Creating an easy-to-use online survey processes to collect healthcare data efficiently

Business Requirement:

The requirement was crisp and clear, to build a cloud-based application for healthcare professionals to conduct a survey with people infected with deadly diseases. Before reaching out to us, this 'study' was being practiced using a pen and a paper.

Involvement:

RailsFactory's involvement with the client has been over two years of development and maintenance. Our delivery team has a deep knowledge on the product, 'CoHRPICA' and has been visiting the client's premises many times.

The Client:

This is a joint non-profit ‘study’ conducted to take their research (paper based) on deadly disease Infected and Un-Infected Cohorts across India to a digital platform.

Challenges Faced:

In addition to business requirements, there was a series of technical requirements which were vital for the very existence of the business. Some of the major challenges were:

  • Fixing bug and addition of new functionalities
  • Lot of scripts and code changes in the database
  • A lot of information was being collected through manual processes, this had to be streamlined
  • The client was keen on completing the project as soon as possible

Another main task was to make a convenient system which can be useful, even for people who are totally unaware of any kind of technical stuff and cannot use online forms for entering data into the system.

Our Approach:

In approaching the complete creation and implementation of the online survey system, our developers wanted the new system to be user-friendly and include all the functionalities the client was looking forward to.

We suggested making key changes in the online survey system using Ruby on Rails, as the client wanted a secure, and powerful technology to be used. The users of the site being people from various demographic areas, the online survey form demanded security more than anything. By bringing in RoR (Ruby on Rails) with some best practices, the security concerns were addressed and using our agile development methodology, milestones were set for efficient project management.

The online system allows the data collector to create a set of questions for the survey which the candidates can attempt by selecting the survey and its corresponding questions including the functionality for selecting optional questions if there are any and record their response to be reviewed by the data collector. We used the Rails framework considering the MVC architecture and Rails rules. We wrote the unit test cases and features for the application. The online survey system uses cloud computing technology for hosting ROR applications. We used GIT to manage the codebase.

Solution Offered:

The client has chosen us as the solution partner for this application due to the all-round technical expertise and years of experience in developing scalable, user-friendly applications solutions in RoR. As a leading global professional solution provider, RailsFactory through its agile methodology ensured that the client was delivered a rich, interactive online survey system according to their requirements.

Tools and Technologies: Ruby on Rails, Rails, Ruby

Benefits to the Customer:

The implementation of ruby on rails code has been working perfectly and the client team has excellent visibility into the data collected and helps them to analyse efficiently. In addition, the client was very pleased that this project enabled them to easily delve into wider geographical locations for data collection, which was earlier taking weeks can now be done in days!

Following are the few benefits experienced by the client after implementing our solution:

  • Easy to use and simple to understand, even for those with no prior experience with the system
  • Using the right mix of technology and expertise, the healthcare providers can set the right revenue cycle goals and measure the performance against these specific goals
  • Improved communication between all the teams
  • High availability of support team 24x7
  • Easy delivery process
  • New added features made examining the data both accurate and convenient
  • Higher responsive participant experience