Regional Aboriginal Medical Services – Process Automation

Regional Aboriginal Medical Service (RAMS) represents a consortium of five organisations (Galambila, Darrimba Maarra, Durri, Werin, Biripi & Tobwabba) delivering essential medical services to Aboriginal people in regional NSW between Coffs Harbour and Forster. The services delivered by these organisations include 7 medical clinics, 3 dental clinics, 2 Child Services Centres, 2 Youth Services, an Aged Care Centre and a smoking cessation team. With over 400 staff, each organisation aims to deliver services with cultural integrity and sensitivity, with the Aboriginal community’s health and well-being core to its purpose.

Supporting these organisations, is IT@RAMS, a centralised information technology and communication service available to each organisation providing hardware and help desk support, application management and training.

The Business Problem

The consortium was currently using a forms solution developed in InfoPath, an out-of-date platform, for leave applications, travel allowance, training requests, and incident report forms. While the InfoPath solution is still supported by Microsoft 365, this solution was no longer efficient, with support soon to be ending. The consortium was not taking full advantage of the technology and resource investments already being made in Microsoft 365, missing out on smart features and integrations with each organisation’s intranet.

How We Helped

In consultation with IT@RAMS, WebVine facilitated a discovery workshop to identify all the required forms needed for each consortium. Once process flows had been confirmed, WebVine used SharePoint Lists and the Microsoft Power Apps and Power Automate platforms to create a template form that would work for each individual organisation and could be replicated with minor adjustments made. New forms were designed to include smart features like automation and predictive data pre-fill based on the Active Directory setup. Email notification and approvals were incorporated as part of the process flow for each form.

Outcomes

New enhanced forms for leave applications, travel allowances, training requests, and incident reports have been rolled out as an integral feature within each organisation’s intranet and Microsoft 365 tenancy. Cost efficiency has been achieved across the consortium as the development and workflows for each form were replicated. These forms are now being used daily by employees and have not only resulted in a better overall user experience but have helped to ensure that reviews and approvals are being completed in a timely manner.

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