Ontario Mutual Insurance Association
Ontario Mutual Insurance Association Deploys Business Intelligence with Microsoft SQL Server 2000
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Company Overview
Formed in 1882, the Ontario Mutual Insurance Association (OMIA) has supported mutual insurance companies in Ontario and Canada for over 100 years. While its mission remains unchanged, the type of services OMIA provides has evolved over time.
Business Challenge
Today, the association supports its members with a range of essential services, including data collection and analysis. OMIA members rely on quarterly data reports generated by the association for sourcing profitable lines, conducting rate analysis, analyzing under-performing programs and spotting trends. OMIA members also use the reports to comply with government and industry reporting requirements.
Generating the reports required the OMIA team to manually transfer data from the client-server application, convert the reports into PDF format and send the PDFs to members via e-mail. The laborious four-day process sapped precious employee resources from the OMIA team. Additional complications occurred when OMIA members requested custom reports, which often took up to 10 days to complete.
“OMIA aims to efficiently use member resources and provide the best support possible,” says Robert Stickle, Statistics and IS manager, OMIA. “We clearly needed to make better use of technology to reduce the burden on our team.”
To improve the reporting process, OMIA began working with GHI Technologies, a Microsoft Gold Certified Business Intelligence partner and the 2004 winner of the Microsoft International Business Intelligence partner award. OMIA wanted a solution that would make its reporting process more efficient, provide reports more frequently and give customers the ability to make custom reports without assistance from the OMIA team.
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Solution
After researching competitive solutions from Oracle and Business Objects, OMIA chose a Microsoft SQL Server-based solution for its comprehensive reporting capabilities and affordability. Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services and Microsoft Data Analyzer, helped to reduce man-hours and provide more flexible reporting options for OMIA members.
“We worked with OMIA to find a solution that would best address their data requirements and need for an enhanced analysis tool,” says Tom Kavouras, vice president, Business Intelligence, GHI Technologies. “The SQL Server Analysis Services also provides OMIA with the ability to produce reports more frequently.”
SQL Server Analysis Services streamlines access to data warehouse information by creating multi-dimensional Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) cubes from metrics in the data warehouse. For the OMIA team, the OLAP cubes provided critical back-end data analysis capabilities that streamlined the report generation process and enabled them to create dynamic Web-based reports.
SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services, a comprehensive server-based reporting solution that authors, manages, and delivers paper-based and interactive Web reports, helped the OMIA and its members to easily create and deliver scheduled reports and develop custom reports on an ad-hoc basis. The addition of Microsoft Data Analyzer, a Microsoft Office® data analysis tool, helped drive user adoption by providing users with an easy-to-navigate tool and a familiar Microsoft Office interface for analyzing data.
An additional feature such as colour coding, which automatically highlights exceptions in the data, provides an intuitive and comprehensive method for identifying key trends and gaining additional business insight. Data Analyzer also integrates with Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint®, allowing members to easily incorporate data from the report into presentations and other corporate material.
“With SQL Server Analysis Services, our customers are no longer viewing a static report. Instead they are working with a dynamic solution that works with their requests and individual data inquiries,” says Stickle.
Business Benefits
Working with GHI, OMIA was able to launch the solution on budget and in only four months, something that alternate vendors could not match. After launching the full solution to its member community in November 2004, OMIA has realized numerous benefits, including increased employee efficiency, improved customer service and enhanced data integrity.
Increased employee efficiency
Streamlining the four-day report generation process was one of the main reasons OMIA implemented a solution based on Microsoft technology. With OLAP, the OMIA team can quickly develop dynamic Web-based reports in two days.
“We have helped to increase valuable employee time because of the reduced process to produce the monthly reports,” says Stickle.
The Web-based reports have also enabled the OMIA team to reduce the total number of reports needed from 144 to four and reduced custom report requests by 80 per cent.
“Special report requests have become almost non-existent,” says Stickle. “SQL Server enables our members to develop the reports they need with a few simple mouse clicks. Our team is able to spend more time on critical tasks instead of developing reports for members.”
Improved customer service
With the Microsoft solution, the OMIA team has been able to generate reports on a more frequent basis for its members. Instead of quarterly reports, OMIA now generates dynamic reports on a monthly basis for its members.
“Microsoft’s SQL Server database enabled us to produce monthly reports and with report capabilities that eclipsed our previous static quarterly report,” says Stickle. “With the enhanced monthly reports, users were getting a service that improved their overall internal processes.”
Using SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services, members can dynamically view and analyze the data and create custom reports without assistance from the OMIA team. The reports have enabled OMIA members to more closely monitor business trends and respond faster to problem areas.
“Our members are now able to closely monitor business activity and make appropriate changes faster than previously possible,” says Stickle. “They’re able to quickly focus in on problem areas and adjust underwriting or rates to correct situations.”
Enhanced data integrity
The dynamic data reports have also enabled OMIA and its members to pinpoint data quality errors that were difficult to identify in the traditional static reports. More accurate data enables both OMIA and its members to better understand industry trends and respond appropriately.
“The dynamic functionality of the SQL Server solution has enabled both OMIA and its members to quickly sift through data and identify inaccuracies,” says Stickle. “With improved data quality, OMIA members are able to gain a more accurate view of key trends in the insurance industry and make more informed business decisions.”
Microsoft Windows Server System
Microsoft® Windows Server System is a comprehensive, integrated, and interoperable server infrastructure that helps reduce the complexity and costs of building, deploying, connecting, and operating agile business solutions. Windows Server System helps customers create new value for their business through the strategic use of their IT assets. With the Windows Server operating system as its foundation, Windows Server System delivers dependable infrastructure for data management and analysis; enterprise integration; customer, partner, and employee portals; business process automation; communications and collaboration; and core IT operations including security, deployment, and systems management.
For more information about Windows Server System, go to: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem
For More Information
For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to: www.microsoft.com
For more information about GHI Technologies, call (905) 821-9210 or visit the Web site at: www.ghitechnologies.com
For more information about Ontario Mutual Insurance Association, call (519) 740-6415 or visit the Web site at: www.omia.com
