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Enterprise Data Management: Integration of 130+ Apps, Devices, and Software – Nationwide Information Services Company
COMPANY & PROJECT OVERVIEW
Our Texas-based client provides record retrieval and claims management services nationwide for sectors such as legal and insurance.
We were first connected to this client in 2012, when we worked with a San Diego County company focused on records retrieval. In 2017, this initial company merged with six others to form our current customer.
This customer has three main locations and nine nationwide locations total, each with their own individual software systems that require development and maintenance of several applications and custom integrations with other internal systems and custom software, third-party solutions, and devices.
The Integrant team works with several stakeholders on the client side, including a Program Manager and VP of Engineering, to ensure the smooth running of both their internal and external systems and everything in between. This includes identifying the best-fit solutions for the needs of the business using existing or custom solutions, and most recently, working on a new internal system that will replace each separate system for an organization-wide solution.
CHALLENGES
Complex Business Domain
For our client, there are several asynchronous steps involving different business units that each have their own functions. All these moving parts must run smoothly and flawlessly for our client to be successful.
Business Units
To onboard a new customer (a large insurance company, for example) and complete an information request for a claim or legal case, there are 8 departments or business units. Each department has several steps to accomplish and data to collect before moving to the next phase.
Figure 1. Client department workflow.
Confidentiality and Compliance
Because of the industries they serve, any software or services must meet regulatory compliance and confidentiality requirements for information such as HIPAA compliance.
Continuous Modifications
In the last 5 years, our client has acquired 10 businesses, including a secure medical records exchange portal, medical canvassing companies, and more. As our client continues to acquire new business, these tools get incorporated into their current system. Our client is also moving toward increased automation in their workflows.
The process for each new customer that is onboarded by our client is customized. This means new workflows and information gathering settings for each new customer.
Order Fulfillment
Within some phases, there are multiple actions that can take place depending on the nature of the request, who the custodian of record is, the type of information collected, and what format the data should be delivered in.
For example, in the quality control phase, documents are reviewed to ensure they are case related, files are converted into images, a record summary or table of contents may be provided (e.g., if the data collected is hundreds or thousands or pages), and reviewers may identify locations not visited or information not collected. In a case where there is information missing, they must go back to the customer to confirm they want this information collected. If yes, they will continue the same process to retrieve the information as before and go through the QC process again.
Figure 2. Sample customer workflow from order placement to record management.
Locations
In addition, our client has three locations with more than 700 employees, with each location having their individual employee portal that currently functions as separate enterprise units. Some locations have more manual effort than others, which they are working to standardize across all sites.
Data Volume, Information Security, and Regulatory Compliance
With multiple locations and multiple departments within each and some document requests being tens of thousands of pages, the amount of information and data moving through these processes is enormous.
Across all sites, this client, on average, receives 60,000 requests for information per day. Information for these requests may be collected from two locations, or some requests require information from as many as 30 locations. All this data must be properly stored, accessible, and secured.
Cybersecurity is a priority for any organization, but especially for our client in the information services industry. Not only does our client house a significant amount of data, but they also house a lot of personal, confidential data, some of which is protected by HIPAA compliance.
Numerous Services and Integrations
Between the three main sites, there are 130 and counting connected apps and services. This is a mix of custom built (~90%) and off-the-shelf software (~10%). The maintenance of these services and connections is critical to the success of the business. A handful of previously implemented off-the-shelf software is no longer supported due to older technology, so there are workarounds that must be applied as the software can no longer be modified.
Performance and Scalability
Any system that has numerous connected apps and services, not to mention large data volume, needs to run effectively and efficiently. If one location received 1000 information requests per day and each information request took 1 hour, our client wouldn’t be able to keep up with demand or accommodate additional requests.
SOLUTIONS
Custom Integrations and New Centralized System
Initially and currently, integrations are customized for existing apps and services for each internal platform at each of the three locations. This ensures that information requests can continue to be handled effectively without interruptions to the business. However, there are still varying levels of manual vs. automatic efforts at each site.
Integrations include:
Custom software that was built for the client’s internal platform
Custom customer-facing platform
Third-party software, portals, and connections such as UPS, FedEx, claim centers, etc
Devices such as industrial printers, CD burners, faxes, barcode scanners/reads, etc
To future-proof their business, we are concurrently working on a new, centralized system that will be utilized at all three locations. This client chose to build a custom internal platform that will allow them to scale and maintain their software and business more easily as well as downsize or unify the apps and services.
This new centralized system requires a team of Product Owners (POs) on our client side in addition to 3 POs on our team. This team was tasked with building the roadmap for the internal system our client is aiming to transition to, ensuring that this all-in-one approach will be an ideal solution for each department in the process. The new solution will allow this client to improve their business operations overall, sync their departments, and have their processes and data in a centralized location.
Customized Notification Systems and Reporting
Due to all the asynchronous moving parts, it’s imperative that any malfunction or disruption in the process is addressed immediately.
If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try and Try Again
First, each potential point of failure is identified. At these points, rules are established so any failed process will automatically retry. For example, if a request submission fails, it may be set to retry after 30 seconds, then 2 minutes, then 5 minutes, then 30 minutes, etc.
Report And Notify
What if something continues to fail? This is where custom notifications are implemented so that the appropriate party is alerted to address the issue. These notifications can be in the form of an email to a specific person or department or as an UI alert.
In addition, all actions are tracked, and custom reports are produced so errors can be identified to the minute. This allows departments and our team to troubleshoot possible errors and minimize them in the future.
Industry Expertise and Software Best Practices
Integrant has over 30 years of software experience working in a variety of industries. This allows us to draw from best practices across industries to continue to build software that is effective and bolsters stakeholder and business goals. It also means we are experts at approaching the most complex businesses and breaking down processes to implement simple, successful solutions.
This includes working with ready-made or existing solutions and figuring out any gaps that need to be supplemented with other ready-made or custom solutions. Integrant’s top priority for our clients is valuable software that achieves the organization’s priorities.
Regardless of industry, your software will be highly performant and future-proof. The process of building software will be iterative, fit your needs, and accomplished in established time and resources parameters.
CONCLUSION
We’re hard at work maintaining our client’s current systems (internal platform, external platform, social canvas platform) and working toward a new, unified system. We’re excited to continue our partnership and work together on a solution that will allow our client to increase their ability to scale and grow more efficiently.
If you’re interested in additional information on our data solutions, custom reporting, or software architecture, please contact us.
