Onward Development

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the clinical director of the Home Health Division of On Point Health Services.

What challenge were you trying to address with Onward Development?

We have two branches: a staffing company and a home healthcare agency. I work in both areas, and this was for the staffing agency. We needed to develop an application that would be able to combine what we were initially using several different applications for into one application.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The application is web-based, and the information flows into QuickBooks. It does scheduling for staffing, it allows them to pick up scheduling. Facilities use it to offer schedules for CNAs and nurses to come in and work. It eliminates the need for a paper timesheet because it allows them to use that same scheduling to be signed off by a manager at the facility. Once that signature is done (approved) the info flows directly into QuickBooks to be used for payment processing to the contractor and billing from the facility.

We’re currently getting everyone on board and using different aspects of the explanation. Also, we’re working with David and his team to identify the bugs and get them fixed so we can move forward.

What is the team composition?

We worked directly with David, but I know he had two other developers. He relayed messages to his team members.

How did you come to work with Onward Development?

Another company that uses Onward came to the nursing home facility that the owner of On Point and I both work at. That’s where we initially met them and saw the process they use for developing technology. We were familiar with him and his process and comfortable with working with him as a team.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $25,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started around August or September 2019.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Once we get everything worked out, it’s going to have a huge impact. The potential is very great for the things we want to use it for. We’re not using it in real-time for everything yet since we’re taking it step-by-step, and part of that is because we haven’t gotten everyone on yet. We’re growing by leaps and bounds. We just started the home health agency and we just started seeing clients (60, since we started on Dec. 31st). We just haven’t had time.

It has helped us get people applied on our service. On average, it’s taking our contractors about an hour or an hour and a half to apply to work for our company. Now, they can do it all online through a link to their email. It makes it so much easier. We’re able to reach staff members in remote areas in which we need help. I don’t have to drive to them and they don’t have to drive hours to our city location to fill out a paper application.

We’re also going to start using it in our home healthcare area, in addition to staffing, and we’ll work with David to make any adaptations necessary to make that happen.

How did Onward Development perform from a project management standpoint?

Typically, we talk over texts, phone calls, and Slack, plus email sometimes. David is very responsive. If we have a problem, he has it fixed with a day or two.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their support and responsiveness stand out, as does the time they take to fix things. There’s no tier one, two, or three service. It’s nice to pick up a phone and be able to say something isn’t working and get a quick response and resolution.