maybe we will find a niche for it in the Private Sector.

New ideas

It really is the case, that every new customer - and even those who have decided to re-customise their system, like Lewisham - adds one or two bright new ideas to the Caseworks system.  Lewisham is one of the oldest users of the system, but following a complete turnover of staff decided to recustomise the system this year, to better match their organisation and policies.

One of the managers came up with a very neat idea, which was to include a Mail To option, on all pages, so that if a user wanted to draw a Case, or a Page on a Case to the attention of another officer they could easily do so. The button brings up the user's email client, embeds a hyperlink and a summary of the page in the email and allows it to be sent. 

The recipient, has only to click on the hyperlink, and wlll be taken to the login screen, and after sign-on will be taken directly to the page in question.

Not complicated, very neat and very useful - it gets my prize for the best idea of 2011.