Client story Navigating the cloud journey. Hauora Tairāwhiti’s digital transformation journey into the cloud and modern ways of working

Facts at a glance

Client industry:

District Health Board

Situation:

Hauora Tairāwhiti has engaged Insight for guidance across a range of Microsoft 365 solutions and services, de-risking the process and positioning the District Health Board for optimal value from its technology investments.

Solution:

• Microsoft Office 365 Foundations service - SharePoint Online intranet, Office 365 Foundations 
• Foundation management platform and a bridge to Azure Active Directory while maintaining security and control. 
• Analysis and design workshops with detailed design documentation and training 
• Staff directory was completely rebuilt using Active Directory, leveraging Microsoft 365  
• Reporting using Microsoft’s celebrated Power BI solution 

Results:

• Delivery of an increasingly ‘cloud first’ environment 
• First to automate with Power Apps  
• Power BI deployment with a comprehensive business decision and influence tool. 
• A solid foundation and a clear roadmap for the business 

Solution area:

Insight’s Connected Workforce solutions help clients connect their workforce with the technology needed to work smarter

As it executes a transformative vision embracing cloud and modern ways of working, Hauora Tairāwhiti has engaged Insight for guidance across a range of Microsoft 365 solutions and services, derisking the process and positioning the District Health Board for optimal value from its technology investments.

Tairāwhiti District Health Board, branded as Hauora Tairāwhiti, provides health services to a population of nearly 50,000 who live in the area from the East Cape in the north to the Wharerata ranges in the south. 

The organisation, based at Gisborne Hospital in New Zealand’s easternmost city, is taking a multi-stage approach to its modernisation. Stage one saw Insight successfully delivering Hauora Tairāwhiti’s Microsoft Office 365 Foundations service, putting in place the corner stones to ensure the organisation is ready to transform onto a more modernised set of information systems.

Since then, the two organisations have been working on building out those foundations, with Insight and Hauora Tairāwhiti continuing to provide tangible – and highly visible – deliverables to the business.

It’s a process that has seen the projects to re-establish Hauora Tairāwhiti’s Staff Directory and commence delivery of Microsoft PowerApps and PowerBI services through to conclusion enabling a more intelligent, more responsive information systems toolset to support organisation’s needs.

Situation

With ageing infrastructure and services overdue for an upgrade in line with the recommendations of the New Zealand government which requires agencies to accelerate adoption of public cloud services in a balanced way, Hauora Tairāwhiti is steadily rolling out a raft of Microsoft solutions and services, the DHB’s Project Manager Natacha Blattes says.

“Building solid foundations is essential, and we are making an effort to deliver to the programme of work with visible and valuable benefits to the organisation,”- Max Ponomarev, Chief Information Officer

Key for Hauora Tairāwhiti are improved communications and document management, data intelligence and analytics, and automation. But foundations, while great for a solid future, are often not immediately tangible. Hence the District Health Board’s efforts to deliver something with immediate benefits in each area.

Solution

The first piece of work on which Insight has delivered was the Microsoft Office 365 Foundations service. With the DHB planning a SharePoint Online intranet replacing an on-premises solution, it understood the necessity for establishing cloud identity, the Office 365 platform and security components up front.

Office 365 Foundations provides Hauora Tairāwhiti with a solid platform to implement Azure Active Directory while maintaining security and control. Blattes describes Office 365 Foundations as ‘the corner stone’ which positions the organisation for consumption of Office 365 cloud services, Microsoft Azure and business applications including Power BIand Power Apps.

“Power BI will be critical for improving our ability to gain insight and intelligence on data and turn the raw data into meaningful information,”- Max Ponomarev, Chief Information Officer

Results

With delivery across a range of initiatives, Blattes says the overriding impression when working with Insight is one of quality.

In terms of Office 365 Foundations, the benefits are becoming apparent in the delivery of an increasingly ‘cloud first’ environment. The Microsoft 365 applications, and those that fall into the ‘Office’ desktop productivity space are at the same time familiar to staff members yet draw them gently into the modern workplace and improved ways of getting the job done.

The Power BI deployment equips Hauora Tairāwhiti with a comprehensive business decision and influence tool.

Already, the benefits are clear, with tedious, error-prone and time-consuming processes giving way to automated and interactive reports ‘on demand’. “Previously hard to get, we now have it to hand and can start exploring further value in data, with the power to investigate, drill down and analyse.” The success of the engagement with Insight has Hauora Tairāwhiti planning more future capabilities which will take it further into the cloud, leaving the limitations of legacy systems in the past. Initiatives on the drawing board include migration to Exchange Online, execution of the SharePoint Online initiative, the introduction of Teams, and more. 

“This toolset and project gives staff and board-level decision makers continuous access to information determining our organisational performance, how well we are resourced, and whether we are delivering to the standard of care expected from the Health Ministry and the public health system,”- Natacha Blattes, Project Manager