Showing posts with label Metadata. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Metadata. Show all posts
Monday, August 16, 2010
Metadata for Healthcare
In my webinar, I spoke of how expressor helps you manage metadata "in-process" rather than as an afterthought. Dr. David Fenstermacher, Chair and Executive Director of the Department of Biomedical Informatics at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute is giving a webinar on "Metadata, the cornerstone of tomorrow's healthcare information systems", a more detailed dive into the use of metadata. It's Free. You can register for the webinar here:
Monday, March 15, 2010
Metadata & Master Data Management
Hmmmm...interesting topic, eh? Why bother? What can I do? How much is it going to cost me?
Well folks, I am going to tell you a secret. This is a secret that we, I mean technologists, have hidden from you for long. Much like the wall street "experts" who are now "fixing" the problems they created in the first place and getting paid for it, we are doing the exact same thing. This is an issue that we created (I mean technologists). Now we have cool technologies like metadata repositories and dictionaries that can give you standardized data definitions across the enterprise, but we'll need you to pay us for the "cool technology" we created to solve "your issues"!
Why bother?
Answer is simple. Have you ever had Gatorade? Yellow, Blue, Orange? Well if you have, you get different "flavors" of the same thing. Same thing with business intelligence. If you want to call something a pot, call it a pot. Don't call it pot in one place, a vessel in another and a container in another place. Unfortunately, the reality is just that. A pot is called a pot in one system, a vessel in another and a container in a third. If you tried to print out the value of a "pot" for your CEO to see, you would have to sit there and explain "well, it is the same thing, but it may be called a container on page 2"! You can imagine the reaction. Enter metadata and masterdata management! We take the pots and the containers and the vessels, call it a pot, make sure the attributes of all three are the same, store it in a dictionary and charge you a couple of millions for it! Sound cool? No?
What can I do?
There are things you can do and not break the bank while doing it. Old fashioned discipline and planning, for example. And you, as the healthcare exec, is in luck! Because, if you are like most companies, you have a clean slate to start with, in terms of informatics. So, with a little bit of planning upfront, you can avoid a lot of costs later. Incorporate metadata/master data management into your informatics initiative early on. In other words, don't build a warehouse without it! Just like you put planning and thought into collecting your measures, think of having standard data definitions across the enterprise. Reach out to folks like SNOMED to see what they are doing. Trust me, your upfront costs will be a drop in the bucket if you have to do it as an afterthought. It will also ensure better data quality as the data won't get into your system without rationalizing with your dictionary first.
So when your buddy from the other hospital is worried about his/her metadata, you can simply say, "we have incorporated that into the "front end" of our process", take a long hard look at the fairway, judge the wind speed and let it rip!
Well folks, I am going to tell you a secret. This is a secret that we, I mean technologists, have hidden from you for long. Much like the wall street "experts" who are now "fixing" the problems they created in the first place and getting paid for it, we are doing the exact same thing. This is an issue that we created (I mean technologists). Now we have cool technologies like metadata repositories and dictionaries that can give you standardized data definitions across the enterprise, but we'll need you to pay us for the "cool technology" we created to solve "your issues"!
Why bother?
Answer is simple. Have you ever had Gatorade? Yellow, Blue, Orange? Well if you have, you get different "flavors" of the same thing. Same thing with business intelligence. If you want to call something a pot, call it a pot. Don't call it pot in one place, a vessel in another and a container in another place. Unfortunately, the reality is just that. A pot is called a pot in one system, a vessel in another and a container in a third. If you tried to print out the value of a "pot" for your CEO to see, you would have to sit there and explain "well, it is the same thing, but it may be called a container on page 2"! You can imagine the reaction. Enter metadata and masterdata management! We take the pots and the containers and the vessels, call it a pot, make sure the attributes of all three are the same, store it in a dictionary and charge you a couple of millions for it! Sound cool? No?
What can I do?
There are things you can do and not break the bank while doing it. Old fashioned discipline and planning, for example. And you, as the healthcare exec, is in luck! Because, if you are like most companies, you have a clean slate to start with, in terms of informatics. So, with a little bit of planning upfront, you can avoid a lot of costs later. Incorporate metadata/master data management into your informatics initiative early on. In other words, don't build a warehouse without it! Just like you put planning and thought into collecting your measures, think of having standard data definitions across the enterprise. Reach out to folks like SNOMED to see what they are doing. Trust me, your upfront costs will be a drop in the bucket if you have to do it as an afterthought. It will also ensure better data quality as the data won't get into your system without rationalizing with your dictionary first.
So when your buddy from the other hospital is worried about his/her metadata, you can simply say, "we have incorporated that into the "front end" of our process", take a long hard look at the fairway, judge the wind speed and let it rip!
Friday, May 29, 2009
MetaData!
What is metadata? Simply put, it is data about other data. There is business metadata and there is technical metadata. Now, if you have undertaken an informatics initiative, you will have technologists all over you telling you how important metadata management is! Well, here is where I am going to draw the wrath of all technologists! "We created this problem"!!. Yes, time to own up to it. Technologists, like us, decided that we were going to call a part numer "part#" in one database and "part_number" in another! Now, when you are creating a warehouse and analytics platform, this becomes an issue. Data mapping ensues. Other smart technologists decided that they can make money "fixing" this problem and created "metadata repositories" and voila! Millions of dollars out of your pocket!
So, is there a way out of this mess? Well, not really. But don't lose heart. There are things that you can do, to not break the bank. First, decide what metadata you really care about. Apply the same thinking you used to decide on what to measure. Again, the more you plan, the better off you are. Don't worry about the technical metadata right now. Define the business metadata you care about. Let the technologists figure out how to get the supporting technical metadata. Basically what you have done here is reduce the amount of metadata that you want to store for your informatics initiative. Downstream effects? Less mapping, faster delivery and "CHEAPER"!
Now that we have established that you, as the business owner, should care about your metadata (because it has a direct effect on your wallet, if you still don't believe me), there is one more thing you should care about. How do you "use" the metadata that you have collected? Here is where some old fashioned "discipline" comes handy. Ingrain into your informatics team that any and all data elements that are considered candidates for your data mart, first be rationalized with this metadata repository. In simple terms, check to see if this is something you really need.
Now that you have defined your metadata and had that talk with your informatics team, boldly go where no business owner has gone before...choose the technology! (Not so fine print: strongly suggest involving your technology team here ). There are expensive repositiories out there and there are inexpensive ones. If it makes senses, use your existing database platform as a repository. Your smart data modeler/architect can design you one in no time.
So, is there a way out of this mess? Well, not really. But don't lose heart. There are things that you can do, to not break the bank. First, decide what metadata you really care about. Apply the same thinking you used to decide on what to measure. Again, the more you plan, the better off you are. Don't worry about the technical metadata right now. Define the business metadata you care about. Let the technologists figure out how to get the supporting technical metadata. Basically what you have done here is reduce the amount of metadata that you want to store for your informatics initiative. Downstream effects? Less mapping, faster delivery and "CHEAPER"!
Now that we have established that you, as the business owner, should care about your metadata (because it has a direct effect on your wallet, if you still don't believe me), there is one more thing you should care about. How do you "use" the metadata that you have collected? Here is where some old fashioned "discipline" comes handy. Ingrain into your informatics team that any and all data elements that are considered candidates for your data mart, first be rationalized with this metadata repository. In simple terms, check to see if this is something you really need.
Now that you have defined your metadata and had that talk with your informatics team, boldly go where no business owner has gone before...choose the technology! (Not so fine print: strongly suggest involving your technology team here ). There are expensive repositiories out there and there are inexpensive ones. If it makes senses, use your existing database platform as a repository. Your smart data modeler/architect can design you one in no time.
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