Testimonial
Kelly Bradford – Previously Deputy Manager at Home-Start Trafford, Salford and Wigan, now self-employed with VA Fairy
“The success of the system has been so clear that a neighbouring Home-Start in Manchester has asked us to build a similar system for them, a project we are currently working on together. Joe’s professionalism, technical skill, and collaborative approach make him an absolute asset to any project.”
Read more…“I have had the pleasure of working closely with Joe since 2021, initially through my role as Deputy Manager at Home-Start Trafford, Salford and Wigan. Joe played a pivotal role in designing, building, and developing our Microsoft Dynamics case management system, which is an essential tool for their organisation. His in-depth knowledge of Microsoft Dynamics and his ability to understand and translate our charity’s needs into practical, user-friendly solutions were truly invaluable.
Joe consistently brought forward the best and most efficient solutions, ensuring the system not only supported our day-to-day operations but also aligned with our strategic objectives. His expertise allowed us to streamline data collection, improve reporting capabilities, and better demonstrate our impact to funders and commissioners.
Over the past three years, since becoming self-employed (VA FAIRY), I have continued to work alongside Joe to further enhance the Dynamics system for Home-Start Trafford, Salford and Wigan. Joe has remained highly responsive and adaptable to the organisation’s evolving needs, ensuring the system continues to deliver high-quality functionality as requirements change.
The success of the system has been so clear that a neighbouring Home-Start in Manchester has asked us to build a similar system for them, a project we are currently working on together. Joe’s professionalism, technical skill, and collaborative approach make him an absolute asset to any project.
I highly recommend Joe to any organisation looking for intelligent, reliable, and forward-thinking Dynamics solutions.
I love working with Joe and hope our relationship continues for many years to come!”
An Introduction to Home-Start
Home-Start is a UK-wide charity network that helps families with young children through challenging times. Their trained volunteers and expert staff provide compassionate, non-judgemental support to parents — offering a listening ear, practical help at home, and guidance to strengthen family wellbeing.
They work with families who may be experiencing issues such as post-natal depression, isolation, illness, disability, financial worries, or relationship difficulties. By building trusted relationships, Home-Start empowers parents to give their children the best possible start in life.
With local branches across the UK, the organisation blends national standards with grassroots community knowledge. Each Home-Start scheme is an independent charity, tailored to the needs of its community but united by the same vision: to ensure every child grows up with a happy, secure childhood and the chance to thrive.
Our work with Home-Start
We have been working closely with Home-Start since March 2021. Over this time we have handled several digital upgrade projects each year to ensure that the processes and forms used by the families, staff and volunteers are fully digitalised and automatically synced with a centralised CRM system (Dynamics 365). We manage and maintain their Dynamics 365 system, working closely with key staff to ensure internal processes are up to date and efficient.
Home-Start receive the professional expertise they require on an ad-hoc basis, enabling them to get the most from their digital platforms. They do not need to employ a full-time team of IT specialists in order to benefit from Professional Consultation and IT Development. We keep their services up to date, while they focus on providing support to the local community.
Overview of Services
- ✅ Full management of Microsoft Dynamics 365 implementation – Enhancements and Customisations, Plugins, JavaScript, APIs, Licencing, Consultancy
- 📃 Digitisation of paper based forms – Moving to Online/Web forms, automating integration of online forms with Microsoft Dataverse
- 🤖 Automation of processes – Business process automation, notifications, streamlining and consistency of processes
- 👨💼 Project management, adoption and change – We work closely with Home-Start to ensure they’re adopting each project successfully
- ⬆️ Training and upskilling – Ensuring Home-Start are utilising their CRM system fully and have the skills to grow
- ☎️ Annual support since 2021 – Phone and Email support throughout our partnership
Volunteer Application Project (Example 1)
The following example is one of many similar digital upgrade projects we have undertaken at Home-Start.
Applications are sent in to Home-Start from people who would like to become volunteers, to provide support to the local community. The application process is thorough and a lot of background information is necessary to ensure the appropriate experience and expertise is held.
Before the project:
Many hours of work were spent both by the applicant and the staff members who reviewed each application and processed the interviews before finally typing all of this up manually into the CRM system.
- The volunteer application process began paper-based and was later converted to a web-based form which resulted in an PDF sent via email.
- A series of calls and interviews undertaken with the applicant. After a decision was made the application and result was typed up into the internal system manually.
- “Reporting” would be a manual effort within Microsoft Excel at the end of the year
Project result:
Our work here was to modernise the approach by ensuring that a web-form submission resulted in relevant application records, contact details and follow-up tasks being automatically created within Dynamics 365. The interview/application process is now managed within the system, where each part of the process is organised into helpful stages, where data is captured and presented to staff as and when needed.
- Web-form data sent automatically to Dynamics 365
- Initial checks for existing contacts or recent applications done systematically
- Necessary records for application, contacts, follow-ups created automatically
- Full application and interview process managed within CRM system in a guided and consistent fashion
- Removal of “manual input” and the chance for human error
- Reporting and statistics provided LIVE with no manual effort required
- System allows managers to see workloads, the statuses of applications and to provide support easily
Dynamics 365 System Management (Example 2)
Home-Start has a dedicated team of people who provide great value to their community through their outreach work. Their expertise and skillsets are predominantly in supporting the local community. We provide IT management and support, enabling Home-Start to focus on what they do best.
- We add new features and functionality to the internal systems when Home-Start provide a new service
- We streamline the system, providing a simple and clean interface built around Home-Start
- We integrate with the website, keeping data flowing between web and backend
- We automate monotonous processes, saving staff and volunteer’s time
- We handle any errors or issues as and when they arise
- We manage and review storage and capacity of the system, providing advice where needed
- We provide ongoing support throughout the year for questions and issues
- We upskill staff as we go, keeping transparent and ensuring staff have all the necessary knowledge to use the system effectively
Outcome
We have built a strong partnership with Home-Start as we learn and understand their service and organisation better each year. This has enabled us to support them more with every project we undertake together. Home-Start has consistently trusted us to manage and maintain their internal systems and numerous IT projects which has lead to significant time, effort and energy savings. Home-Start have become a very strong adopter of Dynamics 365 and utilise the platform in all areas of the organisation. As Home-Start’s internal expertise grows they are able to manage and maintain more themselves, which we fully support with training and guidance. We want to empower Home-Start in every way that we can and we look forward to our continued partnership.
Book a Free Discovery Session.
There’s no better way to understand how we can help your organisation than through a free 30 minute discovery session together.