Amsterdam 28 March 2022 – Takecarebnb, in cooperation with the Red Cross, takes care of hosting thousands of Ukrainian refugees in The Netherlands. Some 30,000 people have already signed up as potential host families. And this number is growing daily. Screening, matching and handling the many thousands of registrations in a very short time means a huge effort for the organization of Takecarebnb. A software robot that could help the organization as a ‘digital volunteer’ is more than welcome.
The volunteers of Takecarebnb are personally calling all people who register as a host family. They explain what is involved in the hosting of refugees and what the requirements are for a hosting family. After this initial screening, a Certificate of Good Conduct (VOG) is requested for each potential host family.
Handling 20.000 applications for a Certificate of Conduct (VOG)
Application for a VOG are submitted via the website of the Ministry of Justice and Security. Entering the personal data for a VOG application online takes 3 to 4 minutes per application. This means Takecarebnb would have to spend more than 1,000 hours to submit tens of thousands of applications. Not only is this boring work, but mostly it’s valuable time that Takecarebnb volunteers would rather spend on more important tasks to do. Moreover, there was a significant risk that the process of submitting so many applications would be seriously delayed due to a lack of capacity in the team of Takecarebnb.
Tacstone Technology and Takecarebnb deploy the first ‘digital volunteer’
Christa Hoogveld, one of the many volunteers working for Takecarebnb in the screening of potential host families, told her partner Vincent about the situation at Takecarebnb. Vincent works as an RPA Developer at Tacstone Technology. He is a specialist in developing software robots that can take over administrative work from humans. He knew immediately that RPA could be a big help here.
IT Specialist Mart Kok of Takecarebnb was open to the idea of using a software robot to handle the application of thousands of VOG requests. The VOG application process was already well known to Tacstone from previous assignments and Kok was able to quickly provide the necessary information. Barely 24 hours later, RPA Developer Bram van Heuvelen had the robot script ready and the first ‘digital volunteer’ of Takecarebnb’ got started!
Up till today, our digital volunteer has already handled more than 4.000 applications. Fast and errorfree. There is still a considerable amount of work to be done, but the software robot has no issues as it works 24 hours a day, takes no lunch breaks and does not intend to go on a holiday…
UiPath offers Takecarebnb free licenses for RPA software
Tacstone Technology is a Gold Partner with UiPath, a global leader in RPA software. By collaborating with the UiPath Bridge program, Tacstone was able to leverage free software licenses and add automation value to Takecarebnb. In 2019, Shashank Pancharpula launched the UiPath Bridge program, an initiative intended to bridge the ‘gap’ between non-profit organizations and the application of RPA technology. Non-profit organizations typically do not have the funding and/or resources to use new digital technologies such as RPA. The UiPath Bridge program fills this gap by providing non-profits with free software licenses and a volunteer team that develops a one-time use case, adding value to the non-profit by the end of the project. The three way partnership between UiPath, Tacstone and Takecarebnb is a good example of how automation can be used to drive positive social impact.