How Bamboo SPX Services helped create transparency and streamlined reporting for a major State Government Health and Wellness program

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The Challenge

A Bamboo SPX Services customer who manages community health initiatives came to us requesting help with key transparency and streamlining initiative. The customer has two community-based health and wellness programs which we call Program 1 and Program 2. Program 1 has a set number of strategies, while the number of strategies for Program 2 can vary by community. The customer wanted to replace their Excel reporting spreadsheets with a SharePoint-based solution. The aim was to increase transparency and streamline the reporting process by providing community-specific reporting views. The customer also wanted to have increased control over which fields could be edited by users over the life-cycle of the programs. In the existing Excel workbooks, columns had to be manually locked, hidden, or shown during program reporting periods. Report files for the communities are referred to as ‘WorkPlans’ that could include Narratives, Milestones, and Activities.

The customer had some additional requirements which included a solution for Excel and PDF exporting that packaged community information residing in different SharePoint lists into the requested format. The customer also wanted a dynamic map view to visually represent where different initiates were in effect across the region.

The client had an old on-premises installation of SharePoint that was costing them money to host at an offsite facility.

The Solution

Bamboo SPX Services was engaged to migrate their on-premises solution to Office365 and to build a custom SharePoint solution to meet their needs. This solution included the following features:

• Custom lists to store the relevant Milestone, Narrative, and Activity items.  Each list contained lookup columns for the Community ID, Program type (Program 1 or 2), and the applicable strategy being deployed.
• Custom code to auto-populate and/or hide fields, including the strategy name, community name, and ID lookup fields.
• Where appropriate, the custom forms associated with the lists include a Google map address lookup and a handy preview pane.

In addition, we utilized JavaScript called Leaflets to display the locations of the various program initiatives on a map. Each marker is color-coded by the type of initiative, and users can dynamically display the radius (or reach) of each initiative.

We also leveraged JavaScript to enhance the solution with the following features:

• We used Bootstrap tabs to create a navigational hierarchy that allows the user to start at a root tab and see only the identified strategies in that a particular community is participating.
• Under each strategy, users can now drill into the various WorkPlans, Narratives, Milestones, or Activities for any strategy.

Outcomes

Today the information is shared internally within the state as well as with the community stakeholders through Office365 using SharePoint’s built-in security features. For the same cost as the yearly hosting services for the old on-premises SharePoint implementation, the customer now has a modern application on Office 365. This enhanced experience shows the impact of their community health initiatives helping them support the budget they need to make these programs world-class.