Wellstar Health System is a major healthcare provider in Georgia with nearly 25,000 staff spread across its hospitals, health parks, and medical offices. Wellstar was facing challenges with its IT project management system, which had multiple channels for project requests, and lacked visibility into project timelines and dependencies, causing confusion, ineffective communication, and non-optimal allocation of resources. In addition, the existing system made it difficult to align projects with Wellstar’s strategic objectives. INRY, a ServiceNow Elite partner, stepped in to assist Wellstar in refining and enhancing its existing project management solution.
INRY’s Expertise in Action:
Wellstar chose INRY as their preferred partner to revamp their Strategic Portfolio Management System. The objective was to bring about a significant transformation, and INRY provided support to make it happen. Through detailed workshops and collaborative sessions, INRY acquired a deep insight into Wellstar's challenges and areas of concern. INRY carefully documented the workflow and processes, identified bottlenecks, and analyzed the underlying causes of inefficiencies. This in-depth understanding was crucial in crafting a solution tailored to Wellstar's needs.
A customized solution was created to address the different challenges identified, to streamline Wellstar's workflows, enhance productivity, and cut down expenses. Given the complexity of the transformation, INRY recommended a phased implementation approach to ensure success. The first phase involved building a solid foundation, which was crucial to the entire project's success. Once the foundation was established, Phase 2 introduced advanced features and optimization. With this approach, INRY delivered a comprehensive solution addressing Wellstar's specific challenges while minimizing disruptions to their day-to-day operations.
The Journey of Transformation
Phase 1: Building the Foundation for Success
In Phase 1, it was essential for INRY to gain a comprehensive understanding of Wellstar's current project and Portfolio Management procedures. The existing process and practices were reviewed along with historical data. Workshops were conducted, and existing reports were analyzed to conduct a thorough analysis. INRY was then able to identify areas where the platform was not being utilized to its fullest potential.
INRY efficiently optimized the existing ServiceNow Strategic Portfolio Management System to address Wellstar's specific requirements:
- Project & Portfolio Management: Key processes like portfolio creation, financial planning, and project workspace functionalities were optimized to align with Wellstar's objectives. Deliverables included configuring portfolio and project management settings, enabling SPM processes, defining project criteria, and establishing task assignments. Custom fields, workflows, and templates were also configured to streamline project initiation, management, and closure. This ensured alignment with enterprise strategies and efficient resource utilization.
- Idea & Demand Management: Wellstar was shown management tools that encourage innovation, including initiating and collaborating on ideas, and evaluating them. Workflows, notifications, access permissions, and forms have been configured to accept different types of ideas based on demand.
- Resource & Time Management: Efficient resource allocation and time tracking were prioritized to optimize resource utilization and project cost control. The Resource and Time Management module was configured ensuring alignment with Wellstar's unique requirements and workflows.
- Seamless Integration for Enhanced Collaboration: The integrations aimed to foster seamless collaboration by integrating ServiceNow with external systems, such as Cloud Coach for EPMO integration and Outlook/MS Teams for project meeting tracking. Security protocols were maintained while configuring integration channels to ensure secure data exchange and compatibility between systems.
- Empowering Data-Driven Decision-Making with Performance Analytics: INRY tailored performance analytics solutions to empower Wellstar with actionable insights for strategic decision-making. Key configurations included the development of customer-specific reports, metrics, and benchmarks, enabling Wellstar to measure performance against organizational goals effectively.
Phase 2: INRY Optimizes Wellstar's SPM Foundation
During Phase 2, Wellstar partnered with INRY to enhance the operational and user experience of the existing system. INRY worked closely with Wellstar stakeholders to identify areas for improvement in the functionalities introduced in Phase 1. User feedback was incorporated to streamline workflows, optimize data flow, and refine the user interface.
Streamlining Workflows, Empowering Users
Phase 2 focused on adding new features and aimed at improving the efficiency of existing processes. INRY organized workshops to analyze Wellstar's workflows and identify any bottlenecks and opportunities for optimization. Based on the feedback received from Wellstar, INRY advised on how to enhance the existing solution. New features were introduced like defining project phases, managing approvals for scope changes, and capturing completed projects. Past project templates were leveraged to streamline resource allocation and task identification while defining clear milestones and budget allocation criteria.
Seamless Data Integration into Single System
Customer APIs have been designed to seamlessly integrate existing systems with Workday and Salesforce systems for data synchronization. The APIs have eliminated data silos, thereby ensuring that everyone is working from the same page. Workflows have been scheduled to automate data exchange between ServiceNow and external systems, which has further streamlined the data synchronization process.
Data-Driven Decisions for Improved Performance
INRY configured advanced features such as a Dashboard setup for targeted audiences, Gantt charts, and additional reports to enhance Wellstar's performance analytics, providing invaluable insights. Reports, metrics, and dashboards were tailored to Wellstar's KPIs. This enabled the leadership team to anticipate trends, monitor project performance, and identify areas for improvement. Self-service reporting capabilities were configured which empowered users to access the data they need, customize reports based on their specific requirements, and gain insights into various aspects of their organization's performance.
Unlocking the Key to Long-Term Success
Wellstar's clear vision and commitment to excellence have led the way for the transformation. Ensuring that every step taken is in line with Wellstar's unique goals and aspirations, INRY has provided tailored solutions and expertise. With advanced functionalities, strong governance, and the potential for automation, Wellstar can navigate the ever-changing healthcare landscape with confidence, ensuring to delivery of exceptional care to their patients. Together, we celebrate Wellstar's remarkable achievements and look forward to continued collaboration.