miawebadmin, Author at Management Information Analysis

Custom Application Software Teams Elevate the Value of your Business

May 7, 2015 by miawebadmin

Custom software development is all about world-class solutions that drive up the value of your business. The best teams of designers and software engineers are experts that work with you every step of the way as a dedicated team to solve your most complex data access problems.

You are well served when you consider outsourcing custom software development projects. Our clients have reported at least four benefits from their outsourcing experiences:

Focus on Core Competency – Do what you do best, then outsource the rest. If you outsource your customized software projects, then your emphasis can be on your core operations while avoiding distractions from developing complex customized software. The key to successful outsourcing is to maintain a clear channel of communication with the software engineers.The customized software will adapt to your processes, not erode any existing network software and will be more flexible than a one-size-fits-all solution.

Human Capital Expenditure – Managers spend precious time and money during the search for hiring a software development team. In contrast, a software company has a staff of experienced professionals who can readily make suggestions and provide estimated costs for the customized software.There is also the benefit of cohesion and quality performance from a team of professionals who have worked together on other successful projects. A newly hired team or freelance engineers would have needed time to adapt to your company and to the other team members.

Leveraging Software Development Best Practices – The industry procedures for software development include software tests, process automation and agile management. A trusted software development company routinely uses those standard procedures, which enhances their ability to complete projects faster, to provide higher code quality and to reduce your future costs for maintenance and for enhancements to the completed project down the road.Consider outsourcing custom software development projects, which will incur fewer costs by partnering with a talented, experienced team.

Resource Flexibility – A software development project could have changing parameters, which would influence the level of skills that are required for the job. Competent software companies have a wide range of access to professional engineers who can quickly be assigned to work on the project. Therefore, your customized software partner can readily staff your project from the internal developer pool.We have worked side by side with mid-market and Fortune partners in industries such as software, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing and retail. Projects range from designing new Software as a Service (SaaS) platforms to cloud-deployed applications, among others.

Let’s start a conversation. We are ready to listen.

Success Stories: “Middle Man” Retail Sales

March 19, 2015 by miawebadmin

The Challenge:

This client came to us with a totally manual process and a system that was designed for another type of business. They started with distribution lists of products from the manufacturers. The sales force would present these products to the retailers, place orders (paper process) which they entered via a log and updated status along the way on each product. Pending sales and delivery reconciliation were falling through the cracks. Can you spell “customer relations, sales blockages and cost management problems?”

The Methods:

MIA’s team working with this client built a software application that tracked all the products, incentives, appointments and deliveries.

We also compiled store survey compliance results into the custom app that was built in pieces over several years (Custom App Development – Web)

The Results:

Reduced staff and retailer complaints and dramatically increased sales (confidential).

Success Stories: Hospital

March 19, 2015 by miawebadmin

The Challenge:

This case study might qualify for Super Hero status. The client brought us multiple systems with 17 different lists of physicians, including different identifiers, specialties, type of practice, status, and clinic locations. Many of the lists did not agree.

The Methods:

MIA took the data from all sources. We matched the data, ran it through a scoring system looking for commonality (the system dynamically “learns”) and created one central “correct” list (ETL Plus*).

This list was then used by marketing, planning, (including MIA patient segmentation) and in house analytic groups (operation support) for reporting
In the state of TX and surrounding states, having one single point of contact helped marketing outreach – and the web front end allows the company to override
There is no front end that you see – the data is the final product (Custom App Development)

The Results:

Obviously, the clutter and waste are gone. So are the criticisms and complaints. The grudging sound of success; “We started talking about the need for this ten years ago.” Oh well, now we will go hang up our capes.

Success Stories: Pharmacy

March 19, 2015 by miawebadmin

The Challenge:

This client needed an inventory and reporting application. They were dispensing hugely expensive cancer treatment medications from a paper based system where data was later entered into a spreadsheet manually. There was no tracking or accountability for more than 2 years.

The Methods:

We developed a two part app – an order processing system and a separate interface to the same system in the pharmacy for preordering. This allowed a reconciliation for product ordered versus delivered. This is important in the world of compliance. It also enabled the client to adjust pricing correctly, with costs shifted from week to week depending on the supplier. Oh and this introduced another layer of complication.

The system survived switching from one physician management system to another (electronic medical record)
MIA later wrote an addition to the system to interface to the appointment system and to “preload” the orders
The new system automated the process, reducing time and errors (Custom App Development)

The Results:

“Fantastic. I am very happy! I can count on the level of accuracy of the new system.”

Success Stories: Hospital

March 19, 2015 by miawebadmin

The Challenge:

In healthcare delivery, there is a huge risk in making capital decisions to expand or build facilities. Mistakes are obviously costly. And the inability to meet patient care needs means a competitor can come in and take market share or the organization forgoes a robust revenue stream.

The Methods:

MIA analyzed data looking at the utilization of an entire market and compared it to other cities in Texas and as well as nationally. We projected our base numbers (2002-2004) out to 2020 so the facility would know what utilization would be. And then . . . we really went to work. We:

Estimated what the market share would be as well as dollar growth
Analyzed peak utilization to assure bed need would be met – we provided data that showed what expansion was needed, taking into account suppressed demand (when there is no facility, it is not used)
Provided information that allowed for new sub-specialists to be added because the capacity was available – (all using Planning Analytics)

The Results:

MIA was able to fight for and justify the number of required beds to an independent auditing firm. We were able to back up the data and justify expansion of the facility.

Bonus:

We made sure that the customizations to the projections were appropriate to the facility and developed a way to calculate “turn time” (cleaning and setup for next procedure), helping resolve capacity issues for hospital.

Success Stories: Propane Delivery

March 19, 2015 by miawebadmin

The Challenge:

This client had been using a system designed for another industry to run their business – they were using 7 different, separate systems in total. Many labor hours were spent aligning and consolidating retail sales, operating costs and inventories for a look at the health of the business. It was also a real challenge to forecast sales based upon this mish-mash of data.

The Methods:

MIA migrated all of the client data to new system.
We then created and launched a centralized data warehouse (ETL Plus*) and wrote a custom reporting engine for more effective financial reporting.
We added new systems, including billing and statements, mailings, CRM data transmission, customer websites for service and credit card payments (Custom App Development).

The Results:

With the improved information systems facilitated by our system integration over a 9 year period, during which sales increased by double-digit annual percentages and labor headcount decreased from 82 to 35 employees, the client built themselves into such a profitable and attractive operation that they were ultimately acquired by a national group.

Success Stories: Medical Client

March 19, 2015 by miawebadmin

The Challenge:

This joint venture client had approximately 14 different providers and a $2 million per year operating budget. They rarely shared information. Drill down a level and you discover that the client provided sliding fee scale care for approximately 85,000 unique individuals who accessed one or more of the providers. Yikes!

So how do you get data from all different providers, standardize it, crosswalk all individuals across all systems – dealing with cumulative data over 3 years and 150,000 unique individuals.

The Methods:

In order to obtain a single unified data set, MIA assembled and de-identified all of the data (ETL Plus*).

The dataset was then sent to an actuarial firm who ran the unified data through their system and came up with what the cost would have been had Medicare reimbursed the cost of care.
MIA was then able to build a budget using that data for the client as a whole (Planning Analytics).

The Results:

Client was able to:

Send MIA back the cost weekly so they can see what the specific costs are for each diagnostic grouping
Identify a subset of patients with the largest bills to create health protocols which lessen the cost of service.
Note; this last outcome is extremely powerful. Once you can identify the “heavy users” you can create an action plan that works to lower utilization of the most valuable categories of assets – like trauma centers.

Indiana Uses Data Analytics to Reduce Infant Mortality

March 17, 2015 by miawebadmin

As recently as 2011, Indiana had the sixth-highest infant mortality rate in the nation, at 7.7 deaths per 1,000 live births. Last year, soon after taking office, Governor Mike Pence announced the launch of a data analytics project to identify the causes of this high rate and subsequently attempt to lower it. Now, a report shows that the project, the first undertaken by the Management and Performance Hub (MPH), is already producing tangible results.

To carry out the investigation, data was collated from a number of health care organizations and state agencies, then mapped out in great detail. The researchers found that a disproportionate number of infant deaths occur among the children of young mothers who are on Medicaid. This group makes up just 1.6 percent of all births in Indiana but almost half of all deaths. The main cause is insufficient prenatal care, whereas lifestyle factors such as smoking during pregnancy have a much smaller influence.

The ability to gather detailed information on various sectors of the population can be key for the future of analytics. The MPH hopes to use similar techniques for future undertakings, cracking down on crime, recidivism and child abuse by identifying at-risk groups and allocating resources accordingly.

“Once you do the hard work of getting everything set up, then you have the ability to make different decisions and do different things,” said KSM Consulting practice director Cris Johnston. “We believe the success in doing these initial use cases will lead to more collaborative efforts to solve complex problems facing Indiana citizens.”

Public administrations are increasingly realizing the value of data management solutions, which they can use to improve a wide array of public services, from health care and law enforcement to energy efficiency and public transportation.

Data Analytics Could Save Health Care Industry Hundreds of Billions

January 21, 2015 by miawebadmin

The health care industry has benefited from the use of data analytics to refine everything from patient services to staff management. When it comes to industry-specific solutions, health care is one of the areas that offers the most options, however, a new report suggests that organizations could be saving hundreds of billions of dollars every year by focusing their analytics efforts on the financial side of their operations.

The study was published in the public health journal BMC Health Service Research and states that more efficient management of billing and other financial data could save as much as $375 billion annually, or a staggering 15 percent of all U.S. health care costs. Achieving the full potential savings would take a major overhaul of billing systems, but there is little question that it would be worth the effort.

While an industry and nationwide adoption of a unified payer system is not realistic, there is some reason for optimism. The latest revision of the ICD-10 Procedure Coding System went into effect in October, putting more of a focus on revenue management. The percentage of industry costs that go to billing and insurance alone more than doubled between 1980 and 2010, ballooning to over $470 billion, so health care providers should embrace the opportunity to reduce that figure.

Even minor adjustments to data solutions could save $40 billion per year, according to the researchers. As the American health care industry undergoes major legislative and operational changes, the organizations at the forefront of analytics adoption will emerge as the most efficient and financially sound.

Holiday Season Provides Valuable Retail Analytics

January 20, 2015 by miawebadmin

The holidays are always the busiest time of the year for retailers. A strong season can salvage a lackluster sales year, but the period is not without its challenges. Temporary staff must be hired, the shelves stocked and everybody has to be on top of their game to make sure that stores are ready for the increased demand, otherwise a retailer’s reputation could suffer due to subpar service. In recent times, a new factor has entered the scene: analytics.

This year more than ever, social media played a major role in this trend. Enterprise software company SAP SE says it recorded more than 28 million mentions of shopping practices on social networks, an 8 percent increase over last year. More importantly, the data obtained can provide valuable insights into consumer practices, which in turn retailers can use to adjust their services in the future.

For instance, SAP found that the shopping season itself is getting longer. In a survey it conducted together with Ipsos, 21 percent of respondents reported buying Christmas presents for their significant others before Thanksgiving, and Black Friday sales fell by 5 percent from 2013. It appears that convenience and time are now rivaling price as buyers’ top priorities, and this is just one of the factors that is driving the growth of online retail, which also showed on social media.

Retail data solutions help companies build customer loyalty by allowing them to adapt their own practices to those of the public. Going forward, sellers that truly understand what motivates consumers will be able to separate themselves from their competitors and earn their customers’ loyalty.