Gamification Implemented
What is Gamification?
Gamification is the use of game-thinking and game mechanics in non-game contexts to engage users and solve problems. An important part of Gamification is the provision of a reward or recognition for the player’s actions; this can be done through badges, leader boards, prizes, recognition, etc. Gamification is a reflection on our innate desires as humans to compete and be recognized for our efforts. By leveraging these desires, we can better enhance and sustain high levels of motivation and engagement in critical activities.
Steps to Gamification
Identify the Behavior to change or improve.
Determine the Report to be used to engage the participants.
Set a reasonable Time-Frame for the competition.
Choose a Reward
Challenges
At Fountayn, we took the four steps identified for designing a Gamification strategy and applied them during the development of a major release of an eClinical technology product.
For BEHAVIOR, we identified a bottleneck in our validation stage procedures. These individual tasks, referred to as tickets, and the rate they were being completed was limiting the overall progression of the project.
For the REPORT, we used our ticket tracing software that stores and manages the workflow of an individual ticket to provide reports on the number of tickets addressed by each team member. The Reports were in real-time, and each member of the group could freely view their standing in relation to other participants.
For the TIME-FRAME, we set a one month time-period on the competition.
For the REWARD, we decided that the overall winner who addressed the most tickets would be crowned the “Data Hero” and be rewarded at a company meeting. Additionally, we established 7 Data Hero levels that members would gain as the game progressed, based on the overall tickets addressed. This created an incentive to compete even for those players who were unlikely to be in contention for the top position.
Results
By implementing a simple competition and providing a prize of being “crowned” Data Hero, we experienced a 300% INCREASE IN THE DAILY activity over what was observed before the Gamification strategy was implemented. By simply implementing a game-like environment and using our software to give players a real-time view into their standing, we generated a competitive drive in our employees that greatly exceeded our expectations.
Conclusion
The task we targeted was not part of the team member’s daily jobs, so it was not being concentrated on. We identified this as a barrier to reaching a milestone in our process, and we wanted to decrease that time restraint. Ultimately, our Gamification strategy provided the motivation to reach our milestone more quickly, and the team had fun.
Gamification can be implemented within a Life Science company in many ways to improve performance and speed: Patient Adherence, Education (from sites to CRAs), Adherence to Timelines (data entry timelines, data cleaning timelines, regulatory reporting, etc.), or Quality of Work (queries generated). Thus, it is important for an organization to properly plan and understand what they are trying to implement before undertaking a Gamification project. With implementing Gamification, organizations not only incentivize their teams to improve overall response times but also provide visibility to data-driven information through better reporting and dashboards that allow companies to manage and evaluate the individuals on key behaviors.
*Fountayn Formerly known as Datatrak