PROJECT ARK LIMITED

Ark

Ark helps housing associations and property managers build better communities.

Ark provides a cloud-based landlord dashboard and corresponding resident app. Ark maximises internal efficiencies whilst creating a better resident experience than ever before via our resident hub. Ark works with any browser, and on both iOS and Android.

Features

• Bespoke on app community-focused news feed
• Secure in app instant messaging with residents
• Reporting dashboard for property managers to track and measure performance
• Aggregated Customer Engagement Score for property managers to measure engagement
• Seamless integration with your preferred housing maintenance system and CRM.
• Custom iOS and Android app for residents
• Custom, targeted, short form surveys
• Residents can make payments via the app
• Book ammeneties and parcel managment functionality
• Documents and FAQ area for manager sharing with residents

Benefits

• Connect with Residents
• Introduce residents to their neighbourhoods and communities
• Make homes residets are proud to call home
• Demonstrate community engagement
• Keep your finger on the pulse
• Increase efficiency and maximise productivity of your property managers
• Seemlessly integrate your CRM and maintenance systems
• Measure impact against the Sustinability Reporting Standard for Social Housing

£10 a unit a year

• Education pricing available

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at angus@projectark.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 13

Service ID

423629387901748

Contact

Angus Reid
07984729792
angus@projectark.co.uk

Service scope

• Software add-on or extension: No
• Cloud deployment model: Public cloud
• Service constraints: N/A
• System requirements: Managers require internet access with a supported browser

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: We aim to respond as quickly as possible during normal working hours. There are emergency contact channels available outside of normal working hours and at weekends.
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: No
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
• Web chat support: Web chat
• Web chat support availability: 24 hours, 7 days a week
• Web chat support accessibility standard: None or don’t know
• How the web chat support is accessible: Via our platform as we utilise Intercom web chat.
• Web chat accessibility testing: N/A
• Onsite support: Yes, at extra cost
• Support levels: We offer in-person, on-site training as part of our initial integration and set-up package. Each client has a dedicated Account Manager who will attend to all client queries. We also offer dedicated technical support for all of our clients which can be accessed via Web Chat, telephone and email.
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: Users will receive in-person onsite training. We also host regular training sessions via video calls for new joiners to the team or for those that require refreshers. Full user documentation and best practice guides are supplied to all clients to help them both learn how to use Ark, but also get the most out of it.; ; As each user will likely have bespoke integrations with Ark the first step would be a technical scoping call to determine the high-level tech stack used and to scope how integration would work.; ; Once the integration has been scoped, the integration work will be carried out and completed. At this point systems training will take place.
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats:
  • HTML
  • PDF
• End-of-contract data extraction: User data extraction is subject to client contract but all data Data is protected using security features powered by Django including XSS, CSRF,; and SQL injection protection using HTTPS. ; ; This application layer provides exclusive uploader access to our secure AWS S3 buckets, which are encrypted at rest. Ark is fully registered with the ICO and is an authorised data controller acting in accordance with The Data Protection Act 2018 meaning that any data extraction or deletion request will be dealt with in accordance with these regulations.; ; All personal data is supplied by the client via their own CRM meaning that CRM acts as the "source of truth", therefore, data extraction from Ark is made simpler due to this process.
• End-of-contract process: At the end of the contract, all client data is scrubbed from our servers. Where data is required to continue running our services, the data is anonymised and personal data is completely removed from the system. This is provided as part of the total cost of the service.

Using the service

• Web browser interface: Yes
• Supported browsers:
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari
• Application to install: No
• Designed for use on mobile devices: Yes
• Differences between the mobile and desktop service: There are only minor differences between the mobile service and desktop service. ; ; For end-users (residents), there is only a mobile app delivery system, and has been designed to be optimised for a mobile phone. ; ; For managers, the system is optimised for desktops, but has been designed in a responsive framework, so works as well on mobile as it does on desktop.
• Service interface: No
• User support accessibility: WCAG 2.1 A
• API: No
• Customisation available: Yes
• Description of customisation: Clients are able to select bespoke branding for the resident mobile app, choosing primary and secondary colour schemes and logo. Features are able to be toggled on and off for each client, or at the community level if appropriate. ; ; Clients customise the app via consultation with the Ark technical and client support teams.

Scaling

• Independence of resources: Our services are all managed using load balancing and auto-scaling infrastructure. We use CDNs to handle any asset caching.

Analytics

• Service usage metrics: Yes
• Metrics types: Service metrics are served back to the client via a dashboard showing high level usage metrics such as: download rate, usage rate, satisfaction score, response time to customers. ; ; Individual reports are also available on request.
• Reporting types:
  • Real-time dashboards
  • Reports on request

Resellers

• Supplier type: Not a reseller

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Other security clearance
• Government security clearance: Up to Security Clearance (SC)

Asset protection

• Knowledge of data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Data storage and processing locations: United Kingdom
• User control over data storage and processing locations: No
• Datacentre security standards: Managed by a third party
• Penetration testing frequency: At least every 6 months
• Penetration testing approach: In-house
• Protecting data at rest:
  • Physical access control, complying with another standard
  • Encryption of all physical media
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Data sanitisation type: Deleted data can’t be directly accessed
• Equipment disposal approach: A third-party destruction service

Data importing and exporting

• Data export approach: Via a support request we can provide full or partial exports through CSV
• Data export formats: CSV
• Data import formats: CSV

Data-in-transit protection

• Data protection between buyer and supplier networks: TLS (version 1.2 or above)
• Data protection within supplier network: TLS (version 1.2 or above)

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: Subject to contract, we offer a minimum of 99.5% guaranteed uptime, users are refunded on a pro-rata basis.
• Approach to resilience: Available on request
• Outage reporting: We directly communicate with affected users through email alerts

Identity and authentication

• User authentication needed: Yes
• User authentication:
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Username or password
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: Management interfaces and support channels are protected by individual usernames and passwords.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least once a year
• Management access authentication: Username or password

Audit information for users

• Access to user activity audit information: Users contact the support team to get audit information
• How long user audit data is stored for: At least 12 months
• Access to supplier activity audit information: Users contact the support team to get audit information
• How long supplier audit data is stored for: At least 12 months
• How long system logs are stored for: At least 12 months

Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: No
• ISO 28000:2007 certification: No
• CSA STAR certification: No
• PCI certification: No
• Cyber essentials: No
• Cyber essentials plus: No
• Other security certifications: No

Security governance

• Named board-level person responsible for service security: Yes
• Security governance certified: No
• Security governance approach: We have a number of security policies that employees and contractors sign up to. We carry out regular spot checks on employee machines to enforce standards.
• Information security policies and processes: We have a number of security policies that employees and contractors sign up to. We carry out regular spot checks on employee machines to enforce standards.

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Supplier-defined controls
• Configuration and change management approach: Platform code is version controlled GIT, allowing code changes to be tracked at line level. The application is split into separate staging and QA environments. Releases are deployed subject to stringent continuous integration testing, and assessed for security impact
• Vulnerability management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Vulnerability management approach: We assess any potential threats to our service monthly. Any risks are then investigated by a senior development team. Issues to fix are prioritised and patches for priority fix issues are issued within a week sprint
• Protective monitoring type: Supplier-defined controls
• Protective monitoring approach: We activity monitor the usage of our services to identify potential compromises. Incidents are assessed and escalated immediately.
• Incident management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Incident management approach: We predefined processes for incident management, including a hotline email for immediate reaction. All reports are escalated to senior management and continuously reviewed

Secure development

• Approach to secure software development best practice: Supplier-defined process

Public sector networks

• Connection to public sector networks: No

Social Value

• Fighting climate change:

  Fighting climate change

  Ark helps property managers and residents to help make better decisions.; ; Via Ark's AI and ML engines, we are able to focus on not only fast response to maintenance requests made by residents but also preventative maintenance responses saving property owners time and money. ; ; Also, as the industry strives for its Net Zero carbon aims, the implementation of our ML which can learn about recurrent issues and inform property owners in advance will help aid in this transition - especially as policy pushes the industry towards more sustainable options which our Ai can help recommend.
• Covid-19 recovery:

  Covid-19 recovery

  Ark can help support local communities to recover from the impacts of COVID-19 by providing a means for communities in social housing to connect with neighbours through a digital platform that helps reduce isolation in those still shielding. ; ; Ark can also support businesses to deliver services to local communities through improvements to end-point service provision, including no-touch confirmation methods, app bookings etc, where previously no provision could be made for those services.
• Tackling economic inequality:

  Tackling economic inequality

  Ark increases supply chain resilience and capacity by providing innovative and disruptive technologies that can help to deliver lower cost alongside a much higher quality of overall service to the end customer. The Ark platform also modernises the delivery of housing maintenance services, increasing the productivity of building managers by removing unnecessary repetitive tasks. ; ; Our community-based approach also creates opportunities for local small organisations to find local buyers who may be interested in their services and products.
• Wellbeing:

  Wellbeing

  Ark's community-based approach is designed to draw service-providers and service-users closer together to co-create a community together, rather than being imposed by a housing association or landlord. We believe that this is essential to support a community that can sustain itself over the long-term. This approach also puts emphasis on grounding the micro-community within the wider community, with the intent of building a deeper, more integrated community that provides a digitally-led sense of community spirit, ownership and belonging

Pricing

• Price: £10 a unit a year
• Discount for educational organisations: Yes
• Free trial available: No

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at angus@projectark.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.