LHS Choice Manager incorporates a wide range of features designed to help the applicant, and particularly the vulnerable applicant, through the bidding process. These include:

Staff bidding by proxy
This is a simple two step process in the back office.  There is a function on the first page of an applicant’s record, in our customer relation’s manager section, which simply displays all the properties the applicant is eligible to bid for.  Staff click on the ‘bid’ button next to the description of that property advert and the system does the rest.

Personalised property lists
Staff can tag applicants who are vulnerable and at the beginning of each bidding cycle they can run a quick report out of the back office that will produce the personalised property list for each of these applicants.  They then print these out and pop them into an envelope (the applicant address has automatically been included). A journal entry is then automatically recorded for each applicant, attaching the property list that was sent.

Shortlisting
Once the bidding cycle has been closed by the LHS support desk, all bids are collected from each of the bidding channels chosen. These are amalgamated and then shortlists of each advert are prepared. These order the applicants in any priority order that you have decided – such as by housing need, local connection and priority date.  Ineligible bids received are also listed. Staff can only bypass an applicant if they give a pre-agreed reason (set by you) as to why they are doing this.

Letter Generation to offer or invite to view
Staff can send an offer or viewing letter from this shortlist by clicking on an icon next to the applicant’s name. The property information and applicant information fields required are automatically dropped into the letter.  These letter templates are set up by the scheme “super user” (with our helpdesk’s assistance if required).

CRM – Customer Relations Manager
Journal entries (notes for other members of staff; scanned in documents such as birth certificates medical reports etc), personalised property lists, bids by proxy, assessment and contact details of the applicant, household members and their relationships to that applicant are all accessed from this front page that is displayed for each applicant record.  This means that front line staff can help applicants at their point of contact, but may or may not be given permission to change any of the applicant’s details.

Reporting and Monitoring
The LHS Choice Manager back office includes a powerful reporting suite that allows staff to monitor activity and produce reports that are either standard or personalised. If required we will provide you with a complete database (updated on a regular basis) of all your CBL activity.