CHARMS Social Care Community Newsroom

Thanks to Sarah Pepys, Jenny Dix, Jane Sklaroff and Ken Dore for their help on 4 December 2002 when the men from CHARMS installed the new system. In the words of the Team from IOW themselves : " For computer semi-illiterates the system is very easy to use and gives instant access to a multitude of statistics hitherto collected from far flung written records. Above all it was installed by CHARM-ing people !" The Isle of Wight is now one of the increasing number of users of CHARMS (Computing Help Adoption Register Management System) around the UK. CHARMS is the leading software package that matches children and families. Over the next year users will see the benefit of increased use of the internet and further enhancments to monitor progress of children and families throughout the whole process of adoption and fostering - and post adoption

With the considerable help of Hazel Brooks and the Family Placement Team in Coventry CHARMS is now up and running. Data has been successfully transferred from a number of other systems formerly in use by the Team and over the next couple of months CHL will be liaising closely with Hazel to make sure that the transition is seamless. Coventry are now alongside Birmingham and Manchester Social Services departments in the forefront of the use of CHARMS. Other CHARMS sites are, West Midlands Adoption Consortium, Shropshire CC, London Boroughs of Redbridge, Bromley and Islington, East Sussex CC, Barnsley MBC, Isle of Wight, South Wales Consortium, Parents and Children Together and Greater Manchester Consortium - as well as the National Adoption Register for England and Wales. Thanks again to Hazel and the Team at Coventry.

The big push has begun and Xsel Media, in the North West of England, have taken advantage of CHL's Customer Relationship Management system which is now available to businesses of all sizes. CHL-CRM offers complete business and customer management, from customer records and contact history to job recording and invoicing. It also manages mailouts and label printing so that all your needs are met in one system. "

Diane Bailey Associates of Bamford in Rochdale were looking for jargon free advice and help with their computer systems and infrastructure. CHL were able to offer a cost-efective service to analyse the existing setup, produce a report in plain english and implement the recommendations within a matter of weeks. In the process we were able to reassure the team and provide telephone backup to give complete peace of mind." For more information about Diane Bailey Associates go to DBA"

Surestart Hattersley have helped CHL with the development of the SureCHART (Computing Help Activity Recording and Tracking) system. SureCHART has been in development for a full year and has been thoroughly tested by the Ashton and Hattersley programmes in the Greater Manchester Borough of Tameside. It is comprehensive and, as it is based on CHL's proven technology, it is also user-friendly and reliable." CHL's support package is recognised as one of the best. We guarantee a response to all calls within 2 hours and we have never been stumped for an answer yet."

Surestart Hattersley have helped CHL with the development of the SureCHART (Computing Help Activity Recording and Tracking) system. SureCHART has been in development for a full year and has been thoroughly tested by the Ashton and Hattersley programmes in the Greater Manchester Borough of Tameside. It is comprehensive and, as it is based on CHL's proven technology, it is also user-friendly and reliable." CHL's support package is recognised as one of the best. We guarantee a response to all calls within 2 hours and we have never been stumped for an answer yet."

"Bury MBC are getting their free upgrade to CES Version 3 which includes full bar coding features, serial number tracking, stock catalogue production and many more features. We are proud of the fact that in 5 years of intensive use, CES has not suffered one day of downtime. However, in response to users' changing needs, CES3 includes many new options to help run a busy community equipment service. CHL have also taken the opportunity to add many more reports, including performance indicators.

For more news and events relating to the integration of community equipment services please see the ICES website."

Thanks to Suzi Heybourne and the team at Meridian East for making us welcome when we installed ASSET on their new network in Norwich. Both me, Mike Barlow, and Jim Moores - CHL's MD - spent an interesting couple of days on site, setting up ASSET. The next stage is to set up remote access from the organisation's other sites in King's Lynn, Yarmouth and Magdalen Road, Norwich. STOP PRESS - the new synchronisation version of ASSET will be finished before the end of February and meridian east will be the first to see the benefits. (Thanks to them for their patience).

"Computing Help Limited (CHL) has been working in partnership with the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) to overhaul our methods of maintaining our membership and training services. The new membership and training database, which was the brainchild of Jim Moores of CHL, has been adapted over a number of months to provide a tailor-made system which will not only automatically generate letters and emails but also provide a comprehensive processing system for our new training division - the College of Personal Injury Law. The scale of the project was huge and we always knew that it would take some time to consolidate all the various fields on our 12 main databases which are constantly in use. With the patience and determination of the CHL development team, APIL is delighted to announce the successful completion of the initial brief. The next stage will be to integrate the database with our Sage accounts system … watch this space."

We are pleased to announce that Citi Capital Fleet have chosen to use CHL’s Asset Management system. As with all of CHL’s systems it has been designed to be intuitive and easy to use as well as being extremely reliable. Management reports and detailed statistical information can also be produced at the touch of a button.