The sheer quantity of emailed timesheets was creating a huge burden for HCA’s payroll. It also meant slow payment processing for health workers.
We created iOS and Android apps to replace their current paper timesheets system. HCA’s clients – healthcare facilities – could also use the apps to streamline approval process.
This provides a graceful transition from paper to fully electronic timesheets. Health care workers get paid faster while fraud is virtually eliminated.
HCA’s existing paper timesheet process for authorising shifts, in short, was:
It worked for HCA until the staff started using their mobile phones to photograph timesheets and email them to HCA.
The sheer quantity of these emailed timesheets was creating a significant burden for HCA’s payroll division to track, process and archive these photographs.
HCA serves as a bridge between healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities such as hospitals. Thus, it was vital that Enabled understood the pain points of three “users” in this project.
While HCA had already deployed a web portal as well as mobile website, they felt a secure native mobile app would be worth the additional investment.
Health workers want fast and accurate payment. HCA’s clients - healthcare facilities - want fast shift authorisation while avoiding sudden disruption to their normal workflow.
Enabled built iOS and Android apps with timesheet functions, which also displayed the mobile-web components that HCA had already deployed, creating a single integrated tool for their healthcare professionals.
We also scripted and produced two promotional videos, one for HCA’s clients and one for health workers, which also serves as an instructional video for their induction process.
However, the hybrid app didn’t give healthcare staff a satisfactory user experience at first due to the web components lagging.
Enabled fixed this by rebuilding the starting screen and navigation of the app into native components.
It was crucial the new app did not introduce any new pain points for clients as any difficulties could make them reconsider the use of HCA’s staff.
Working with HCA’s head of IT, we developed a plan to gently introduce the app to their clients so as to maximise acceptance.
To reduce initial impact to their clients’ normal workflow, the details of a shift would be displayed on a HCA staff member’s phone. If these details were correct, a supervisor at the facility would sign their signature on-screen with a finger or stylus just as they would on paper, thus no extra work.
As acceptance grows, HCA’s clients can gain additional integration by registering supervisors with HCA’s system to authorise a shift via a PIN or password, making the process fully electronic.
To encourage a full adoption of the mobile app, we ironed out the last pressure point for HCA’s staff during the user testing stage. They needed the ability to determine when pay landed in their bank account so that various benefit payments were not unduly affected.
Enabled added new feature that allows the selection of a payment date, giving back the ability for staff to smooth out bumps in pay across a fortnight.
For more information go to eHCA app
An app with both functional and user experience benefits:
