Most recently, the Council commissioned Metron to carry out a comparison of two housing management systems, prior to making the final purchasing decision. Diarmid Gibson is Head of Technical Support at Stoke City Council: "We already had a number of different systems handling different areas of housing, including rents and repairs. Our aim was to replace all these with one single, integrated application that would provide users with a faster, more powerful and more efficient service. Having looked at what was available in the market, we had drawn up a short list of two possible packages. However we were keen to ensure that neither of them would cause performance problems when they were put into live service.

"We identified sites where the two systems were already installed, and with the full cooperation of these companies, Metron was tasked with undertaking a comprehensive analysis of their performance. The results were extremely useful. Both systems performed well on systems similar to the one that we were planning to use at the Council. This meant that we had eliminated any 'technical' issues relating to the choice of system - it came down purely to which one best served the needs of the users."

The choice of a new integrated housing management system was a major investment for the Council, which owns in excess of 20,000 homes in the area. Well over two million records, which often have long and complex histories associated with them, have to be stored on the system. The new system is accessed and used regularly by more than two hundred personnel.

Diarmid Gibson: "It would have been impossible, particularly in view of the short timescales associated with this project, to have assessed the two potential systems in such a 'numerically valid' manner, without the use Metron's skills and their Athene software."

Metron is currently working with Stoke City Council on a further project associated with their document management system, which is based on an optical disc juke box. Used as an integral part of the benefits operation, the system has performance problems which needed improving. Diarmid Gibson asked Metron to undertake a rapid analysis to see if they could identify the best short term solution for the problem, before more in-depth research could be undertaken.

Metron installed their Athene software, collected relevant data and provided Stoke City Council with a report within a matter of days. Diarmid Gibson: "Based on the findings in Metron's report, we have carried out some hardware upgrades and the improvements in performance have been very significant.

"Having eased the immediate problem, we are now working closely with Metron on a more long term strategy to better understand the performance of these document management systems, and the best methods for improvement in the future."

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