Trust and reliability are the building blocks for a successful relationship with Sovereign Network Group

Merger leads to IT consolidation

Sovereign Housing is a leading housing association, driven to provide quality, affordable homes to the residents it serves in the south of England. Following a merger with Network Homes, the newly formed Sovereign Network Group is now responsible for a total of 84,000 properties throughout Hertfordshire, London, the southwest and Isle of Wight.

Following the merger of the two associations, and the necessary consolidation of IT systems, SNG was seeking a trusted, reliable IT partner who could support and work alongside their existing IT team. More specifically, they wanted a safe pair of hands to support their project teams to enable the development and testing of quality software that would be delivered on time and to budget.

Focus on delivery of outcomes

Having demonstrated its extensive track record in quality engineering, testing and management activities, SNG turned to Sogeti’s highly experienced testing team to help deliver its outcomes.  The Sogeti team was able to call upon its experiences of working on various domains and proficiency in different types of testing, including functional, non-functional and ETL.

To achieve SNG’s desired outcomes, the Sogeti team put in place a thorough test strategy and plan which consisted of a ‘four-eye check’ approach in all testing activities deployed throughout the project. The Sogeti team owned all Azure DevOps processes to provide full coverage and ensure complete transparency across the team. Any issues and risks were highlighted at every stage of the project, and where possible mitigations were put in place to help manage these effectively. The Sogeti team also suggested best practices to the client like disaster recovery testing after cloud migration, and all user acceptance testing.

Sogeti’s thorough testing approach helped to deliver the following outcomes for SNG:

• Previously, SNG was using Windows Network File Shares (NFS) system to store their enterprise documents. But NFS lacks advanced tools for real-time document editing and workflow automation, as well as having scalability issues and lack of built-in data recovery. So, there was a need for migration to SharePoint, which Sogeti managed ensuring the relevant quality checks and user acceptance.
• There was a push to modernise SNG’s existing payment processing system. So, a replacement payment solution was sought, that could automate the direct debits process. Sogeti had ensured the thorough quality checks and validation of configuration and integration of PayPoint with each payment channel used by SNG.
• Previously, SNG was using Virtual Machines which were high maintenance with associated high infrastructure cost. A replacement solution was required that would transform the current private managed hosting environment from on-premise to Microsoft Azure public cloud hosting service. Sogeti’s expert testing team ensured all applications and virtual machines will work as it was previously in the on-premise environment, but with all the associated benefits of the cloud.

Sogeti’s thoroughness in approach and its comprehensive, well-defined test strategy has ensured that all stakeholders have maintained complete transparency throughout the process. Additional benefits include:

• • Saved users time: pre-verification checks before user acceptance testing (UAT) saves user’s time.
  • Usability: the new system will add value for users and ensure future ease of use.
  • Elimination of system failures: will reduce operational costs of recovery.
  • Improvement in customer experience: through ease of doing business will increase trust.
  • Timely communication: with client nurtures a strong and lasting relationship.

What next?

With these initial outcomes successfully delivered, SNG is delighted with the impact the Sogeti team has had so far.

The Sogeti team continue to support SNG, and our flexible solution can scale up and down as demand changes. The relationship has gone from strength to strength, and we are positioned as a strategic partner who can bring more value to SNG through the wider Capgemini group capabilities. SNG will seek to further enhance their systems and look to simplify their estate as the merger continues to mature.ance their systems and look to simplify their estate as the merger continues to mature.