Streamlining Building Control With Barnbrook’s AIP Software

During our time as a software supplier to building control bodies, we have seen a number of common issues that are encountered by Registered Building Control Approvers.

With over 15 years extensive experience of creating and implementing specialised software systems for Building Control in the public sector prior to Barnbrook Software’s incorporation, we realised that there was a requirement for robust software solutions in the private sector.

Subsequent enquires and meetings, initially with local private building control bodies, exposed the limited availability of software solutions available which were capable of meeting the needs of private building control providers out of the box.

Over the past few years, we have seen changes in legislation and requirements from regulating bodies to collect and report on a wide variety of information. With the introduction of these changes, and  the increasingly complex reporting of information and statistics that is now required, building control is experiencing a significant increase in the admin burden for all public and private sector organisations.

The choice of a software solution which is backed up by knowledgeable and robust end user support is imperative.

Prior to implementing AIP, (Approved Inspector Professional), software, many of our users had created procedures or purchased basic systems to produce quotes, store contacts and project numbers, however, these often were not robust enough for the organisations growing size or agile enough to meet the changing regulatory and legislative requirements.

Some had taken the approach of using popular generalised CRM systems and attempted to apply customisation to these which itself isn’t a terrible thing. As long as you have the time and specific expertise, then it is possible to utilise generalised CRM tools to assist in meeting requirements, however many had found that the downside of this approach was that maintenance had become an additional burden and in some cases, the CRM supplier had decided to end support for features or versions of their CRM, meaning that significant, or even complete upgrades were required, at the extra expense of the end user.

Another common issue was poor supplier support and customer relationships, which were having negative consequences, including disruption, quality issues and increased costs for the end user.

With the introduction of the Building Safety Regulator and new operational standards, rules and monitoring arrangements, we have seen increased enquiries from organisations whose  spreadsheets or in house systems began requiring significant changes and maintenance, sometimes at a high and unforeseen cost to end users.

This transition has also highlighted an increased requirement for the recording of specific details, using methods of recording this data so as not to prevent it being used in reporting and document production.

Through our extensive experience, continuous improvement cycle and by consistently working with our private building control customers, Barnbrook Software have created AIP, a standard fully managed software application, specifically for RBCA’s and RBI’s, which encapsulates all the best parts of our systems knowledge and customer feedback. A system that is also flexible enough to work around customers internal processes and detailed enough to provide a wide range of effective, future proofed reporting and document production.

AIP has assisted our customers in the digital transformation of business operations from manual and analogue processes to digital ones across their businesses, leading to increased efficiency, greater business agility and new value for their staff and customers and Barnbrook Software’s agility and flexibility as a Building Control sector focused supplier means that we are able to quickly implement and deploy customer feedback for use by the whole customer base.

Our customers benefit from receiving a high standard of end user support directly from a supplier who understands from both a technical and general perspective and that is best placed to assist where possible.

“We decided to invest in AIP as it provides a user friendly information management system that saves time, produces reports, has processes that can be audited, and meets regulatory requirements. It represents the best value for money, and the initial set up and continuing support provided is exemplary.” – Align Building Control

Barnbrook Software see ourselves as more than just a software supplier and as an extension of our customers businesses. Someone they can rely on to help them achieve excellence.

Our responsive approach and support has meant that all of our customers have always had regular software updates, providing them with facilities to record additional data and create reports for audits and more recently, the Building Safety Regulator, well in advance of any deadlines.

AIP users have access to advanced reporting options to quickly produce quarterly and annual BSR monitoring reports, as well as an extensive, organised suite of operational and detailed BSR reports that allow drill down on demand.

Our fully managed system, with standardised costs, has also helped reduce ongoing software development and maintenance costs for our customers as their workforce increases. The AIP system is cloud-ready meaning that no extra hardware is required to implement and the licensing model provides reassurance that costs will be sustainable in the long term.

Our proven implementation method ensures a seamless transition to AIP, allowing full testing and training prior to go live without disruption to any day to day business operations.