Riverside Benefits Advice

A growing advice service constrained by fragmented systems, duplicated administration and unreliable multi-user working.

The benefits advice service originally relied on a combination of Google Forms and Word documents to record referrals from charities, GP surgeries and other organisations.

These referrals identified people who needed assistance completing benefits applications and accessing appropriate advice.

Information submitted through the Google Form was transferred into a central spreadsheet containing approximately 50 columns of data.

This spreadsheet became the principal mechanism for managing the entire referral and advice process.

Each case involved a sequence of activities, including:

Receiving and recording the initial referral.

Allocating or identifying the appropriate adviser.

Contacting the referred person by telephone.

Booking an advice appointment.

Sending appointment confirmations by email or SMS.

Managing changes to appointment dates and times.

Recording information gathered during advice appointments.

Tracking the progress and status of the referral.

Completing the advice appointment and associated casework.

Sending follow-up communications and recording outcomes.

Although the spreadsheet provided a central record, the actual work was carried out across multiple disconnected applications.

Advisers moved repeatedly between spreadsheets, Gmail, Word documents and calendars to manage individual cases.

Communications had to be matched manually to the appropriate client and referral, while changes to appointments and case status required updates across different parts of the system.

As more advisers used the service simultaneously, the limitations became increasingly apparent.

The spreadsheet-based workflow suffered from stability problems, crashes and difficulties with multi-user access.

This created uncertainty over the accuracy and availability of information, interrupted advisers' work and increased the administrative effort required to keep cases moving.

The principal challenges were:

Fragmented case management: Referrals, appointments, documents and communications were managed across separate Google Workspace applications.

An increasingly complex spreadsheet: Approximately 50 columns were required to track the many stages and details of each referral.

Unreliable multi-user access: Crashes and concurrent-working problems disrupted normal operations.

Duplicated data entry: Information often had to be recorded or updated in more than one place.

Disconnected communications: Emails and SMS messages were not automatically associated with the relevant client, referral or adviser.

Manual appointment coordination: Booking, moving and confirming appointments required activity across multiple systems.

Limited workflow visibility: Understanding the current position of a case depended on manually maintained information.

Barriers to growth: The administrative burden and reliability problems made it increasingly difficult to expand the service.

The existing arrangement had reached the limits of what could reasonably be achieved through loosely connected productivity tools.

The challenge was to replace a fragile administrative process with a reliable, integrated system designed around the way benefits advisers actually work.

A secure, integrated benefits advice platform connecting referrals, advisers, appointments and communications.

Procium developed a bespoke web-based case-management application designed around the practical needs of a benefits advice service.

Rather than depending on a central spreadsheet and multiple disconnected applications, the platform brings the principal administrative and operational functions together.

Online Referral Portal

Charities, GP surgeries and other authorised referral sources can submit referrals through an online form.

The information is captured directly within the system, creating the foundation for a new client and referral record.

This removes the need to manually transfer information from Google Forms or Word documents into a separate spreadsheet.

Centralised Client and Referral Management

Each referral is managed through a structured case record containing the information required to support the advice process.

Advisers can review referral details, record activity, manage the case workflow and update its status from one place.

This provides a more consistent and accessible view of each client's progress.

Adviser Workflow Management

The platform supports the stages involved in managing a benefits advice referral, from initial contact through appointment booking, advice activity, follow-up and completion.

Actions and status changes can be recorded directly against the relevant referral.

This replaces the need to interpret and maintain numerous spreadsheet columns to understand the current position of a case.

Integrated Gmail Communications

Gmail is integrated with the advice portal so that incoming email correspondence can be associated with the relevant client, referral and adviser.

Messages can be presented within the adviser's working environment, preserving the context of the communication.

Threaded correspondence makes it easier to follow conversations and understand the history of contact without repeatedly searching through a separate Gmail inbox.

Integrated SMS Through Twilio

Twilio provides the SMS communications capability.

Text messages can be managed in connection with the relevant client and referral, supporting appointment confirmations, reminders and other case-related communications.

Incoming SMS messages can also be routed into the appropriate adviser workflow, helping maintain a more complete communication history.

Integrated Calendar and Appointment Management

The system brings appointment scheduling into the case-management environment.

Advisers can book appointments, manage changes and coordinate their schedules alongside the associated referral information.

This reduces the need to switch between spreadsheets, separate calendars and email messages when organising advice sessions.

Centralised Case History

The platform brings together case activity, communications, appointments and workflow changes to provide a clearer record of the work undertaken.

This improves continuity when advisers return to a case or need to understand previous interactions.

A Consistent Adviser Workspace

A unified interface allows advisers to carry out routine activities in one place.

Rather than navigating several disconnected applications, advisers work within a system designed specifically for the sequence of tasks involved in benefits advice.

The result is a joined-up platform in which referrals, appointments, communications and case activity operate as parts of the same process.

Replacing spreadsheets is only the beginning. The real value comes from connecting the entire service.

Riverside Benefits Advice illustrates a challenge faced by many small charities.

Google Workspace and similar productivity tools provide an affordable and accessible way to establish a service.

Forms can collect information, spreadsheets can track activity, calendars can organise appointments and email can support communication.

But as an organisation grows, these tools can become increasingly difficult to coordinate.

The problem is not necessarily any individual application. It is the amount of manual work required to keep information consistent across them.

A referral recorded in a form must become a spreadsheet entry. That entry must be connected to an adviser, an appointment, an email conversation, an SMS reminder and an eventual outcome.

When those connections depend on manual effort, the administrative burden grows with every additional case.

Procium's approach is to bring those activities together within a system designed around the charity's actual processes.

For Riverside Benefits Advice, this meant replacing fragmented administration with a single, integrated environment supporting the complete advice journey.

The greatest value of bespoke charity software is not simply digitising individual tasks. It is connecting people, information and processes so that the whole organisation can work more effectively.