Published 13/06/2021
Established on 1 April 2013, NHS Improving Quality (NHS IQ) is the driving force for improvement across the NHS in England. They are working to improve health outcomes for people by providing improvement and change expertise. Hosted by NHS England, the team has created an improvement organisation that is in alignment with the needs and challenges of the NHS.
Industry: Health
Location: London, United Kingdom
Products & Services: Microsoft SharePoint Online
A reliable tool was needed for managing their user-friendly data and documents, which could grow as the department’s requirements matured. Their existing cloud-based Microsoft SharePoint Online environment (part of the Microsoft Office 365 suite) had evolved organically without steer and direction. It was in desperate need of expert advice to re-shape it into a functioning, effective tool for the department. Additionally, their CRM and scheduling capabilities used spreadsheets where inconsistent data affected the accuracy of monthly reporting.
CPS stood out as the clear leader within the Microsoft SharePoint marketplace due to their extensive experience and expertise.
With staff struggling to find the content they required and ensure they were using the most up-to-date information, the team knew that a new toolset was required to improve working standards and efficiency. Their existing system was cumbersome and heavily controlled by proto-calls and rules, making it difficult to use and stressful for staff. They had previously used Oracle CRM but found it to be too complex for their needs as it required too much initial outlay of time and resources.
The team searched for the UK’s leading Microsoft SharePoint consultancies and invited them to tender for the project. CPS was chosen as the partner of choice to quickly deliver the solution NHS IQ wanted from this tender process.
Mani Dhesi, Senior Associate – Head of Planning & Delivery, explains;
CPS recognised and understood our requirements and helped us think a little differently and outside the box in terms of what we wanted the solution to do for us. Reviewing the many Proof of Concepts that CPS has rolled out to other organisations was all we needed to convince us to proceed immediately.
From budget sign off to delivery, it took the CPS team less than a month, meeting the rapid delivery requirement outlined in the tender document. The initial discovery process delved into the department’s requirements and helped the team understand what their existing instance of Microsoft SharePoint Online could do for them.
Working in partnership with CPS, NHS IQ took a staged approach to the implementation, building and testing one piece of functionality at a time until the complete solution was ready to go live. The CPS consultants worked onsite and alongside the NHS IQ team sharing knowledge so that they would be self-sufficient once the system roll-out was complete.
A New Homepage
This was the entry page into the online toolset at NHS IQ. Staff were struggling to find content so CPS introduced iconography and colour to differentiate between the types of content, the navigation was simplified and Search was made prominent.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
This was originally managed within an Excel spreadsheet which had evolved as process and team size grew. With multiple people editing at any one time, the data entry was inconsistent making reporting inaccurate. CPS converted the data into SharePoint lists with an improved User Interface (UI) to allow easy, consistent and controlled data entry and live, up-to-date reporting.
Scheduler
This was originally managed within an Excel spreadsheet but was converted to SharePoint lists with improved UI and custom filters to encourage usage and aid search functionality.
Document Management
Within Microsoft SharePoint Online, the introduction of versioning and centralised online access significantly improved access speed and ensured the most up-to-date information was used.
Search
The search functionality of Microsoft Office 365 was implemented to deliver fast, relevant search results so that the team could quickly find what they were looking for.
Two Factor Authentication with support for Blackberry devices
This was implemented to maintain the highest levels of data security whilst allowing staff to work remotely.
The solution has proved so successful it is being considered for use in other departments.
A user-friendly front end and online access enable staff to work more easily and ask the right questions. Information can now be accessed quickly and accurately with clear navigation.
The openness and professionalism of the CPS consultants was really impressive and greatly assisted the smooth implementation of the project. We never felt that any question was too simple or stupid to ask! The speed of delivery was beyond our expectations and when we put in change requests, the response was excellent.
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