PIPA: Before & After
Imagine the scenario. You are a safety testing body who must abide by the strictest and most stringent of protocols to ensure the safety of children and others who use the equipment you have tested and approved.
You have a digital system to do this but it's just not living up to the required standards expected by Health and Safety authorities, your testers have nothing but issues completing and submitting the reports and safety data, the costs just to maintain, let alone future proof the system are skyrocketing and the people responsible for the system are just not delivering where you need them.
What do you do?
This was PIPA's nightmare scenario, a platform that was unfit for purpose, a supplier unable to facilitate the systems evolving requirements, and a limit on available budget and resources to resolving this crossroad of problems.
So they came to us at 16i who were able to offer all of these things and truly be the digital partner they could trust in to deliver a platform that was future proofed from the start. Through workshops and incredibly close collaboration we were able to overcome many of the issues they faced. We challenged them and pushed them to be better as they did with us and from that we have been able to deliver a system that exceeds everyone's expectations and has restored their faith in third party suppliers.
Here are the three key areas where we helped to transform their platform:
1. Resilient System for All.
One of the key areas that needed attention was more on the invisible side of things, the back-end infrastructure. It was not operating sustainably, was reaching the limits of what the system could handle and needed a radical overhaul to not only make it function, but into a system that could continue to function for years to come.
Understanding the Problem:
There are a number of different user types that need to be able to use and access the system. From testers and PIPA's inhouse team, to equipment owners, hirers and the general public, everyone needing to be able to access and perform different tasks. The system needed to be able to handle this with ease.
There were a number of factors that needed to be considered from how we would migrate and map the historical data, to overcoming integrity issues as the requirements have been tightened and addressing core framework issues that had grown over time including what types of data it would need to handle and manage.
Our Solution
Through in-depth reviews of the existing platform and data we were able to find a way to pull the data over the new system, mapping it to the new structure and then flag any areas on the reports that needed review if tests and reports were active. Any historical data no longer valid was retained in the form it was imported.
We created a significantly refined data structure that could accommodate various data types, for queries, dependencies and validation for compliance; being able to provide supporting evidence and clear tracking of the data for more robust integrity to maintain the highest of standards for play equipment testing.
2. Improved Reporting Process
At the very core of the PIPA system and even the brands proposition is the need to provide a recognised and respected industry body that can be relied upon to provide trusted and robust safety reporting. The system therefore needs to ensure that testers collect the necessary and correct data and provide reliable reporting.
Understanding the Problem:
The previous system was not always reliable. It was bogged down with technical problems, data could easily be lost if tests and reports were not completed and this often led to gaps in the reporting data that went unchecked. Not good enough for a safety body.
Our Solution
We created a more complex validation and reliance rules system based on PIPA's exacting requirements to ensure that the accuracy, integrity and compliance of the data was stringently validated. Testers were able to see what further information they needed to find as they progressed through the report.
To help them do this better and more efficently we created a drawers based system that allowed for compartmentalisation of data capture. A tester could go through each aspect of the test one step or section at a time. Each time a section or question was opened and completed it was saved. This meant that if there ever were any technical issues during the testing and data entry phase only minimal data was lost rather than complete reports.
This allows data to also be validated as it's entered and any additional tests or questions revealed based on the conditional logic of the answers provided. It also makes expanding the platform much easier from a platform owner and software developers perspective as additional questions and sections can be added into the flow more easily without have to recode large sections of the platform.
3. Cohesive Platform and Web Experience.
The PIPA project came as two interconnected projects, a software platform and website. Both needed to interact with each other and allow data to flow between the two. The platform needed to be the data storage and management facility, running the testing operations of PIPA and the website needed to present the PIPA proposition, provide access to data on tags (attached to equipment) and reports (generated for the equipment) for anyone in the general public to access and review.
Understanding the Problem:
Whilst the platform was an incredibly detailed and powerful tool, for the average user who may want to check on the status of a piece of equipment they are hiring or using they did not need access to the full system. The previous website provided lookup tools which typically provided PDF files generated by the system at time of testing. These were not the most friendly for people like parents, schools and other hirers of the equipment.
Our Solution
We created a vastly improved lookup system which delivered a web based version of the reports with live data form the system so if there had been any changes to a report or device that could be seen instantly. It also meant that the data was much easier to consume on all devices, especially phones and tablets that would be used to scan the tags on the devices to pull up the reports.
We also implemented an improved traffic light system and clear indicators on both the platform and the website to make it easier for everyone to get a glancing view the status of a device through colour rather than a reliance to read the specific data fields, which they can then digest at their leisure if they wish.
Interested in learning more?
You can explore the full PIPA solution case studies for the website and platform by clicking on the buttons below to see what we delivered and how we helped make a difference.