Situation
A law firm engaged TCDI to develop a solution that would streamline a custom workflow for their pharmaceutical client. Part of the workflow required extensive quality control (QC) steps throughout the review process that would allow the client to QC varying percentages of the data set based on specific aspects of the documents themselves.
2 months
For instance, they wanted to vary the percentage of documents in QC based on criteria like document type and whether it was coded responsive or privileged. They also wanted to vary percentages based on the experience levels of individual reviewers.
At the time, CVLynx®, TCDI’s proprietary review and production platform, had three options for assigning data sets to QC: assign the entire set, a percentage of the set, or select documents based on keywords they contained.
The current workflow would require the review administrator to perform several manual calculations and steps to meet the outlined requirements.
Resolution
In order to develop a solution within CVLynx that would allow the client’s review administrators to easily assign documents to QC, TCDI met with key personnel to further understand their need and the requested functionality.
With this information, TCDI’s product development team expanded the discussion within their Project Management group to review the proposed feature, consider additional perspectives, assess potential impacts, and put together development specifications.
The next step was to determine when to develop the feature. This request was classified as a general enhancement to CVLynx, and, as such, was to be added to the regular software version cycle. This cycle normally runs three to six months depending on the number and complexity of enhancements involved.
The version cycle being worked on at the time had begun a month prior and had another two months to go. That meant the client’s request might not be available for another six months or longer. TCDI’s development team, however, determined that the progress on the version currently underway could incorporate this new functionality without sacrificing the release timing or delaying quality control and testing.
TCDI remained in contact with the client throughout the development process, including a review of the specifications and mock-ups of the user interface. This included a preview of the beta version prior to release.
Impact
Since TCDI writes and supports their own software, they control their development timelines. As a result, response times are not limited by a fixed schedule but are guided by what is possible in serving their clients. Rather than waiting until the next development cycle, the requested functionality was available in CVLynx within two months of the client’s initial request, allowing them to greatly reduce the manual effort required to perform the review.
Additionally, while the function was originally initiated by, and for, a single client, this advanced review QC capability was expanded to consider the needs and objectives of multiple clients with multiple workflows, benefitting everyone working with TCDI.
