NCI Gains Vast Efficiencies with Innovative Custom Low-Code Platform

The Challenge

As the largest National Institutes of Health (NIH) Institute, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) serves as the federal government's principal agency for cancer research and training. The Office of Management (OM) is an administrative office within NCI, with more than 13,000 employees responsible for administrative and financial functions of NCI.

This office is supported by the Information Technology and Resource Center (ITRC), which is responsible for identifying, developing, and implementing technology solutions to achieve efficiencies for the workforce.

Until recently, all internal processes within the OM were performed manually, and often inefficiently, causing a working dynamic where long, time-consuming chains of emails would be required in order to complete all tasks.

These inefficiencies ultimately led to user frustration. The ITRC recognized the opportunity for process automation to help solve the problem.

Guidehouse previously partnered with NCI to develop the highly effective NCiConnect platform, an administrative hub and intranet supporting internal communication and business operations. Therefore, ITRC leaders decided to collaborate with Guidehouse’s team of specialists on a solution to this latest challenge.

The Solution

Due to the highly specific nature of their processes, data, and internal systems, the ITRC needed a custom solution to solve this challenge. Moreover, they wanted a flexible low-code solution that could evolve and scale over time as new requirements arose.

The Guidehouse team gathered requirements from the ITRC and key leaders to understand the processes that needed to be automated, as well as the needs of end-users. This enabled the design of a solution purpose-built to solve the challenges involved and deliver maximum value to the organization.

Following best practices, a proof-of-concept was offered to help the team visualize the user experience. Feedback was incorporated into the live solution.

A custom low-code solution, Fastrack Pro (FTP), was then built on Microsoft Dynamics 365. This process automation system combines the out-of-the-box capabilities of the platform with Guidehouse’s extensive strategic and technical expertise, while leveraging Guidehouse’s alliance partnership to NCI’s full benefit. FTP is built on a flexible, intuitive platform, affording the ITRC team the capability to customize the solution.

FTP provides users with a holistic view of activities and processes happening within the organization. Users have a single, easy-to-navigate platform, with intelligent dashboards, automations, and reporting, making their workflows as seamless as possible.

Among other processes, all career ladder promotions for employees now take place in FTP. Instead of sending a high volume of emails, forms, and feedback back and forth, FTP allows for a simple, streamlined process expedited by the automations and tools within the system. The system also automatically notifies users when actions are due, keeping projects on track.

This has removed delays due to lost or missed emails, unattached documents, human error, inefficiency, and other issues that may occur within manual processes.

The Impact

With FTP, the NCI’s ITRC has automated 207 active internal processes, including travel, general administration, public affairs, and more. More than 8,000 employees are actively using the system daily for the majority of their tasks and communication.

The solution has made a highly positive impact on NCI, with ITRC citing valuable benefits such as:

• Enhanced operational efficiency through streamlined processes
• Improved consistency and clarity in internal communications
• Increased job satisfaction and improved working experience

Many processes that might previously have taken days or weeks when undertaken manually can now be completed in a fraction of the time, freeing up NCI staff to work more efficiently and focus on more strategic and mission-driven tasks.

The Guidehouse team has continued to collaborate and advise ITRC with training, change management, user adoption, feedback and iterations, maintenance, and more.

Because FTP was designed and built as a highly scalable low-code solution, optimizing its usability and enhancing its capabilities are natural, ongoing processes. For instance, Guidehouse integration experts are already integrating FTP with third-party tools, such as DocuSign, to deliver even more convenience and efficiency to users.

Within regular “enhancement periods” post-deployment, ITRC leaders receive guidance and support in finding opportunities to evolve the solution for maximum ROI.

The success and positive reception of FTP within NCI has led to interest from several other departments across NIH for similar solutions, with one project already underway.

Since FTP is a low-code solution built on Microsoft Dynamics 365, Guidehouse will be able to seamlessly apply and customize it for other departments, configuring and tailoring it to meet their specific needs.

Need help with automating processes to improve business efficiency? A custom low-code solution may be the answer you’re looking for to transform your organization. Contact us to discover the possibilities of intelligent process automation.