Case study - Nelson Marlborough Health’s move to AMS Cloud Based Software

In 2021 NMH made the decision to move their rostering and payroll solutions into the cloud, using the AMS Pulse product. 

Kirsty Martin, GM Digital for NMH outlined the reasoning behind the switch to cloud-based software. 

NMH had been using AMS software for over twenty years and was very happy with the product, however, their digital strategy includes a pragmatic, cloud-first view, in line with the government directive. 

Moving the NMH payroll and rostering system to a new platform was not a decision that was made lightly. The lessons learned during the COVID pandemic and the new ‘normal’ that emerged helped shape the decision.

During COVID NMH (along with all the other healthcare providers) had to find new ways of going about business. Staff needed to be mobile, and able to work from home (or anywhere) at any time. The team made use of office 365, all emails were hosted in the cloud and ‘teams’ software was installed to allow cloud-hosted remote meetings to occur. 

This change in ‘business as usual’ heralded a raft of positive changes, reduced loading on VPNs, enabled flexible working arrangements (for non-clinical staff), and ultimately resulted in the creation of telehealth and online referrals for the community. 

 With this cloud-centric mindset in place one glaringly obvious hole in the remote working space was the lack of cloud-based rostering and payroll functionality. Access to be able to approve leave, change rosters, and update payroll information from anywhere, at any time, was essential. 

Kirsty outlined the four drivers for change within NMH.

1. Technology – the disaster recovery capability and security of the cloud-based software were critical. Cloud software negates the need for managing updates, as they are included in the service. Access to new functionality is achieved as soon as it is released, without using internal resources or any operational downtime. Data storage in the cloud also adds another important layer to security. 
2. Reduction of the reliance on a single internal resource. IT is no longer on call and their time can be redirected to more valuable work without the loss of service.
3. The outcome for staff – they can sign off timesheets and approve leave on any device, from anywhere, at any time. 
4. The commercial need – the cloud-based approach overcame any payroll shortfalls that were identified. 

During the initial discovery phase of the project, it was identified that the ‘out of the box’ software would not meet all of the reporting requirements of NMH. This shortfall was part of a double-edged sword, the security of the software was a main selling point for NMH, but by its nature, this security prevented the data from being accessed in real-time as was required for reporting. 

There was already a solution in place for nightly backup data to be fed through but NMH time critical systems meant this was not soon enough. The data needed to be accessed in real-time. AMS worked through several solutions and found one that would work. They proposed to replicate the data securely to Azure in real time. 

Once this solution was approved AMS worked closely with NMH to understand what data was needed for the integration and to ensure that this data was replicated and made available. 

Another pinch point that was identified was once again concerning security, with the software requiring two step verification. This sounds simple enough, until people are working remotely on personal devices. A workaround was developed to allow text messaging to feature as a verification step.

Another benefit of the co-design process that arose from AMS working so closely with the NMH payroll team was that they recognised that there were some unnecessary complex manual steps in the existing payroll process. AMS was able to develop specific automation for these processes, making payroll simpler, safer, and more efficient whilst reducing the risk of error.  This freed up human capacity for more valuable work. 

NMH has been delighted with the change to cloud-based software, with Kirsty saying it is “almost like we have moved from a Victorian way of working to a much more modern way”.  Kirsty talked about continuing to take advantage of the cloud platform and supporting digital transformation through the available business process automation.

AMS has nothing but praise for the co-design process with NMH, explaining that they were clear about what they needed from the software and that they were open to the change, and able to accept and adjust to the end result provided.  

The 20+ years of working together had engendered a relationship of high trust. NMH had a deep willingness to change, they knew the upgrade in software wouldn’t be like for like. They also had strong ownership over the process and were willing to make changes to their internal processes to make it work. The project had effective governance when required, but the freedom to develop organically when it was running well.  Along with plenty of late nights and manpower during the implementation phase, this has meant the project has been a real success and deeply satisfying for all parties. 

This project was an excellent example of co-design in action, with an agile development style. 

Solutions were created to plug the gaps that were uncovered and swiftly put to work. AMS was able to get working solutions in front of decision makers early and then make the improvements that were required during the roll out process. 

When we refer back to our earlier blog about co-design we can see this project fulfils our seven themes that are required for successful co-design.

If your business is wanting to embark on a co-design journey check out our advice on finding the right co-design partner. 

Choosing the right organisation to work with is essential for the success of any co-design project.  If you would like to commence your co-design journey, contact us and see how we can work with you to achieve your best outcome.