4-page Case Study - Posted 9/17/2008
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Hospital Establishes Real-Time Performance Reporting Solution To Provide Accurate Decision Support for Managers
Situation
The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) has cared for the children of Victoria since it was founded in 1870. It is a specialist hospital providing paediatric clinical and surgical services, including neonatal care, cardiac, plastic and craniofacial, orthopaedic and neurosurgery, cancer and renal services and health promotion programs.
The RCH is the national paediatric heart transplant centre and a trauma centre for Victoria, Tasmania and southern New South Wales and a major teaching and research centre with key partnerships with the University of Melbourne and the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute.
The RCH treats approximately 32,000 inpatients each year. Including hospital outpatients, a total of 280,000 children are treated each year.
In April 2006 the RCH was facing a number of challenges that they felt could be addressed through the smart application of technology. Specifically, they were looking to improve the accessibility of information for managers so that they could better balance budgets, resources, staff and amenities to provide quality patient care. To do so required an accurate performance management reporting solution.
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The beauty of Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2005 is that it allows us to continually add new scorecards and reports ourselves, making it a flexible, cost-efficient proposition. |
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Mathew Long, Senior Business Analyst, Decision Support, RCH |
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Mathew Long, Senior Business Analyst, Decision Support, RCH, explains, “We had basic reporting already, but it was very labour intensive and inflexible. To produce a report, we had to first extract the data from disparate systems, then generate the reports, often as PDF files, which meant we had no way of interacting with the data beyond printing it”
In common with many public healthcare institutions, RCH had a heterogeneous Information Communication Technology (ICT) environment with a disparate range of SAP, Oracle and Microsoft systems for their financial, patient management, medical imaging, pathology, operating suite and emergency departments. As a result patient management, payroll, financial and other systems were all siloed.
At the time, RCH had a basic warehousing and reporting solution, based on timed data extracts, which used an Oracle database for data storage. However, they recognised that they needed to rethink their direction if they wanted to achieve a truly effective Business Intelligence solution that would serve the hospital down the track.
“The old system had gone as far as we could take it and it just wasn’t flexible enough. What we needed was a solution that would integrate all of our data and give us detailed scorecards that could provide our managers with in-depth information about particular indicators. So we put out a tender for BI solutions,” said Mathew Long.
“One of the main requirements for the new system was that it would leverage the existing databases and provide real-time, relevant performance reporting to approximately 250 managers. We also wanted it to be highly secure and we didn’t want to be locked into a solution that would be expensive to evolve. So we were also looking for a toolset that would enable us to manage it in house.”
The successful tender was awarded to Microsoft Gold Partner, Strategic Data Management Pty Ltd (SDM), who are recognised for their expertise in Business Intelligence (BI) solutions.
Solution
In a matter of weeks, SDM was able to provide RCH with a Performance Management Proof of Concept. Using Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2005 Integration Services they consolidated data from the hospital’s systems including patient administration, emergency department operating theatres, payroll and financial databases. Windows SharePoint® Services publishes this data in a reporting and analysis interface where staff can see the hospital’s overall performance scorecard as well as a wide range of reports and operational scorecards on topics such as beds stays, leave liability, payroll balance and budget performance data on demand. Microsoft Active Directory™ manages multiple identities on the system so that managers only see relevant performance management data when they log in with their own password.
Mathew Long comments, “We were very impressed by how quickly SDM was able to put together a Proof of Concept using Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2005. It was exactly what we were looking for and it confirmed that this was the direction to take.”
The RCH staff called the solution Compass because it enables managers to navigate successfully by providing them with one Web portal where they can obtain all the reports they need to work efficiently. Compass is available on the hospital intranet and staff can log in remotely using Virtual Private Network (VPN) access, if required.
Within four months RCH had rolled Compass out to managers across the hospital. Paul Daniel, Business Development Consultant, SDM said: “Compass replaced RCH’s existing custom reports and introduced an operational planning performance measurement system with strategic and operational business intelligence capabilities that RCH simply could not have achieved with the previous system.”
At a management level each Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is reported with the current month actual result and the target (with performance indicator), the year to date actual result and the target (with performance indicator) and a trend line. Each KPI also has a report attached to it, which provides a chart to view the results over time as well as information to help explain the performance result.
Scorecards are provided at divisional level displaying a subset of the overall RCH KPIs that are relevant to that division. Executives and department level users can access information on the next level of data down the hierarchy simply by clicking on the name of the division or department, enabling them to drill down into the system to understand the metrics more completely, if required.
Mathew Long explains the importance of being able to drill down into the metrics. “When managers are looking at a top level KPI they need to understand how that benchmark is calculated, for example, the size of the sample, the size of the department, right down to the performance of individuals in the unit.”
Benefits
With simple, efficient access to the highly visual performance scorecards, managers are able to see at a glance how their unit or department is performing against target. Mathew Long says, “Compass has been very well received by all staff. Managers are projecting scorecards and reports onto walls for discussion during team meetings. A snapshot from the hospital scorecard is now provided to the board to keep them right up to date. The best thing is that we now have one, accurate up-to-date source of truth on which we can base our decisions. Regardless of which reports we are talking about, the data source is the same – and it’s reliable.”
Easy to use and interpret
Another benefit of Compass is how easy it is to interpret and use. This was an important consideration when selecting their BI platform because IT staff at the RCH knew that the solution had to be easy for their 250 managers to use without requiring costly helpdesk support. Mathew Long explains, “Being Microsoft-based, everyone was already familiar with the interface, so staff instantly knew how to use it and it really is ‘look and click’. We did provide training, but it was not in how to use Compass, it was in where to locate the various reports we were making available.”
Accurate decision support
At the managerial and departmental level Compass provides the concrete information hospital managers need to plan and make accurate decisions. Mathew Long comments, “Our Human Resource managers are now able to predict and plan staffing and payroll requirements. On the activity side, planners can see surgical waitlists and emergency department activity on the one scorecard enabling them to accurately schedule theatre admissions. Managers are using the BI solution to assess the impact of new process improvement measures. The scorecard provides an accurate and timely snapshot of the impact of change.”
Driving continual improvement
Staff at the RCH have always strived for continual improvement in their patient care and work practices. Compass has helped facilitate this culture by providing managers with a snapshot of how their ward or unit is performing so that they can understand where they stand and act on it.
Mathew Long explains, “The way we have created our KPIs and enabled users to drill down into the information has effectively demonstrated in a very visual way that every single person, regardless of their role, contributes to the success of the hospital.”
Easy expansion
From an IT management perspective, Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2005 provides an extremely agile Business Intelligence (BI) platform that allows for almost unlimited expansion. Already the RCH IT staff have been inundated with requests to add more scorecards to Compass, including quality and safety measures.
“BI isn’t a one-size-fits-all, and once people see the power of accurate information, they always want more from the system,” says Mathew Long. “Furthermore, organisations change, so reporting needs to be able to keep up with evolving circumstances and needs. The beauty of Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2005 is that it allows us to continually add new scorecards and reports ourselves, making it a flexible, cost-efficient proposition.”
Microsoft Business Intelligence
Microsoft Business Intelligence is delivered through tight integration between Microsoft® SQL Server® 2005 or 2008, Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007 and Microsoft® PerformancePoint® Server. Together this suite of programs provides a business intelligence platform, a delivery platform and the tools and performance management applications needed to deliver the right information to the right people to support decision-making across healthcare organisations.
For More Information
For more information about Microsoft products and services call the sales and information line on 13 20 58 Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm AEST. To find a partner or solution, visit www.microsoft.com/australia/findapartner/
For more information about Microsoft Gold Partner Strategic Data Management (SDM) and the consulting, development and integration services they deliver, call +61 2 9448 7300 (Sydney) +61 3 9684 0100 (Melbourne) +61 2 6282 4341 (Canberra) +61 8 8238 0900 (Adelaide) +61 7 3221 2404 (Brisbane) email contact@sdm.com.au or visit www.sdm.com.au
For more information about Royal Children’s Hospital, visit www.rch.org.au/ or call +61 3 9345 5522
