Helping NHS Providers upgrade their systems, design a membership platform and integrate Microsoft Dynamics 365
69%
increase in mobile engagement
26%
increase on average time on page
9%
drop in bounces after the homepage redesign
26%
decrease in page load time after the homepage redesign
Client profile
NHS Providers is a membership organisation and trade association for NHS acute, ambulance, community and mental health services that treat patients, and service users, in the NHS. It’s the only membership organisation solely dedicated to supporting NHS foundation trusts and trusts — all trusts are members, and collectively these groups account for £87 billion of annual expenditure and more than one million staff. NHS Providers help shape policy, provide analysis, work on communications and media for the industry, and also give support and training.
Challenge
NHS Providers had several pressing challenges. They needed to upgrade from the unsupported Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 as it was no longer fully meeting NHS Provider’ needs, which required Microsoft Dynamics 365. They also needed to enhance their digital capabilities, from a more user-friendly website with easier registration and login; provide self-service for users to control their own preferences and profiles; create an event booking and payment pathway, and the design and development of their digital publications. The publications, and interactive charting, needed to be built in Umbraco CMS.
Solution
The features
Incomplete legacy tasks meant that NHS Providers needed to seek the help of an Umbraco CMS expert. As an Umbraco Gold Partner with a dedicated Umbraco support program, GrowCreate was able to design their digital publications and develop interactive charting functionality in the back office of Umbraco, with 14 different chart types available, and less need for support.
The new website was fully integrated with the Microsoft Dynamics CRM, meaning that new and existing users were directly linked to the CRM records. From now on, users could retrieve their own account permissions and update their CRM records through the site. This level of personal control for members extended to a new website preference centre, where members can view, amend and pay for bookings with Stripe; update their marketing and communication preferences in line with GDPR; change personal details, and update their content groups.
The process
We used a hybrid project delivery approach that combined the strengths of both waterfall and agile. The size of the project meant the budget and scope had to be well defined and was agreed upon before development. We started with Discovery and Design phases, working with the client to accurately capture and refine their requirements. This had two key advantages: it gave the CRM implementation a head start, lowering the risk of blockages during the website development; and it provided enough detail to estimate and plan the development phase, reassuring senior stakeholders.
Instead of a rigid, detailed specification, a backlog was produced that outlined the scope of the project, alongside the designs. The backlog was then delivered in a series of two-week development sprints, each scheduled off the back of a CRM release. The functionality provided in each CRM release defined the sprint goal/scope, and the agile approach to development provided the necessary flexibility to adjust to changes when planning each sprint. Sprints ended with a sprint review, where the work was demonstrated to the client and then released to a staging environment for testing. The project was completed with a final quality assurance and launch phase where the project was fully UAT tested.
Future plans
GrowCreate continues with website maintenance while providing retained hours in weekly sprints on a regular basis.
“Thanks for the excellent work you have carried out on our website. We’re really delighted with the results — the charting, new homepage and publishing platform really help move us forward.”
Daniel Reynolds, Director of Communications, NHS Providers.
Results
Business Impact
NHS Providers achieved significant results from working with us on their project, increasing engagement on the site and improving the experience for their many members.
