How Staff Augmentation Assists with Successful Data Migration

More than ever, recent medical advancements encourage and allow hospitals and clinics to work together, adopting technology to streamline their operations. Finding the right software to fit an organization’s needs may require looking at multiple options available.

Recently, Advarra’s Staff Augmentation team worked with a customer’s associated hospital as it was faced with software termination. As the termination date loomed, a team of researchers needed to find new software to store their data; primarily, their financial data. Storing active data in a clinical trial management system (CTMS) is a lifeline for the research teams relying on it for reporting and billing. Losing a system can be devastating.

Collaborating with Advarra’s Staff Augmentation team, our customer’s goal was to move active data from their sunsetting system into a new CTMS, OnCore. As I stepped in, I knew I needed to provide the team with direction on what needed to be done and detail how I would help. I started by making and presenting a plan outlining the details into three major steps: analysis, migration, and training.

Analysis

First, I gathered the needs of the team, including their workflows and processes. Understanding what they had previously done would also help me understand how OnCore could streamline and improve their workflows. Once I had an understanding, I held demo sessions for their team to help them understand how to effectively use OnCore with their research studies. Not only did this help staff learn how to use OnCore, but it ensured their new CTMS met their data standards.

I next worked with the team to dig deeper into what data they stored in the old software. I wanted to understand what the purpose of the data was, and how it was used downstream to help me translate the data into OnCore for the customer. The team reconsidered what data they should keep and decided how they could expand their reporting capabilities. Throughout our conversations, I took note of the terminology they used so I could use the words that meant the most to them later on in training.

Migration

During our analysis, we finalized the primary data set containing protocol information, subject details, billable visits, vendor payables, and events. I identified that the data in their previous software was limited compared to the data that OnCore can capture. This was a chance for them to do even more in terms of their data and CTMS and I reviewed these opportunities with the customer.

I successfully moved all the data on time and on budget. During the migration process, I once again took note of the changes and opportunities so I could highlight them during training.

Training

Training staff to use OnCore was the last phase of the project and is key for adoption and the successful use of new software. Due to customer bandwidth, I worked out a schedule and scope of the training to match their needs and availability. As we went through end-user training, I created streamlined manuals for their specific workflows that they could reference after my time with them was complete. This also provided their support team with a better understanding of the workflows and how the software can help them in the future. Towards the end of the team’s training, I could tell they were still getting used to OnCore being centrally managed and supported. To provide guidance after I left, I gave them a tip sheet of functionalities they could change themselves and what requires central change.

My time with the customer effectively allowed them to migrate their data and workflows into OnCore without interrupting study activities. By contracting Advarra’s Staff Augmentation team to assist with short migration projects, study teams have the ability to move to OnCore without taxing their highly valuable and busy internal teams.

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