HC-One

Streamlining access to apps with a single sign-on solution

Process

Product

Build as a service

Embedded experts

Enhanced scalability

The single sign-on (SSO) platform is designed to scale seamlessly with HC-One's growth trajectory, capable of accommodating an unlimited number of colleagues as the business expands.

Reduced maintenance‍

Leveraging cloud-native technology has drastically reduced day-to-day maintenance efforts, with AWS providing a secure and reliable foundation for the application, resulting in minimal administrative burden.

Cost effectiveness‍

With monthly costs amounting to less than $150 for approximately 25,000 users, the solution proves to be financially viable while meeting all essential business criteria, ensuring optimal cost-effectiveness.

SITUATION

Overview

‍

HC-One is one of the UK's leading care providers offering professional nursing, residential and dementia care for the elderly. Founded in 2011, HC-One has over 300 care homes and provides positive, personalised care and support to over 14,000 residents nationwide.

On a mission to be the first-choice care home to residents and colleagues in the communities it serves, HC-One works with, trains and develops more than 25,000 colleagues who deliver round-the-clock care and support.

As part of a larger digital transformation project, HC-One had a directive to digitise its workforce's internal systems and communications, starting with a single sign-on solution (SSO) that would enable its workforce of over 25,000 colleagues to log in to the business’ independent software systems.

Offering each colleague a single sign-on log-in with a system such as Microsoft 365 (MS365) starting at $6 per user, per month wasn’t financially feasible and most colleagues would not take full advantage of the services offered by MS365, such as the use of the Microsoft Office suite.

Instead, HC-One appointed Leighton to engineer a cost-effective solution that provided the flexibility of access for users whilst maintaining the security that you would expect from an SSO identity provider.

Solution

Collaboration and consultancy

In close collaboration with HC-One, we worked to consult on the business’ problem and generate possible solutions. Through extensive consultations with key stakeholders across departments including IT, HR and finance, we gained deep insights into their unique workflows and requirements, gaining an understanding of specific use cases.

Here we analysed what was available off-the-shelf and the pricing to go with it before exploring the feasibility of a custom software solution. This initial phase allowed us to lay a solid foundation for designing a tailored solution that addresses both present needs and future scalability. Key considerations at this phase were how we could answer the functional requirements whilst remaining scalable, cost-optimised, secure and performant.

Building upon the insights gathered in the consultancy and planning phase, our focus shifted towards designing a seamless access management system. Working closely with HC-One's product owner and IT team, we conceptualised an intuitive solution that not only resolves existing pain points but also enhances the overall user experience. Our design approach prioritised simplicity without compromising on functionality, ensuring that the system remains user-friendly and efficient.

Harnessing cloud technology

To empower HC-One with a scalable and robust solution, we leveraged the power of cloud technologies. By harnessing AWS services, we built a flexible infrastructure capable of adapting to the organisation's evolving needs. This cloud-native approach not only ensures high performance but also offers cost-effective scalability, allowing HC-One to scale resources up or down based on demand without incurring unnecessary expenses.

API and data models ensured the solution could interface with the business’ internal HR platform, allowing the business to manage the provisioning of user accounts without any extra data input.

Recognising the importance of user empowerment, we developed a user-friendly web application that puts control in the hands of HC-One's colleagues. Through this application, users can easily manage their own passwords, while managers have the ability to reset passwords for their team members. This self-service feature not only reduces administrative burden but also enhances user satisfaction and productivity.

From proof of concept to production

We created a proof of concept (POC) that allowed for our SSO solution to be used with the business’ existing web applications. From this POC we quickly brought the application to production standard, whilst the customer implemented the SSO in its web applications.

Consultancy, design, and POC through to the release of a production application was delivered over a 12-week period. Our team worked with HC-One's product owner with daily stand-ups to continually deliver features that could be tested and integrated with the customer's HR platform and internal applications.

At every step of the process, our focus remained on delivering a solution that drives tangible business outcomes for HC-One. By addressing key success factors such as scalability, security, and user experience, we have laid the groundwork for long-term success. Key features of the solution include:

Tech stack

‍

As well as reducing the cost of ownership for issuing all colleagues with an SSO identity, we also wanted to keep the day-to-day running costs of the SSO low for HC-One. Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) cloud-native technology allowed us to use a price-per-use model. This ensured the monthly running costs were under $150 per month but had elasticity to allow the solution to grow as the business grows.

Amazon Route53

Amazon API Gateway

AWS Lambda

AWS DynamoDB

Amazon Cognito

Amazon SES

Amazon CloudFront

Amazon s3

React.js

Node.js

IMPACT

Empowering digital transformation

‍

The implementation of our access management solution has propelled HC-One's digital transformation journey, significantly enhancing operational efficiency and service delivery. HC-One continue to digitally transform the business and make the service provided more efficient, resulting in better care for its customers. The identity platform played a critical part in this transformation and delivered on key metrics:

Enhanced scalability
The single sign-on (SSO) platform is designed to scale seamlessly with HC-One's growth trajectory, capable of accommodating an unlimited number of colleagues as the business expands.
Reduced maintenance‍
Leveraging cloud-native technology has drastically reduced day-to-day maintenance efforts, with AWS providing a secure and reliable foundation for the application, resulting in minimal administrative burden.
Cost effectiveness‍
With monthly costs amounting to less than $150 for approximately 25,000 users, the solution proves to be financially viable while meeting all essential business criteria, ensuring optimal cost-effectiveness.
Streamlined processes
The SSO automates account creation processes, freeing up valuable time for HR and IT teams to focus on strategic initiatives, thereby reducing administrative overhead and enhancing productivity.
Enhanced security
Granular access controls ensure that colleagues' access privileges are meticulously managed, with automated granting of permissions ensuring optimal security and compliance with organisational policies.
Accelerated delivery‍
The rapid delivery of the application within a 12-week timeframe has enabled HC-One to swiftly deploy its suite of tools to colleagues, expediting the uptake of digital transformation initiatives across the organisation.

Process

Product

Build as a service

Embedded experts

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