Informatics - Getting there

Ok, So I didn't get to post this last week. I was attending the HIMSS 09 in Chicago. Great city! Great Conference. If you haven't attended one, then you should. So you have decided to take the next step in process improvements and improve quality of care ( if you are a hospital ) and reduce cost of healthcare. Everyone is touting a product or service that will help you get there. But what do you need to know so you can choose the right vendor, the right technology etc? Here is what:

#1. METRIC
"Measure Everything That Really Impacts Customers". I didn't say this. I heard it at HIMSS. I couldn't agree more. Define your measures. Your customers could be internal or external. So, identify your customers, ask them what measures are important to them and capture them. The better understanding of your metrics and what you want to do with it, the easier your informatics initiative will be. Mind you, over 60% of Datawarehousing and Business Intelligence projects fail or do not meet expectations. So when I say that it is key to define your measures before you even go at it, I really really mean it!

#2. Failure of DW/BI Projects
So why do so many of them fail? Experts have studied and studied and come up with several reasons for this. I am not going to go into all of them here. But I will talk about one fundamental thing that is key here. A lot of organizations will treat a datawarehousing and business intelligence intiatives as two different projects. In my humble opinion, that is the wrong approach. It should be treated as one "Information Delivery" initiative. After all, it is the data that adds value to the business. So, the steps should be:

1. Gather requirements ( define your measures )
2. Design your entire information delivery platform based on that (reporting, warehouse, ETL, DataModels and everything else in between)
   
3. Build
4. Test
5. Deploy
   

It is one project folks. If you don't have your measures, your warehouse is not going to have the data needed to support the reporting. Your reports are as important as your ETL process.

#3. Select your Partner
I don't like the word Vendor when it comes to working with our clients. It is truly a Partnership that defines that relationship. If you fail, we fail and vice versa. The first partner you select is your own IT department. They are the ones who are going to manage this initiative, deliver it and then support it when the external partner is gone. It is imperative to get them involved from the get go. When looking for an external partner, look for a company who can advise you on tools and technologies first (mind you, don't select your tools before you know your requirements). Your own IT department can help you with this. Of course, experience is important. Look for companies that will give you the same resources that they bring to the table in their first meeting. Often times, they will "sell" you with their best resources and once the contract is signed, switch resources on you. Insist on the best.

Next week: Tools & Technologies