New online reporting system provide Individual Funding recipients greater ease and access to self reporting and management

Bayleaf’s updates to the Direct Funding Financial Reporting System included a technology revamp, an improved user interface, and an expansion of CLBC’s online reporting capabilities to include both Standard and Simplified agreements. The working partnership with Bayleaf gave CLBC a solid infrastructure and future-proofed their services by offering a fully digitized reporting process.

Client Name

Community Living BC

Application

Services

  • Requirements & Strategy
  • UI & UX Design
  • Taxonomy & Content Strategy
  • Change Management and Training
  • Managed Services & Support

Technologies

  • Microsoft .NET
  • C#, ASP, .NET
  • TLS technology

Client Needs

CLBC came to Bayleaf when the existing Individualized Funding (IF) Reporting extranet reached its end of life with several technical components no longer supported and was inaccessible by modern browsers. They needed a new portal to allow IF participants’ self-management and permit them to easily fulfill their reporting duties. The platform also needed to allow CLBC administrators to manage submissions and agreements, and to export financial reports into an Excel Master. The organization wanted to fold Simplified agreements into the online reporting system and move away from paper-based submissions to realize the full digitization of their system.

Our Solutions

STRATEGY & CUSTOM WEB APPLICATION
After consultation with CLBC stakeholders to understand how the Individualized Funding option operates, Bayleaf developed an external-facing web application allowing individuals or their designated agents a means to submit their funding reports online, giving them greater flexibility and access than the previous system. The public-facing reporting application, available via link to anyone with internet connectivity, was a distinct shift from the previous extranet structure with limited accesses points. The solution utilized TLS technology (Transport Layer Security) to encrypt data sent over the internet to protect sensitive and private information entered.

Bayleaf understood the application needed to be simple and easy to use to support the large variation in technical understanding and abilities of agents/submitters and to adhere to web accessibility standards. We proposed a workflow with a clearly delineated stepped process and provided understandable validation and error messages to ensure users understood what was missing or entered incorrectly ensuring successful report completion and submission. The design process was iterative involving stakeholders and validated to conform to WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) standards.

Bayleaf also expanded reporting capabilities to include Simplified agreements, allowing CLBC to move all their reporting access to a web-based system. A combination of agreement number, Paris ID and Last Name allow the system to identify the agreement type and funnel users through to the appropriate workflow. This simplification created a consistent and unified experience for all CLBC clients.

INTERNAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
The Internal Management application, hosted behind a firewall is only accessible from within CLBC for designated staff ensuring privacy and security. The application is completely isolated from the public-facing system though they share the same database. Bayleaf implemented the following key capabilities:

  • Agreement Management – for the setup of agreements, renewals, and review of financial reports submitted.
  • Financial Reports Export – for the export of financial reports from the IF Management Application to the IF Excel Master database.
  • Settings & Configuration – providing the ability to define key parameters and values for the system (e.g. Expense Types, Default Agreement term Length, Privacy Policy URL, etc.)

The application allows staff to easily ascertain if there are missing financial reports and provides detailed views. Bayleaf’s easy agreement management and editing interfaces utilizing established design and workflow patterns draw on ‘intuitive’ interactions to improve work processes. We implemented a simple ‘Export’ feature which generates an Excel extract of financial reports, which is then merged with the Excel Master, giving CLBC an overall view of agreements.

By engaging Bayleaf for their application updates, CLBC was able to easily support their clients’ needs today and in the future.