ASHCore

American Specialty Health’s internal database management system

The request

Initially asked to “re-design” or give a face lift to the tool that American Specialty Health uses to view member, provider, contract, and health plan data internally, we began to research the user base in order to find what aspects of the application needed the most attention. However, we ended up finding an opportunity improve the entire system and way our company works with data.

Research and {Development}

Through a series of user interviews with our customer service users (the group that we were originally asked to design for), we found that there was much more to problems that they encountered on an everyday basis while using ASHCore. At the same time we began to work with the software engineering team who would be re-designing the product architecture, and began to explore concepts that would take advantage of a system being re-built.

learning by showing

While expanding our discovery research out to other groups, we also began conduct rough usability tests with our range of concepts and users that we had become familiar with. Taking what we learned onto stakeholders and leadership within the company. Slowly we began to see that there was only so much to be gained by improving on the small interactive elements the system that was already in place. With support from our development team we proposed a direction that would require a complete product development program/approach instead of a simple re-design, and take full advantage of the engineering work already scheduled to be done in the system.

The Outcome

After researching and collaborating with the entirety of the departments using ASHCore withing the company, the resulting system was one placed overall job function and customers who didn’t even use the product at the center of the design. The system was reworked from a model that seemed to have evolved from the analog system that came before it, to a system that facilitated real-time collaboration between departments, expedited the processing of information, and focuses on providing a support system of data to all of American Specialty Health’s members, customers and partners.