Background

eCAS is the electronic submission and monitoring system for commissioning research projects for the NHS Service Delivery and Organisation (SDO) Programme.

The NHS Service Delivery and Organisation (SDO) Research and Development (R&D) Programme aims to produce and promote the use of research evidence about how the organisation and delivery of services can be improved to increase the quality of patient care and ensure better strategic outcomes and contribute to improved public health.

With an annual budget of over £7m, the SDO Programme advertises, commissions and monitors a portfolio of public health research projects throughout the country.

Our brief

In an annual evaluation of its processes the SDO Programme identified future needs for a new online system based on feedback from their stakeholders. The SDO Programme previously used a combination of paper-based and electronic systems to undertake its commissioning.

eCAS (electronic commissioning and appraisal system) was the result of this feedback and was developed to make the commissioning experience more efficient and user friendly for applicants and administrators alike.

Our solution

Following a successful competitive tender for the project, BOCC's consultants undertook a detailed requirements analysis and created a comprehensive specification for eCAS. The system caters for a variety of key user groups:

• Applicants
• Peer reviewers
• SDO Commissioning Groups
• SDO staff

- all of whom have different needs and requirements from eCAS.

The secure system allows applicants to complete and submit an application and handles the workflow associated with the completion and review of an application. Functionality such as collaboration, peer reviews, online assessment forms and approvals are all supported.

All users need to register and then subsequently login to the system. This allows users to maintain their personal information and login information, submit new applications and review previous applications.

The design had to cater for a wide range of browsers, operating systems and access speeds, and match existing visual identity standards. The design also had to complement the existing SDO website, be extendable to other systems in the future and ensure that users could navigate through the process with as little confusion as possible. Elements were tested externally by potential future users and their feedback was incorporated into the system during development.

Technologies

The system utilises:

• Microsoft® SQL Server 2005
• Adobe® ColdFusion
• XHTML 1.0 standard - compliant to CSS 2
• XHTML 1.0 style sheets - validated to W3C
• WAI accessibility standards 'AA'
• W3C industry standard guidelines
• Google Mini Search Appliance integration
• System integration with email servers and the existing SDO Programme website content management system (CMS)
• eCAS is hosted on two servers: an application server and a database server at BOCC.
• Dedicated disaster recovery hosting services, with real-time data replication from the live production servers
• SSL secure server certificate