Whiddon's journey towards improved property management practices
Whiddon is a leading provider of aged care services in Australia, operating multiple retirement villages and aged care homes nationwide. With a commitment to open transparency and
adherence to legislative reforms, Whiddon sought a property management system to meet their requirements and support operational efficiency.
Challenges and Objectives
Whiddon faced several challenges that led them to search for a suitable property management system. The introduction of reforms by the NSW government regarding retirement village laws necessitated greater transparency and the implementation of a 10-year asset management plan. Whiddon recognised the limitations of their Excel-based asset management system and understood the need for complete digitisation to comply with the legislative changes and achieve operational efficiencies.
Additionally, Whiddon aimed to disrupt their asset management approach by integrating their residential aged care services and associated maintenance officers into a whole-of-business platform. They sought increased visibility into their operations, efficient data-supported decision-making, improved contract management, and enhanced compliance to ensure well-maintained properties and long-term business sustainability.
“We decided the requirements of aged care reforms were our opportunity to implement an integrated system to ensure our business stayed on top of the legislative changes and provided business efficiencies.” – Regan Stathers, Executive General Manager, Technology & Property, Whiddon
Previous Management Approach
Before implementing Urbanise, Whiddon relied on a sole operator to manage their retirement villages, including maintenance and property management. For their residential aged care sites, a property team of four handled property-related tasks supported by local maintenance team members. However, they lacked a comprehensive asset register and integration between property and finance systems, leading to administrative burdens and a need for more meaningful information regarding their assets.
Selection Criteria and Choosing Urbanise
Whiddon based their selection criteria on their enterprise architecture when evaluating software solutions, seeking a SaaS-based solution that aligned with their technological strategy roadmap. They desired scalability, integration capabilities with financial systems and Microsoft 365 platform, and synchronization with their contractor compliance management platform.
Urbanise fulfilled these criteria, allowing them to tag individual assets, associate purchase and maintenance orders, and precisely track expenditures. The system provided the necessary compliance components, flexibility to meet legislative requirements and analytics for lifecycle reporting.
Whiddon also chose Urbanise over other alternatives due to its integration of local knowledge and consideration of aged care legislative requirements. They valued Urbanise's ability to deliver a statutory-compliant system aligned with the NSW Retirement Village reforms. Urbanise’s cloud-based SaaS architecture, integration capabilities, compliance features, and analytics made it the best choice for Whiddon's property management needs.
“Urbanise ticked all the boxes as a cloud-based SaaS, with the integration we were looking for, the compliance component, the ability to be prescriptive in descriptions to meet legislative requirements, and the analytics to report on the lifecycle of assets.” – Regan Stathers, Executive General Manager, Technology & Property, Whiddon
Results and Benefits of Implementing Urbanise
Since implementing Urbanise, Whiddon has experienced significant improvements in their property management processes. They generated comprehensive asset management plans by populating Urbanise with property, plant, and equipment information, enabling informed decision-making and optimised investments. Transparency for village residents increased, as they could see budget shortfalls and understand the need for increased maintenance investments.
Urbanise has facilitated the ability to comply with legislative reporting requirements within the tight statutory timeframes and has allowed for more open transparency with village residents. Whiddon gained visibility into contract arrangements, SLAs, and work performed by suppliers, leading to better internal and external team structuring. Supplier compliance became more manageable, and contracts included up-to-date asset information, ensuring accurate payments for existing assets.
Implementing Urbanise provided Whiddon with enhanced risk management, better visibility into maintenance activities, and improved support for meeting aged care quality standards. The system's data-backed insights drive engagements with the government for necessary investments in rural, regional, and remote communities. Integrating the financial system with Urbanise will further enhance the tracking of Opex and Capex expenditures and enable better decision-making on investments and maintenance strategies.
Overall, Whiddon's implementation of Urbanise has empowered them to achieve greater operational efficiency, compliance with legislative requirements, and improved property management practices, benefiting both their organisation and the residents they serve.
“With Urbanise, we have complete visibility into the lifecycle of our assets and their associated expenditure. With integration to our finance and compliance software and real-time reporting, we have a continuous improvement model that enables business efficiencies across our property investments and delivers improved outcomes for residents who call our aged care & retirement villages home.” – Regan Stathers, Executive General Manager, Technology & Property, Whiddon
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About Whiddon
Whiddon is an award-winning not-for-profit organisation aged care provider with more than 3,000 customers and in excess of 2,700 employees. Whiddon has been serving communities and enriching the lives of older Australians, supporting them with their care needs, for the past 75 years in rural, regional and remote parts of NSW and south-east Queensland. Whiddon is primarily a residential aged care provider with 20+ locations; they also provide community care and operate 12 retirement villages across their property portfolio.
Whiddon has been a valued customer of Urbanise for the past year. We’re proud to have Whiddon as a client; they are forward-thinkers, innovators, and most importantly,
they genuinely care about the aged care sector, their residents, and bettering the lives of older Australians.