Large Global Health Insurer implements enterprise architecture in Agile SAFe environment

Achieve digital transformation and consumer-centric business processes using enterprise architecture.

A $69B managed healthcare company decided to create a new consumer-centric health plan. A recent Consumer Business unit would own the new business platform, provide new products to the market, base itself on a different engagement model, and apply digital-first principles and new business processes across the board.

The ability to mix and match best-of-breed business capabilities was necessary due to shorter change cycles and the transformational forces of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a comprehensive US healthcare reform law aimed at making affordable health insurance available to more people.

Historically, the Company's enterprise architecture (EA) practice focused primarily on enterprise value, IT interoperability, information consistency, and technology governance. While the EA team had plenty of experience with business process optimization, the Consumer Business program required a more transformational approach.

The EA practice needed to turn business vision into IT action and to complete the job before Open Enrollment – a fixed deadline that could not be moved.

The Company put out a competitive bid for an EA tool, ultimately selecting MEGA's HOPEX because of its ability to build a digital representation of the business and connect IT to business processes and objectives.

A dedicated tool to build a digital representation of the new program

Before the initiative, EA had been sitting outside delivery projects. For the Consumer Business program, architects needed to become integral parts of delivery scrum teams while at the same time providing an architectural runway to keep the program moving at optimal speed.

HOPEX helped the team to:

• Manage roles and workflows - To accomplish its goals, the Company divided into three distinct positions and gave specific HOPEX licenses to: systems architects to engage at the program level; solutions architects to create solution sketches and determine the information flow; and integration architects to translate information needs into actual integration designs, which included services and APIs, as well as managed file transfers and data transformations.
• Monitor, track, and report progress - To further promote quick decisions, the EA practice established a daily "architecture risk scrum" that leveraged HOPEX deliverables and brought together all three types of architects to address pressing issues. The scrum has become "tier 0" of the Company's overall EA governance scheme.
• Map architecture to business processes - Solution and integration architects were empowered to focus on and become experts in their designated aspect of a complex hybrid project. Using the ability to map architecture to business processes, architects became part of delivery teams and built credible rapport, and risk and value became the focus rather than compliance.
• Build a digital representation of the new platform – HOPEX enabled the Company to build a connected digital replica of the new product, thus turning business vision into IT action. The architecture in HOPEX provided the guardrails to ensure the scrum teams focused on the right deliverables to help complete the project on time.

Enterprise architecture becomes a trusted internal management consultancy

Within just ten months of using MEGA's HOPEX Enterprise Architecture solution, the Company realized massive milestones, including:

• Completed its first Scaled Agile Framework program, with more than 700 people involved at the height of staffing
• Integrated software from 15 different sources through more than 400 integration points
• Institutionalized a multispeed approach to IT delivery (separating systems of engagement, systems of record, and systems of insight)
• Delivered a new digital experience based on more than 40 APIs
• Established a strategic next-gen integration platform that can reliably and cost-effectively deliver large numbers of hybrid integrations

The Company delivered all this in only ten months and at less than 25% of the traditional integration cost. Design defects were reduced by 50%, delivery speed was doubled, and 90% of architecture risks were eliminated within five days.

The Company successfully turned its enterprise architecture practice into a source of trusted advice for IT and business executives with a reputation for turning vision into action.

"The EA practice has successfully "moved from information and app architecture to solution and integration architecture," Infoworld/Forrester Enterprise Architecture Awards.

Solutions

• HOPEX IT Portfolio Management
• HOPEX Platform
• MEGA Services Team