Case Study
Online Collections and Delivery Application Proving to be a Great Success.
November 2007 saw the launch of the Furniture Recycle Project’s (FRP) online Collection and Delivery. Designed and developed in partnership with web technology experts Urban Element, the system has enabled the FRP to streamline administration, tracking and reporting. Urban Element also built FRP's customer facing website which you can view here.
FRP has already seen some fantastic results from the introduction of the system, with lowered printing costs, and the time involved in administering and reporting on the collection and delivery process has greatly reduced. We estimate that we are saving approximately 1 ½ hours a day on our previous manual input, which can add up to almost a full working week saved per month.
Urban Element has worked closely with us to produce an easy to understand, clear and concise web application, which is held centrally but can be accessed from any location, therefore the integrity of the data is maintained and errors are minimised. Urban Element has also added a security function whereby staff can only access parts of the system relevant for their job roles. This too has helped to minimise errors and allows appropriate staff to obtain important information.
There are many valuable aspects to the site including being able to quickly locate user information and having the ability to download reports at the click of a button, for example Re-use Credit Reports, Collections by Category Reports and Vehicle Cost Report. These are extremely valuable in monitoring the success of the project – and now, instead of having to spend time looking for various data and cross-referencing this in order to compile the report required, the results are there at your fingertips.
Jon Ellard from Urban Element comments:
“We are thrilled that the Collection and Delivery web application has been such a success. When we were first approached by FRP, we could see just how beneficial a system like this would be. FRP was trying to collate data from 5 locations and were spending a lot of time on their paper-based systems. The new web application is easy-to-use and fulfils all requirements set out at the beginning of the project. We hope to be able to help other projects like FRP with a scalable web application.”
Urban Element has also developed the functionality to track electronic items from the point of collection through to the end sale. This helps the FRP comply with the recent WEEE government legislation.
Overall I feel this system has been of great benefit to the FRP. We have already seen cost and time savings and the training in the system has become trouble-free thanks to an intuitive and easy-to-learn application. Urban Element are now re-designing FRP’s customer facing website, due to be launched in September 2008 and I am looking forward to seeing the impact this website has on FRP.
Ian Ellis,
Chief Executive - FRP
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Furniture Recyling Project Gloucestershire.
We have reduced costs, and the time involved in administering and reporting on the collection and delivery process has greatly reduced. I estimate that we are saving approximately 1 ½ hours a day on manual input, which adds up to almost a full working week saved per month.
Ian Ellis
Chief Executive – FRP