NCN® Embraces Self-Service BI to Provide End-Users with the Ability to Instantly Generate Their Own Reports and Dashboards
Customer Company Size
Large Corporate
Region
- America
Country
- United States
Product
- InetSoft’s Style Intelligence
Tech Stack
- Relational Database Management System (RDBMS)
- SQL
Implementation Scale
- Enterprise-wide Deployment
Impact Metrics
- Productivity Improvements
- Cost Savings
Technology Category
- Analytics & Modeling - Data-as-a-Service
Applicable Industries
- Healthcare & Hospitals
Applicable Functions
- Business Operation
Use Cases
- Predictive Quality Analytics
- Demand Planning & Forecasting
Services
- Data Science Services
About The Customer
NCN ® is the national leader in cost management for out-of-network claims and network enhancement. NCN uses cost-based data and transparent reporting to maximize savings on healthcare claims. NCN’s technology solutions are powerful, data-driven tools, which achieve rational, cost-based reimbursements and their services aid in controlling costs on more than $2 billion of healthcare claims each year. Last year, NCN initiated a search for a more efficient internal reporting solution, and researched several business intelligence vendors before selecting InetSoft’s Style Intelligence. Among the deciding factors in NCN’s selection were simplified query creation, ease of use, drag-and-drop interface, automated reporting, and visualization dashboards.
The Challenge
Over the course of a decade, NCN accumulated over 1.5 million rows of data for internal reporting on a relational database, and used a relational database management system (RDBMS) to access their data. In order to create internal reports from the database, the Business Intelligence (BI) Manager had to spend approximately three to four hours daily researching, writing, and executing SQL queries. After extracting the appropriate data, the BI Manager was then tasked with several more hours of analysis and ultimately placing the data into a suitable format for presentation and distribution. Another challenge NCN faced was providing business users access to their data in a timely fashion. In order to create reports, employees first submitted IT tickets wherein a series of very specific instructions were provided and subsequently executed by a member of the IT staff. However, because new questions would often arise after the report had been delivered, employees would then have to resubmit an IT ticket requesting a revision of the original report. This delayed the efficacy of decision makers and created a backlog in the IT department.
The Solution
NCN adopted the InetSoft Style Intelligence platform for several reasons. First, Style Intelligence is able to seamlessly connect to relational databases through both data models and queries. Data models are created in an interactive drag and drop environment allowing for a great deal of flexibility across large schemas, while queries provide precise control over requests sent to the database. Queries can also be created using a Query Wizard, thereby eliminating the need for knowledge of SQL. Another central component of the Style Intelligence solution is the Scheduler. The Scheduler is an administrative stand-alone application that allows users to run specific tasks at a specified time. Therefore, users are able to specify the time reports and dashboards are generated, establish a delivery method (email, print, save to disk, archive, etc.) and determine the most suitable presentation format (PDF, Excel, HTML, etc.). Both administrators and end-users are able to access the Scheduler, thus providing an important level of self-service. Lastly, Style Intelligence provides advanced dashboards that encourage business users to freely explore and experiment within an easy-to-use, self-service environment. Hypothetical business scenarios can be simulated, and existing data can be inspected, tested, and analyzed from a variety of angles; guiding users toward asking questions that return valuable and actionable information - all without the assistance of IT staff. For large dashboards, materialized views can be enabled allowing for added responsiveness and quicker analysis at run-time.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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