Automating complex decisions on the frontline
See how Rulestar can be used to automate not only documents but also complex decision-making processes.
About the Case Study
We wanted to demonstrate how Rulestar can be used to automate decisions, and not only documents. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, our minds turned immediately to the many exhausted frontline workers who, day and night, need to make difficult life-and-death decisions about travellers and patients. In researching the decision-making challenge they are faced with, we found a complex flowchart in an academic article. Trying to interpret the flowchart showed just how dangerous it is to expect exhausted and stressed frontline staff to make such decisions manually. So, we turned that complex, static flowchart into an easy-to-use and dynamic online tool.
Want to see the automation in action? Try the automated COVID-19 diagnosis tool here
The Challenge
The challenge was to to turn a complicated academic flowchart into a dynamic yet simple online tool that anyone can use. The more closely we looked into the flowchart, the more we realised that it contains numerous ambiguities: it became clear that a static flowchart is not a sufficiently detailed tool for handling such an important decision-making process.
Our team of experienced Automation Specialists spent hours debating the correct interpretation of the flowchart. To expect exhausted frontline workers to make the right decisions under pressure and with such ambiguous instructions is reckless and bound to lead to errors that are catastrophic for those affected. Automation would require converting this convoluted and imprecise diagram into a smart form that anyone can use to get the right answer every time.
The Solution
Rulestar’s uniquely powerful platform was more than able to rise to this challenge. Unlike other online form tools, Rulestar was able to easily handle the complex logic represented in the flowchart, including composite rules containing multiple combinations of logical expressions joined with different operators (eg, AND and OR in the same composite rule). Rulestar’s graphical logic builder made it possible to build these complex rules without the need for any coding.
We were also able to utilize Rich Text Field’s in Rulestar’s online form builder to display the conclusions of the automated decision-making process on screen, as well as guidance along the way. Submission of the form, with consequent generation of a customized report, was made optional.
You can follow the process of how this product was built in the Tutorial Series in our Knowledge Base.
The Result
This demonstration shows how Rulestar’s powerful logic engine, combined with its flexible online form infrastructure, can be used to automate complex decision-making processes. Decision results can be displayed on-screen with a written report being omitted or made optional.
This Case Study illustrates how automation could be used to empower frontline healthcare workers to make the right decisions every time, even when exhausted and operating under immense pressure. Although built for demonstration purposes only, this example shows how automation can inject much-needed precision into difficult analytical processes, streamlining decisions that need to be made quickly and which can have life-or-death consequences.
If you can think it, you can build it with Rulestar.
Logic should never be a limitation. With Rulestar, you can capture all of the knowledge and reasoning of subject-matter experts into an automated system.
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