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Case study

Improving the membership offer at the ALLIANCE

  • New collaboration tools

  • Increased in-house skills

  • Longer-term perspective

Challenge

Build understanding of the membership service

The ALLIANCE is the national third sector intermediary for health and social care in Scotland. It has a vision to make Scotland a place where everyone has a strong voice and enjoys their right to live well with dignity and respect. 

Through its strategic partnership with the Scottish Government and close working relationship with NHS boards, academic institutions and organisations spanning health, social care, housing and digital technology, the ALLIANCE is well positioned to improve the wellbeing of the people and communities across Scotland. 

The membership team at the ALLIANCE wanted a clearer understanding of how it interacted with members and to build its understanding of the membership service overall. 

The team had conducted extensive internal research with colleagues from across the organisation. But because of the large volume of data, the team needed support to move from research toward implementation.  

 
The data they had covered:  

  • The projects each department works on and delivers 
  • The extent of interaction each department has with ALLIANCE members 
  • The ALLIANCE’s unique selling point  
  • What members enjoy most in terms of benefits. 

Response

Action plan to improve and build in-house capabilities

Through the service design mapping activity, Opencast enabled the ALLIANCE membership team to articulate its existing knowledge about the membership service.  

The collaborative aspect of the project meant that, by solidifying the knowledge different team members had about the membership service during the workshops, they were able to create a shared understanding of the make-up of the Alliance’s end-to-end membership service.  
 
By visualising this shared understanding, the ALLIANCE membership team was able to identify areas in its internal processes that could be improved to deliver an even better service to the members.  

Articulating the make-up of the membership service also meant that the team could differentiate between internal processes that were relevant to members and to colleagues when they engaged with the membership service. This was key for the development of efficient services.  

The mapping activity enabled the ALLIANCE membership team to look beyond the membership service and explore the wider ALLIANCE system and the impact it has with the delivery of the membership offer and benefits.  

Opencast also helped the ALLIANCE to build its in-house capabilities by sharing new approaches and tools for collaboration. These included democratic voting, affinity mapping and service blueprints 

By supporting the ALLIANCE membership team in developing a bespoke plan to continue the work to improve the membership service and another to democratise the knowledge across the organisation about the membership, Opencast provided the ALLIANCE with tools the team needed to continue working in a user-centred way.  

Impact

Action plan to improve and build in-house capabilities

Through the service design mapping activity, Opencast enabled the ALLIANCE membership team to articulate its existing knowledge about the membership service.

The collaborative aspect of the project meant that, by solidifying the knowledge different team members had about the membership service during the workshops, they were able to create a shared understanding of the make-up of the Alliance’s end-to-end membership service.

By visualising this shared understanding, the ALLIANCE membership team was able to identify areas in its internal processes that could be improved to deliver an even better service to the members.

Articulating the make-up of the membership service also meant that the team could differentiate between internal processes that were relevant to members and to colleagues when they engaged with the membership service. This was key for the development of efficient services.

The mapping activity enabled the ALLIANCE membership team to look beyond the membership service and explore the wider ALLIANCE system and the impact it has with the delivery of the membership offer and benefits.

Opencast also helped the ALLIANCE to build its in-house capabilities by sharing new approaches and tools for collaboration. These included democratic voting, affinity mapping and service blueprints.

By supporting the ALLIANCE membership team in developing a bespoke plan to continue the work to improve the membership service and another to democratise the knowledge across the organisation about the membership, Opencast provided the ALLIANCE with tools the team needed to continue working in a user-centred way.

  • Four in-person workshops with the ALLIANCE

  • Over 22 visual assets

  • 14 editable Miro templates for the ALLIANCE to use in the future

  • An action plan for ALLIANCE to use moving forward

Opencast also delivered value beyond what would normally be expected from a 10-day journey mapping project. 

Once the initial aim of the project was met, Opencast continued to work with the ALLIANCE membership team to get a more in-depth understanding of what makes the membership service a service. We also provided the ALLIANCE with tools and methodologies it could continue use beyond this specific project.  

The tools, the re framing of membership as a service and the use of a full in-person approach enabled flexibility, team cohesion and a shift for the team towards taking a design mindset approach to future work.  

Opencast’s work with the ALLIANCE membership team was not confined just to the membership service. Our support overall helped the team to build a better understanding how a stronger people-focused approach can help make internal processes more efficient. 

As an organisation we champion the design and development of person-centred care and designing services for the people who use them. Knowing we should do this and understanding how to do it can be challenging, particularly in the third sector where we often work in small teams with conflicting priorities. Working with Opencast’s UCD experts was a first step in giving us the skills and tools to begin fine-tuning our offer to the experiences and needs of our members.

Health and Social Care ALLIANCE Scotland

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