Integration and Applications

New front-end enables real-time clinical evaluations

Our client is a leading nonprofit global tax-exempt healthcare organization. They ensure patients receive the highest standards of care and safety when visiting a healthcare provider. We have been working with them since 2016.

Our Client

Challenge 

Our client strives to improve the clinical conditions of healthcare organizations to ensure patients receive safe and quality care. These organizations must submit extensive amounts of data to our client to confirm they are complying with Clinical Quality Measures (CQMs).

CQMs are criteria used to assess if a healthcare provider is executing their practices in ways that serve the best interest of their patients. This information is processed by The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which issues Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements to healthcare organizations considered reputable by our client.

However, these organizations were submitting their information through an older data collection system that:

1. Couldn’t verify the data for correctness and completeness before it was submitted to our client for evaluation

2. Required IT involvement to adjust the user interface, rather than our client being able to do so on their own

Consequently, healthcare organizations struggled to submit their data to our client in a timely manner, and our client was unable to capture and process that data quickly.

Action

To correct this, our client acquired a completely new data collection system and asked Prolifics experts to lead and execute the most important work: designing the front-end portion. This is the user interface where healthcare organizations are presented with forms to complete based on their needs, such as obtaining a certification to add a new department to their facility, or to simply renew their previous certifications.

Result

With the ability to modify the forms themselves, our client can change the questions on their user interface, as well as specify the types of answers that are acceptable. If our client determines that another question would be appropriate to add or remove from the form–or wants to create a new form–they can do so in real time on their end.

What does all this mean for our client and the healthcare organizations they serve? The time it takes for our client to generate or modify forms on their user interface has been significantly reduced from several hours to just a few minutes, and healthcare organizations can pick which forms apply to them. As a result, our client can receive the most accurate and extensive information, and healthcare organizations can have the best chance of complying with all requirements.

Ganjam also explained this in relation to our client being able to formulate audit checklists immediately. He said, “Suppose our client visits one facility and there is a second facility a few miles away. If the client must capture a different set of information from the second facility, it was not easy for them to do before because everything had to be done manually. Now, with just a click of a few buttons and some keyboard strokes, they have a totally new audit checklist.”

Our Client

Our client is a Midwest-based diversified energy company involved in the development and management of energy-related businesses and services nationwide. Its operating units include an electric company with more than 2 million customers in its part of the state. The client’s portfolio includes energy businesses focused on power and industrial projects and energy marketing and trading.

Challenge

Our client needed to upgrade and modernize its Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS), the main grid application which generates, distributes and manages electricity, as well as handles outages. Concurrently they wanted to upgrade the field service management system. The need to upgrade was driven by the fact that the client’s current systems were old, which meant:

• the inability to respond quickly to power outages
• the inability to meet customer demand, which fluctuated with the weather, the season, and usage by a large industrial base.
• inefficiencies in sending out repair crews or having to send them back multiple times.

Action

The client chose an ADMS solution to replace much of its aging technology. The systems within the ADMS included distribution management, electric management and outage management. Our charge was to build all of the interfaces between this new outage management system and all of their existing enterprise applications. This would be about 40 different interfaces, including ERP, CRM, asset management, E&U specific applications like meter reading, and the field service management system.

Working together, Prolifics and the client chose the integration technology tools. Prolifics assembled a large team of both onshore and offshore resources to complete the integration.

We have structured the project in two phases:

• Phase 1: Smart Meter Closed Loop

As part of the deployment of new smart meters into the field, Prolifics established “closed loop” integration to connect the smart meters to backend systems. Specific integration points now enable the client to confirm whether voltage levels for specific meters are within tolerance, supporting both proactive monitoring and confirmation that corrections by field technicians actually fixed the problem. Also, in support of customer satisfaction, Prolifics integrated with a texting system that communicates directly with the consumer about electricity levels and their satisfaction with any fixes made.

• Phase 2: Full ADMS Integration

This phase includes the remaining interfaces that connect to the ADMS third party system. Interfaces have been developed and tested but go live is dependent on the ADMS system’s readiness (third party) for end-to-end system testing. Go live was originally scheduled for Fall of 2020 but has been pushed back due to delays from the ADMS vendor, partly due to COVID-19 affecting their development deployment teams.

Results

As the project is new and ongoing at this writing, we are working with the client to define specific metrics and a governance model to monitor them. The specific measurable items defined to date include:

• Customer Satisfaction: Improved customer satisfaction ratings (this has a direct correlation to their ability to secure rate increase approvals)
• Revenue: Rate increase approvals to drive additional revenue – this is a longer-term metric that ties to a measurable increase in customer satisfaction scores
• Cost Reduction: Through efficiency gains.
• Reduce the number of field-troubleshooting visits. Today, they must “roll trucks” when an outage is reported. With the new system, they will be able to troubleshoot remotely and only “roll trucks” when necessary.

Technology

Prolifics E&U Agile Integration Modernization (E&U-AIM) solution is built on leading vendor technology partnered with Prolifics’ accelerators and IP assets, all specifically curated to lead a successful, agile integration – in fact, a digital transformation – for E&U companies. For a further listing of the technology used in this project, read the full case study. Link

About Prolifics

Prolifics is a global digital engineering and consulting firm helping clients navigate and accelerate their digital transformation journeys. We deliver relevant outcomes using our systematic approach to rapid, enterprise-grade continuous innovation. We treat our digital deliverables like a customized product – using agile practices to deliver immediate and ongoing increases in value.

We provide consulting, engineering and managed services for all our practice areas — Data & AI, Integration & Applications, Business Automation, DevXOps, Test Automation, and Cybersecurity – across multiple industries, at any point our clients need them. Visit prolifics.com to learn more.

Major retailer continues its integration journey with Prolifics

About our client, an International Retailer

This International Retailer (IR) has been a Prolifics client for a decade. The company’s brand names in apparel and accessories are well-known globally, and over the years IR has become a complete fashion lifestyle for its customers.

Background for a continuing story

In a previous case study, we discussed how this International Retailer (IR) had a series of legacy systems: ERP, invoicing, inventory, marketing, manufacturing, supply chain and more. Throughout the years, we’ve helped IR integrate these systems. As the previous case study describes, IR has been moving a large set of legacy, on-premise systems and databases to the cloud. IR took a “best-of-breed” approach to these cloud environments, based on its systems and the strengths of the providers. The company also brought aboard dozens of new SaaS applications. Some other systems did remain on-prem. Prolifics continues to be IR’s integration provider of choice, ensuring the integration of cloud and on-prem systems.

Challenge

As part of our continued modernization and integration efforts with IR, we recommended and implemented several appliances that have been highly successful for our client over the years. However, soon these appliances are going “end-of-life” and will not be supported going forward. So we helped our client create plans for replacing these appliances. While IR’s goal is to eventually move everything to the cloud, they looked to us for guidance regarding these appliances, as to cost, timing, and work required. Their choices are:

• Move the functions to the cloud now
• Replace the appliances with newer appliance versions
• Move to virtual appliances

Action

In consulting with IR, our Prolifics experts developed the following scenarios, based on the choices above.

Move the functions to the cloud now

Although Prolifics and IR have an ongoing and successful partnership moving integrations to the cloud, IR felt it is not ready to move the functions to the cloud within the time frame of the appliances going end-of-life. That is, it would require more time to ensure the effective and efficient migration of moving the functions “out of” the appliances to the cloud.

Replace the appliances with newer appliance versions

The main benefit of appliances is the convenience and efficiency of having everything together in one “box.” Appliances come with the hardware box, operating system and software that is plugged into your network. If something goes wrong with either the physical or the software, the client just makes one call to the provider.

The issue with this choice for IR is one of cost and timing. While IR is not ready to move these functions to the cloud now (the end-of-life of the current appliances), they will be ready before the end-of-life of any new appliance they buy. So, buying new appliances now would mean either delaying a piece of a strategic corporate goal to wait out the useful life, or paying “too much” for the appliances based on how long IR would actually use them.

Move to virtual appliances

Virtual appliances have benefits and drawbacks compared to physical appliances – all related to the fact that virtual appliances come with the operating system and software, but you’re on your own for the hardware portion.

A virtual appliance comes with the operating system and software components built in. However, you have to install this virtual appliance onto a virtual machine environment in your data center.

The main and – in the case of IR – overriding benefit to virtual appliances is the ease of moving the combination software/operating system from the virtual machine environment to the cloud.

Result

Our work with IR has been a continuous journey. It started by modernizing, then we’re virtualizing and that’s going to allow them to move to the cloud. After our consultation and analysis, Prolifics is now in the process of sending IR a proposal for the migration and implementation from the physical appliances to virtual.

Read the full story

About Prolifics

Prolifics is a digital engineering and consulting firm helping clients navigate and accelerate their digital transformation journeys. We deliver relevant outcomes using our systematic approach to rapid, enterprise-grade continuous innovation. We treat our digital deliverables like a customized product – using agile practices to deliver immediate and ongoing increases in value.

We provide consulting, engineering and managed services for all our practice areas – Data & AI, Integration & Applications, Business Automation, DevXOps, Test Automation, and Cybersecurity – at any point our clients need them.

Email: solutions@prolifics.com or visit us at prolifics.com

Our client

Our client is a large consumer package goods (CPG) company and a leading producer and seller of meat products, with recognizable national brands.

Challenge

Our client wanted to modernize and integrate its legacy systems, including a move to the cloud. The client had two major business reasons for this: reduce the amount of manual work within its processes, and reduce the costs of legacy, on-prem software licensing costs.

Action

Prolifics originally “stepped into the shoes” of another provider that had to withdraw from the engagement. At that point, the client and the previous provider were addressing one project – facility access control within facilities engineering services, part of its human resources (HR) systems. We created an interface that controlled whether a particular employee was authorized to work in certain areas, like a warehouse.

We then worked with our client to develop other HR-related applications that they wished to focus on. This included the movement of HR data and communications (e.g., push notifications) to a large, dispersed workforce with a variety of devices. The client wanted to be able to notify all employees at the same time. We integrated employee records with a chat tool that sent SMS to their employees at once.

Having executed this early HR work well, Prolifics began new projects as the client’s provider of choice. This second round of modernization and integration consisted of interfaces coordinating and ensuring the product shipment from their warehouses based on their customers’ orders and requirements. The company’s current integration was very “point-to-point,” along with aging electronic data interchange (EDI) processes. As an example, if there were 10 different shippers from the client warehouse, under the previous point-to-point there would be 10 different interfaces.

This is a complex and inefficient set-up. Every time the client needed a new integration (e.g., a new shipper), they would have to manually create a connection between it and every other system. If a system changed what data it needed or what data it supported, the client needed to upgrade that system and all the related integrations. The client wanted all of that to be more streamlined.

Prolifics implemented the streamlined, more modern approach by using application programming interfaces (APIs) and gateways, creating a hub for integration. With this, we brought in the concept of reusability. Taking the example above, the 10 original point-to-point interfaces are basically doing the same thing. Reusability means looking for a way to make one interface with the business logic that accommodates all 10 of the shippers. That is, shrinking down all the complexity into a more streamlined, rule-based driven interface as opposed to hard-coded connections.

This would work with every system – instead of talking to every other system and exchanging specific data, each system now has an API where it basically offers its information as a service, which anyone can access and use. So, rather than hundreds of point-to-point connections, each system has an API. This was the real modernization Prolifics provided our client: taking their legacy environment and implementing an API gateway. Currently in the engagement, Prolifics is working on about 120 interfaces for our client.

Because Prolifics and our client are identifying and building out these integrations rapidly, Prolifics has created an outsourced development team. This group works with the business units to figure out what’s needed next; manages and develops these new integration use cases; and builds out those new applications.

In addition, to assist the client and ensure that all new integrations continue to run smoothly, Prolifics and our client have a managed services agreement is place. This team is on 24/7 standby, keeping the infrastructure running, making sure the trucks move on time, and making sure all the integration applications are running as intended. This is especially important to our client, for as a food distributor there are specific government regulations that the client must comply with, such as refrigeration temperatures, wait times and other handling requirements.

Results

Our client has seen the following benefits:

• Reduction in “technical debt” by migrating away from legacy systems
• Ability to pivot and react quicker to customers’ needs and market changes
• Cost savings through lower legacy licensing fees
• Less manual effort within processes
• Greater efficiency in HR communications and processes
• Greater efficiency in HR communications and processes
• More efficient and predictable use of IT dollars through managed services and managed development
• Ability to access and scale different IT expertise through managed services and managed development

We’ve received extremely high satisfaction scores from our client, which, coupled with our expertise and experience, has opened up opportunities for new work. One new area involves low-code application development within the client’s IT organization.

Technology 

The client is migrating off their legacy platform, IBM Sterling Integrator, using Boomi as the interface platform along with IBM API Connect.

Boomi is a software company that specializes in integration platform as a service (IPaaS), API management, master data management and data preparation.

Part of IBM’s Cloud Pak for Integration, IBM API Connect is an integrated API management offering, with capabilities and tooling for all phases of the API lifecycle, including “create, secure, manage, socialize, and analyze.” IBM API Connect allows users to create, manage, and secure applications across a variety of on-premises and cloud environments.

Download Case Study

Our Client 

In business for more than 50 years, our client is one of the top cruise line systems (CLS) in the world by passenger count. It prides itself on being an innovator in providing world-class hospitality. 

Challenge 

The COVID-19 pandemic devastated the cruise business, and although it is making a comeback, cruising as a whole is part of a larger, very competitive vacation industry. In light of both the pandemic and overall competition, CLS consistently looks for new ways to cut costs and improve service – with one area of focus being integration of its enterprise IT platforms. A recent example was the initiative to standardize CLS’s reservation system interface, making integration with its travel partners easier and less expensive. Prolifics continually works with CLS to find and implement new, cost-saving integration projects. Together, our ongoing challenge is to identify solutions that help CLS progress on their integration modernization journey – including getting CLS cloud ready. 

Action 

CLS has held many standalone licenses for a variety of IBM integration products, including IIB, DataPower and MQ. Prolifics has provided a significant amount of integration assistance for those applications, which are associated with multiple areas of CLS business and brands. As these product renewals came due, Prolifics used our in-depth knowledge of IBM product licensing to convert standalone licenses to bundles within IBM’s Cloud Pak for Integration hybrid platform. CLS will be able to effectively leverage the options with the Cloud Pak for future growth, services, and financing. As an IBM Premier Partner, we were able to negotiate discounted rates on the Cloud Pak on behalf of CLS. 

Result 

Our negotiated rate discounts and service incentives saved CLS close to $1.5 million.  

A large part of the Cloud Pak licensing includes migrating CLS’s current DataPower appliances to virtual machines (VMs). By helping CLS with this implementation, the company will run multiple operating systems on a single physical server, saving costs by shutting down two data centers. 

Debbie Marcet, the Prolifics Account Executive who works extensively with CLS, said, “Everything that they’re doing from an integration perspective is really all about cost savings and efficiencies. That’s really what it’s about. This integration spans across all of the different areas of their business and across multiple brands. They’re moving to a more modern architecture with Cloud Pak for Integration and eventually to containers, and it’s going to drive efficiency and ultimately more cost-saving- for them.” 

Our Client

This financial institution is a global markets banking specialist (MBS) offering its international customer base commodities and fixed income and currencies products that focus on emerging markets. The organization prides itself on forming strong, lasting relationships with its clients.

Challenge

At the institution’s foundation is a rich landscape of best-of-breed banking applications, performing core functions related to foreign exchange transactions and purchases of commodities. What their clients see and experience are high level, customer-facing foundational systems. The challenge here related to the downstream interconnectivity of those systems.

Our client possessed a number of integration solutions, both commercial and customized, each completing crucial real-time or batch integrations, managing high-value, time-sensitive transactions and also larger, bulk core banking messaging providing the essential connectivity which underpins their business functions.  

These solutions had become inadequate, difficult to maintain, adapt and grow. They hindered our client in their ability to manage new integrations and developments effectively, putting a limit on innovation, efficient change and operations. This prompted the team to look at alternative integration solutions, with an eye to implementing an API focussed solution. MuleSoft was ultimately selected as their integration core to replace the legacy architecture.

Action

Prolifics, like our client, pride ourselves on forming strong, lasting relationships with our customers. This proved to be a fundamental factor in our success.

While the Prolifics relationship and MuleSoft practice was relatively recent, we did have wider MuleSoft expertise in our global delivery team. We had also developed a significant degree of trust and knowledge of the customer systems during a pilot project we had previously engaged on, giving Prolifics unique insight into the architecture and the best way to progress.

For the integration implementation, Prolifics employed an Agile approach for the project delivery, consisting of multiple four-week sprints to deliver more than 160 newly created APIs. Prolifics worked with the customer to prioritize API development, ensuring not only was the solution developed to industry-standards, but also allowed for optimal code-reuse to maximize the efficiency of the solution build process. Our ongoing development lifecycle took the new integrations through the development lifecycle to production. Prolifics delivered a steady stream of APIs to benefit the client throughout the project, allowing them to use and immediately recognize benefits from the new and improved solution.

Result

The critical factor of the original project – now completed – was to efficiently migrate the client onto an API based MuleSoft infrastructure and be able to decommission both previous integration platforms.

Our client realized significant cost savings across the board, removing the unsupported legacy technology; for a more efficient solution to act as a catalyst for innovation, while providing the agility to develop faster.

With the MuleSoft model, reusing the APIs means lower incremental costs for additional APIs and lowers the total overall cost of ownership. Even when developing disparate solutions, there are certain elements that can always be reused, like the handling of errors, reporting, and the way certain transformations are accomplished. Prolifics ensured the customers solution exploited all of these benefits.