When Habion’s old DMS system reached its limits, switching to a new solution became unavoidable. But according to Carla Wezenberg, Implementation Manager at the elderly housing provider, successful digitalisation is about much more than technology. In an interview with CorporatieGids Magazine, she explains how clear guidelines and organisation-wide involvement are making Habion’s information management future-proof: “The quality of information stands or falls with the behaviour of employees.”
With more than 11,000 housing units spread across 120 locations nationwide, Habion operates on a large scale. “When you work across such a wide area, solid document management is essential,” Carla begins. “Over the years, we had to take several steps to keep supporting this properly—one of them being the choice for a new DMS, namely E-Content365 from Archive-IT. We’d been using our previous DMS for over fifteen years, but it no longer fit the organisation we have become. It wasn’t connected to our primary system, which meant a lot of manual input and a higher chance of errors. On top of that, only a limited part of the organisation could use it. As a result, documents were archived by scanning staff instead of by the colleagues who created them. That did not benefit the quality.”
Document management strategy
Carla explains that the core of a good document strategy is storing information in an organised and consistent way: “First you decide where documents are stored, and we have made clear agreements about that. In the DMS, we save all signed documents and correspondence with tenants, suppliers and contractors. Ideally, each document is stored in only one place. Additional guidelines include always adding a date and avoiding multiple versions—only final versions may be kept in the DMS.”
Employees responsible for archiving
Within this strategy, every colleague is responsible for archiving their own documents. “A lot of information flows in automatically through system integrations. Our employees handle the remaining archiving themselves, supported by selection menus and mandatory fields. This approach significantly improves archive quality. We spent a lot of time designing the archive structure and aligning the selection menus with it. We also learned a great deal from other housing associations, which saved us a lot of time. A future development could be the integration of AI in these menus, suggesting where to store documents.”
Alignment with CORA and VERA
“For setting up the archive, we aligned with the CORA and VERA standards,” Carla continues. “This allows us to classify almost everything properly. Anything that doesn’t fit the standard is discussed with Functional Management, who are ultimately responsible for the entire process. In our experience, this approach only works if everyone feels responsible for correct archiving and adheres to the rules. Employees must also have sufficient digital skills and be aware of information security and privacy. The DMS also includes retention periods. Each document has a defined retention term; once it expires, the document appears on a destruction list and is removed after a final check.”
Developing digital skills
To support digital skills and awareness, Habion offers several ICT training sessions. Carla: “We do this for the new DMS as well—both for new employees and colleagues who want a refresher or deeper understanding. We’re also taking steps with AI. All colleagues have completed an AI literacy course. Some already work with Copilot; the rest will follow next year. A frontrunners group is actively exploring how AI can support our work. We’re also keeping a close eye on the market to identify smart AI applications, such as remote maintenance of heating or electrical installations.”
Available integrations
Habion ultimately selected E-Content365 from Archive-IT. Carla explains why: “A key reason was that our core system Tobias365 already had several available integrations with E-Content365. This saved us months of implementation time and frustration because these integrations are never straightforward. Archive-IT also clearly explained how E-Content365 compares to our previous DMS. That combination of strong technical alignment and clear communication gave us confidence. The collaboration with Archive-IT has been pleasant. Their team has a lot of expertise, and they remain calm and solution-focused when things don’t run smoothly right away.”
Late adopter advantage
“To get the most out of E-Content365, we connected it to other systems used to send letters and documents. These systems must allow relevant metadata to be added so that information appears correctly in the DMS. Fortunately, many housing associations had already gone before us, so several integrations were already available. We are making good use of that. We don’t have to be an early adopter—joining later works perfectly for us.”
Some adjustment required
The new system is user-friendly, though it does require some adjustment. “Employees are now responsible for archiving themselves. The advantage is that information is much easier and faster to find. And because colleagues are now directly involved in archiving and understand the system better, they can respond more quickly to questions or issues from tenants. Tenants also benefit because they don’t have to repeat their story as often—the information is easier to find and better recorded. And since everyone works with the same information, tenants receive consistent answers.”
Future wishes
Looking ahead, Habion still has several wishes regarding document management and ICT. Carla concludes: “We want to further optimise our DMS with a digital signing integration. More broadly, we’ve grown strongly as a regiecorporatie in recent years. We want to automate as many tasks as possible and make data more accessible to external partners through our data platform, such as the companies we outsource operational management to.”
Source: CorporatieGids Magazine, Photo: Theo Scholten