Performance, functional and browser compatibility testing of an application used daily by hospitals and NHS trusts throughout the UK.
When Fortrus set out to design a solution for managing data in the healthcare industry, they found three main challenges: fragmented data streams, slow data retrieval and increased workflow demands. With their system UNITY, now deployed in some of the largest hospitals in the UK, Fortrus have provided the industry with rapid access to huge volumes of patient records. The platform helps NHS trusts to analyse large amounts of patient data in seconds and to make the right clinical decisions.
With an expanding development team, Fortrus required an accomplished test team that could provide scalability as well as the technical capabilities to test their complex healthcare data products.
The Fortrus flagship applications, UNITY Connected Record (UCR) and Electronic Medical Record (EMR) are highly customisable, meaning different configurations of the system are implemented on servers in multiple NHS trusts around the UK. Each system must perform and function to the highest quality in each of the different locations.
Having had a negative experience with a crowd testing solution, Zoonou were engaged to provide an ongoing managed team of test analysts to deliver expert QA support.
UCR and EMR deliver a large range of patient record and document management features, including growth charts, patient reports, uploading and management of confidential documentation and eForms.
A highly demanding development roadmap means that while new features and versions of the system are being rolled out, existing deployments also require maintenance and support. With a move towards mobility, Fortrus have also been developing a tablet application for iPad, alongside their web applications.
At any one time, multiple instances of the system are installed at unique NHS trust sites, meaning testing has to be dynamic and flexible to meet the requirements. A scripted functional test approach has been implemented by Zoonou to test major releases of each application. For ongoing support, Zoonou’s test analyst team manage activities by integrating with the Fortrus Jira instance, converting developer tasks into structured testable features.
Utilising Zoonou’s Sussex-based test lab, testing is conducted on a range of targeted desktop browsers for compatibility, as well as a selection of iPads on iOS 10 and above for the tablet application.
To ensure performance standards are met, Zoonou set up and deploy automated load tests in unique NHS trusts. Zoonou implement, execute and provide feedback reports from the performance test on-premise in the Trust itself. This exercise is essential to demonstrate to the end client that the application meets performance demands on their own internal server set-up.
With Zoonou’s support, UNITY is now used daily by hospitals and NHS trusts throughout the UK. As a GCP (Good Clinical Practice) compliant system, it amplifies the professional insight of medical teams, gathering, filtering and analysing huge volumes of patient data in an instant.
Recent successes have included Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust that has chosen Fortrus to provide a complete managed service that will see 1.5 million clinical records scanned. With UCR and EMR automations, healthcare teams will immediately start saving time and money on locating, tracking, retrieving, auditing and re-filing active health records.
Zoonou’s test support has increased the speed and efficiency at which Fortrus are able to roll out new features and launch new versions of the application for multiple NHS trusts. Our on-premise performance tests enable Fortrus to provide their clients with the confidence they need to know their systems will run effectively even at peak use times.
The future looks bright as well, with plans for patient portals and cloud migration, while Zoonou intend to automate areas of regression testing in the near future to reduce manual test time. Through the Fortrus UNITY interface, medical professionals now have 24/7 access to patient information, with the ability to search, create and view patient records at the click of a button.
For more information on the range of products, please see Fortrus.com.
“Zoonou have helped us to reduce our rework and increase our customer satisfaction levels as a result. By going above and beyond, Zoonou have become an invaluable partner to Fortrus.”