AME
AFRICA'S STATEMENT
OF
SATISFACTION WITH SPEEDMINER
In 2002, AME Africa was awarded the contract
for the design, implementation and operation of an Electronic
Patient Record system at the first world class fully electronic
hospital, Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital in South Africa.
Adopting the well accepted views within the
Business Intelligence marketplace, AME Africa undertook a product
comparison, and procured an OLAP 'Cube' based product, which is
commonly used in the Health industry.
Having spent considerable funds, both internally
and with specialized OLAP consultants, the project, was not to the
satisfaction of the users. An analysis of this 'unhappiness' was
then undertaken wherein the following issues surfaced:
1. The concept of updating the 'cubes' on a
monthly basis were not meaningful as the results
were too late for decision making process;
2. The fundamentals of data is such that, defining
'fixed dimensions' is not practical when more
in depth analysis and decisions are required;
Understanding this dynamics led AME Africa to
go back to the 'drawing board' and considerable effort was spend
with the specialists in trying to 'redesign / rework' the existing
environment.
There were improvements in addressing day to day standard analysis
but the user could not get to the next level for more real time,
complex analysis. Users were not able to analyze the data as and
when needed without having some work done on the 'cubes'.
Finally acknowledging that the current technology
not capable of delivering solution to our requirements, with started
to look out for alternative solution.
Having reviewed many of the 'top end cube' based
systems, which still had the same limitations, AME Africa was
introduced to the Speedminer DW & BPM. Being very sceptical
to the claims of Speedminer, a pilot was undertaken and the outcome
of this pilot which addressed the complex issues was astounding,
as reported by both the technical team and the end users, in that
both of the above challenges were met without any loss of the
existing functionality. Furthermore Speedminer, enabled the technical
team to 'customise' the user interface to their exact requirements,
and hence add to their satisfaction. Then came the real bonus;
all of these were being achieved in a shorter implementation period
than the previous technology and products. The technical staff
did not want to return to the previous method of development,
as they were now able to develop quicker and provide the end user
quality of work which they were very proud of. Development time
of the more complex statistical reports was cut from an average
of four months per module to only a couple of weeks. This is a
considerable achievement, considering that the base health data
had to be transformed and clinically verified, both for quality
and appropriateness' before being released to the end users.
Another startling point is that this improvement
was seen after only four weeks of on site training. The speed
at which the learning curve was scaled can be attributed to the:
1. Flexibility of Speedminer
2. Quality of the support, both from a technical
and application
aspect,
provided by the Speedminer team.
Many products reviewed require Dashboard views
to fit a predefined look and feel, whereas the Speed Visualizer's
dashboard development is limited only by one's imagination. The
large array of embedded components (features) of Speedminer, is
easily combined to create meaningful views of the data.
Although initially being very cautious and apprehensive,
the development team and end users are now very excited about
the way of working and the fact that they are making such good
progress.
No doubt that, when one considers investing
in Business Intelligence solutions, following 'tried and tested'
products and technologies may not yield the most effective and
appropriate solution. Speedminer DW & BPM certainly should
be considered alongside the 'bigger and more established' players
in the Business Intelligence market.
-- Bryn Woombell
Director and General Manager
AME
Africa
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