Contact Information: Press Contacts: Kathleen Moran Information Builders (917) 339-6313 Stephanie Fallon Emerge PR (617) 729-3176
Government Ministry Standardizes on WebFOCUS to Provide Better Services to Senior Citizens and Disabled Individuals in Alberta
| Source: Information Builders
NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - June 2, 2009) - Information Builders, an independent leader in
business intelligence (BI) solutions,
and its iWay Software division, an innovator of enterprise
integration solutions, today announced that the Ministry of Alberta
Seniors and Community Supports has selected WebFOCUS as its operational
business intelligence (BI) standard to support the Ministry's service to
Alberta's seniors and disabled citizens. The Ministry is using the BI
platform in conjunction with iWay's data adapters to provide more timely
and effective services for senior citizens, such as spotting problems that
delay payments, balancing the case load among processors, and maintaining
greater accountability on taxpayer funds.
"Information Builders helped us understand how to get an immediate return
on our BI investment with a plan for growing the system as our needs
expand," said Chi Loo, assistant deputy minister for the Seniors Services
Division. "We continue to refine the reporting architecture and enhance our
ability to serve the community."
The BI system combines data from multiple information systems to quickly
process requests and share information throughout the Ministry. iWay pulls
data from multiple programs to provide a universal view of each client.
This lets workers quickly access all data on each client, saving time and
providing a formula for delivering a more complete array of social
services. In the past, a worker might have had to combine data from
multiple programs to obtain a complete picture of each individual. Now, if
a senior citizen has multiple issues or questions, the processor can get
universal data to handle all of the issues simultaneously.
The Ministry also uses WebFOCUS to create productivity reports that monitor
how efficiently its agents are serving senior citizens. The agents use
WebFOCUS to track how many cases are in their queues and whether or not
they are on schedule to complete them. Supervisors view this same data at a
higher level, enabling them to balance the workload as needed. In another
area, the Ministry uses WebFOCUS to publish information about how well
nursing homes and assisted living facilities comply with accommodation
standards. This information is especially helpful to family members who
reside outside of the area. The Ministry has also begun using WebFOCUS with
GIS technology to display geographic data through interactive maps. In one
instance, this visual depiction of the data helped the ministry identify a
postal delivery problem that was delaying checks to seniors in some areas.
"The Ministry of Seniors and Community Supports is using BI technology for
a noble mission: helping senior and disabled citizens to become more
self-reliant and independent," said Gerald D. Cohen, president and CEO at
Information Builders. "Their work demonstrates the value of harnessing
information to better serve the community."
About Ministry of Alberta Seniors and Community Supports
Seniors and Community Supports, an Alberta provincial ministry, is
responsible for developing and delivering programs and services to
approximately 385,000 seniors and 37,000 disabled persons. The ministry
provides financial benefits and other programs, administers the Assured
Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) program, supplies
community-based support for persons with developmental disabilities, and
fosters the inclusion and independence of seniors and persons with
disabilities.
About iWay Software
iWay Software's integration methodology is simple: it uses a single,
integrated set of graphical design tools to assemble powerful pre-built
components for enterprise-class business-to-business (B2B), business
process automation (BPA), or enterprise information management (EIM)
integration scenarios -- without the use of custom code. Integration
configurations can be deployed in a stand-alone manner to any environment
supporting a JVM -- or to Web application servers from any vendor. iWay
delivers the fastest, most cost-effective, and simplest way to integrate
and streamline critical business processes. iWay Software's vendor-,
platform-, and protocol-neutral solutions achieve the promise of SOA: true
reusability.
About Information Builders
Information Builders' award-winning combination of business intelligence
and enterprise integration software has been providing innovative solutions
to more than 12,000 customers for the past 34 years. WebFOCUS is the
world's most widely utilized business intelligence platform. It provides
the security, scalability and flexibility needed at every level of global
extended enterprises. Its simplicity helps create executive, analytical,
and operational applications that reach dozens to millions of users.
Information Builders' iWay Software suite provides state of the art,
multi-purpose, pre-built integration components that address all SOA, application, data and information management
requirements. Its integration adapters have been adopted by the leading
software platform providers. Together, these products give Information
Builders' customers the ability to grow and innovate according to their
needs.
Information Builders' customers include most of the Fortune 100 and U.S.
federal government agencies. Headquartered in New York City with 90 offices
worldwide, the company employs 1,450 people and has more than 350 business
partners.