This case study explains how a leading health insurer was able to tackle performance degradation, resolve application stability issues and deliver happiness to users of its member portal. This was possible thanks to the healthcare industry's performance testing methodology that was designed, tested and tuned by Technosoft Corporation. Tools used include IBM RPT. Activities performed include end user testing and common services testing and performance tuning for huge and complex systems.

1. Pumping in adrenaline
booster to Michigan’s
largest health insurer help
deliver happiness to the
users of their membership
portal.
Technosoft’s performance testing
services eradicates design flaws,
nullifies performance bottleneck,
addresses security issues and
accelerates system performance
Technosoft Case Study July 2013

2. 02 July 2013
the client
Michigan’s largest non-profit health insurance organization
equipped with the largest network of doctors and hospitals that
provides health benefit plans to families and individuals and
federal government employees and their dependents.
situation and impact
Our Client was in need of a partner to help improve their portal’s
performance that was degrading over time. The membership
portal allowed members to retrieve their policies and claims and
other connected heath insurance details at any given point in time
by means of their login and password. It also displayed member
specific data such as the total claims and transactions over a
given period and the ability to drill down.
Hosting the server in a remote environment resulted in latency
and security issues for our client. Even after hosting it locally
keeping their backend legacy feeder systems unchanged,
our client experienced performance issues. The sheer volume
of member size and day-to-day data exchange resulted in
application instability impacting portal response time (>35
seconds for a response to a login attempt and >15 seconds to
provide data at back end). The delayed response time resulted in
member frustration and the instability of the application resulted in
unstructured display of member claims especially when custom-
display options were used. Consequently, our client experienced
a degraded performance during the implementation phase and
there was a steep rise in user frustration which was evident from
the call center records. This also resulted in failure to meet our
client’s internal goal related to percentage of users being assisted
via the membership portal.
03www.technosoftcorp.com
The need of the hour then was a cost-effective, efficient and
proactive partner who could analyze the intricacies involved
and diligently develop a customized performance test plan to
precisely address the performance issues.
proposed solution
Technosoft was chosen for our ability to do performance testing
within a narrow timeframe. The team analyzed the system
architectureandvolumeofmemberdataexchangeandsuggested
improvements in the development environment in order to make
the application stable prior to carrying out performance testing.
A team of five was deployed for three months and comprised an
architect, a project manager and three IBM RPT experts who had
extensive experience and certifications in specialized skill sets
like expertise on IBM RPT. The team helped ensure performance
optimization by identifying and isolating underlying issues which
included coding issues, transport layer issues, design flaws and
infrastructure issues.
the technosoft approach
A phased approach was followed wherein customized test
plans were developed as per system requirements and their
performance measured in each phase.
Phase 1: Pilot Excecution
Involved Technosoft working with a team of architects and
business analysts to come-up with detailed statistics of the
production system which was then validated with the client’s
team to arrive at clear understanding of the system’s expected
traffic and outcomes
project
factfile
5 member team, hardware locations across multiple geographies, end user testing
and common services testing, performance tuning for huge and complex systems
Pilot Excecution Implemention
User
Analysis
Portal Analysis &
Measurement Metrics
a
a
Detailed System
Analysis
Member
Member Member Portal
Remotely Hosted Server
Member
Frustration
Performance
Degradation
Data Exchange
Unstructured Display of
Member Claims
Data Exchange
Data Exchange

3. 04 July 2013
Phase 2: Implemention
Involved the designing of the work load models. One parameter
at a time would be changed (all other parameters being constant)
to fine-tune the system and tests would be run multiple times
in multiple cycles to collect the information post which a robust
performance test plan was created. By this method, all critical
performance metrics were captured, analyzed and tuning
recommendations provided. System behavior was plotted in
several runs and further recommendations provided.
Outcomes Realized
• New improved look and feel with structured display for
membership claims.
• Dramatic performance enhancement. Response time for
login scenarios reduced to 8 seconds from 35 seconds and
for common services and other scenarios to 4 seconds from
12 seconds
• Helped them meet their internal goal related to percentage of
users being assisted via membership portal
• Functional issues which were uncovered and resolved by
Technosoft while conducting performance testing in the
quality assurance environment - helpful for the client’s
corporate organization portal.
• Proactive suggestions for overall application enhancements
such as smarter ways of pulling data from existing system to
reduce time lag, uncover and resolve security issues
concerning cookie implementation and procedures for robust
application stability
We can help
• Address performance bottlenecks while turbo charging
application performance
• Tackle security issues to deliver a secure application/test
environment
• Increase business efficiency by suggesting process
improvements
05www.technosoftcorp.com
When the performance testing was conducted, Technosoft implemented a few
automated scripts in the development environment, which was not part of the
agreed scope to help the client sustain application stability which was a vital task
to the client due to huge load of data exchange across the portal.
beyond
possible
a a a
Design of Work
Load Model
Performance
Tuning
Recommendation
and Suggestion
X
Performance
Testing
Robust Performance
Test Plan
Structured Display of
Member Claims with
New Look & Feel
a a

4. www.technosoftcorp.com
About Technosoft
Technosoft Corporation is an IT and BPO services provider with
headquarters in Southfield, MI, USA and delivery centers in India. We offer
information technology, business process outsourcing and consulting
services to companies in the healthcare, financial services and retail
industries and the US local and state governments. Customers trust us
to offer services and solutions that combine our technology acumen,
business insights and delivery focus. Our culture and environment
attracts and retains exceptional talent which is a key ingredient for our
sustained growth. To see how Technosoft can go ‘Beyond Possible’ for
your organizational needs , email us at wecanhelp@technosoftcorp.com
or visit us at www.technosoftcorp.com.
Corporate Headquarters
28411 Northwestern Hwy,
Suite 640
Southfield, MI 48034
Tel: (248) 603-2600
Fax: (248) 603-2599
Operations Headquarters
4th Floor, Unit 1,
ITPC, CSIR Road, Taramani,
Chennai 600 113
Tel: 91-44-4226 9999
Fax: 91-44-4226 9900
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