Verifiable Acceptance Criteria Met with 90% Reduction in Product Delivery Times
A large Health Payer sought to increase registration rates and usage of an existing digital member services platform by streamlining the onboarding process and improving the user experience. Previously, new members registered online and were mailed a welcome kit with uniquely identifiable information that gave them initial access to the platform. To reduce wait times and lower costs, the client aimed to automate the onboarding process so enrollees could be identified, registered and granted platform access more quickly.
The Challenge
The client sought to digitally optimize the member onboarding process through new automation processes. To do so it was necessary for developers to have a clear understanding of evolving customer needs through a continuous feedback loop and Agile processes.
The Change
A Three Amigos approach was used where Stakeholders from the Product Owner, Developer and Test Teams charted out experience mappings based on end customer personas and their journeys. The mappings included identifying customer touchpoints, handoffs from one process to the next and gaps or pain points. This process allowed for teams to identify opportunities to improve the customer experience and automate time consuming handoffs.
The team then derived verifiable, unambiguous acceptance criteria from the customer experience mappings. A Test-Driven Development (TDD) approach was used where tests and test criteria were initially written for every stage with Developers, then built to meet the acceptance requirements. This process objectively confirms in real-time that requirements are fulfilled each step of the way.
Stakeholders from all areas were brought together to map the customer journey and create acceptance criteria to ensure the final product was the right one to meet business needs. The approach followed a Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) process, borne out of the tenets of TDD that encourages collaboration among developers, testers and non-technical business participants in a project.
The Value
With xScion’s help, the client delivered a customer friendly new member onboarding process that reduced wait times and made it easier to enroll and verify members. Automation of previously manual processes reduced the cost of onboarding members.
Using a TDD and BDD approach resulted in a 90% reduction in product delivery times while ensuring Developers met verifiable acceptance criteria each step of the way. xScion used its “learning by doing” Dojo approach to collaborate with technical and non-technical Stakeholders to define successful business outcomes and design and implement tests verifying each incremental step in the process.