Andy Moore. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Overture Article: Left Brain; Right BrainThere’s a definite “left-brain/right-brain” thing going on in the healthcare/insurance market for IT products and services. Take workflow and its smarter, prettier cousin,“business process management.” Process management can be proven to whittle down costs,reduce headcount, speed up work and generally recover dollars that didn’t need to be spent.Any workflow vendor can easily do that. That’s a Thursday for those guys. But there’s asurprise ending in store for the smart customer who can take a leap of faith. “We have arenewed focus on ROI, I’d say within the last year and a half,” says Tracy Shelby. . . .

Rick Welch, DST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Matching Market Dynamics and Compliance Demands to the Right Technology Partner

The healthcare industry is awash in debates regarding the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Is HIPAA part of the problem or the answer?To keep up with market dynamics and compliance demands, it will be prudent to partner with a technology vendor that not only has the right solutions but also has the process management expertise in regulatory compliance. . . .

4 Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City Implements AWDWhen Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City (BCBSKC) chose to implement theAutomated Work Distributor (AWD) from DST, they were looking to establish a moreefficient and fraud-resistant infrastructure and fulfill approaching HIPAA deadlines.With AWD, BCBSKC now has a streamlined system to improve productivity by usingpredefined business rules to route work to appropriate processors/automated systems,enhance service and patient care with instant, simultaneous and secure access toinformation, and reduce revenue cycle days. . . .

Joanna Creamer, CSC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 New World of Business Process ManagementProcesses, those institutionalized rules written years ago for “how we run our business,” are finally being dragged out of the bottom drawer and placed on the centerof the desktop. At nearly every weekly meeting, business managers are discussing end-to-end processes and their impact on service levels. Executives are demanding performance metrics, and entire organizations are embarking on Six Sigma initiatives.What’s going on here? Why the newfound focus on processes?The new realization in life insurance is that the processes play a major role in managing operating costs, as well as providing customer service. Historically processeshave evolved based on transaction engine capabilities and deficiencies. This has led toan organizational model structured around functions, not processes. . . .

Shari Shore, Computer Associates . . . . . 7 Applying Intelligence for Business Value and InsightIn today’s competitive business climate, especially in the health care and insurance industries, executives and decision makers need more immediate access to more relevantinformation than ever before. Decision makers need a more intelligent view of the enterprise; one that enables them to exploit information as the basis for practical and positive action to reduce costs and losses, streamline business processes, increase profitability, and comply with government regulations. For example ... How much of thedecision-making process is automated? ... How is risk assessment evaluated? ... How doproviders and clinicians share and update patient data? ... How current, or outdated, is the information used to make decisions about treatment or acceptance/rejection of policiesor claims . . .?

Special Supplement to

Sponsored by

February 2003

Best Practices in Healthcare & Insurance

analysis for a healthcare organization that,based on cost-savings alone, provided a greatpayback for the customer,” says Shelby.“While we’re patting ourselves on the back,we found out the customer considered thecost-savings ‘extra,’ and that their interest wasmainly in solving issues that were causingthem problems on the revenue side of theirbusiness-billing, collections, etc.”

Let’s not pick on healthcare; all transac-tions are complex. In any B-to-B relationship(and this might describe life in general) thereare people on one side who want to be paid,and there are people on the other side whodon’t want to pay. This is Life, get used to it.

An increasing number of BPM cus-tomers are starting to get the picture.Joanna Creamer is Senior VP for CSC(Computer Sciences Corp.), and sits acrossthe desk from customers every day.

“Most of the companies I deal with—mainly in life insurance—are just starting tounderstand the impact that business processmanagement can have on their operatingcosts and on their customer service,” saysCreamer. “Insurance companies were earlyadopters of things like imaging and work-flow, but they stopped there.” Why? It can beblamed mainly on certain cultural curiositiesin business, such as the tendency of IT pro-fessionals to support projects that fund theirdepartments, but not necessarily propel busi-ness performance.

“But,” Creamer is quick to note, “That’schanging fast. Most of the conversations Iam having now are with CTOs, and that’samazing! These IT guys do have an under-standing of business problems.”

You Can Have It AllSo you may think your whiz-bang busi-

ness process management system will save

you a few bucks. And it will. The left-brain,analytical, logical side of you will be total-ly satisfied. But let me appeal to both yourbrain-halves for a minute:

On one hand, you’ve got processes thatcan be automated, third-party suppliers thatcan be eliminated, transactions that previous-ly involved scores of people reduced to oneor none. Doesn’t take a Harvard MBA to seethe cost savings lurking in there.

But then, get creative and imagine: whathappens if bills go out with no mistakes? ...what if the insurer can find no basis to rejectthis claim? ... what if my supplier can acceptmy order electronically with no translationmiddleware? ... what if my call-backs dropto near-zero?

The increasingly smart company gets it,but it takes a Carl Lewis leap of faith.“People are less willing to trust vendors,”admits Shelby. “So, you have to have strongreferences, and you have to be very open tolet prospects ask questions ... it comes downto experience.”

Says Creamer: “The goal here is helpcompanies transform the way they do busi-ness. It’s rewarding to know that you can dra-matically improve an operation in sixmonths.”

But how does she back it up? Creamerhas a very faith-affirming strategy when itcomes to convincing customers of her seri-ousness. “I’ve had customers who want meto share in their risk. I say, ‘Sure, if you’llgive me a percentage of your savings.’”

Strangely, no one has taken her up onthat offer. ❚

Andy Moore is an editor by profession and temperament, havingheld senior editorial and publishing positions for more than twodecades. Moore is currently serving as Editor-in-Chief of KMWorld (for-merly ImagingWorld) Magazine. Moore also acts as a contract editorialconsultant and conference designer.

As KMWorld’s Specialty Publishing Editorial Director, Moore actsas chair for the current series of “Best Practices White Papers,” over-seeing editorial content, conducting market research and writing theopening essays for each of the white papers in the series.Moore,basedin Camden, Maine, can be reached at andymoore@adelphia.net

Special Supplement to

Left Brain; Right Brain

There’s a definite “left-brain/right-brain”thing going on in the healthcare/insurancemarket for IT products and services. Take,for instance, workflow and its smarter, pret-tier cousin, “business process management.”As it’s supposed to do, process managementcan be proven to whittle down costs, reduceheadcount, speed up work and generally re-cover dollars that didn’t need to be spent.

Any workflow vendor can easily do that.That’s a Thursday for those guys. But there’sa surprise ending in store for the smart cus-tomer who can take a leap of faith.

The Cycle Repeats

“We have a renewed focus on ROI, I’d saywithin the last year and a half,” says TracyShelby, Director of AWD Sales andMarketing for DST Systems. DST is a quietbut successful and long-lived provider ofsolutions in the financial services segment,and has expanded into other areas such ashealthcare and insurance. “Wasn’t quite soimportant in the boom times, but it’s back.”

This “every-dollar-justified” atmosphereis nothing new to workflow vendors. Theearly days of workflow—way back in theearly ‘90s—were distinguished mainly by thetechnology baggage that had to be draggedinto the conversation. “Remember, PC hard-ware was a big item then. A large monitoralone was $4,000, for instance. So you had topull a $10,000 to $12,000 ROI, per seat.”

History is repeating, except the primarycost factors now on the table are softwareimplementation, services, maintenance andupgrades. So the everything-old-is-new-again mantra for workflow is hard-dollarpayback. Or is it?

Not necessarily. Shelby provides anexample: “We put together a cost-benefit

February 2003S2

By Andy Moore, Editorial Director, KMWorld Specialty Publishing Group

Andy Moore haswatched and reportedon the emergence ofmany newtechnologies, fromindependenttelecommunicationsthrough networkingand informationmanagement.Mostrecently,Moore hascovered the decade’smost significant

business and organizational revolution:the drive toleverage knowledge assets (documents,records,information and object repositories) and the expertise ofknowledge workers in order to create true learningorganizations.He can be reached atandymoore@adelphia.net and welcomes feedback andconversation.

Andy Moore

Business Process Management’s Compound ROI

Reduced revenue cycleimproves profitabilityReduced turnaroundenhances customer serviceImproved service generatescustomer loyaltyAdditional businessopportunities with ability tocommit to better SLAsCompetitive edge withgreater bandwidth andintegration capabilities

Eliminate microfilmEliminate courier servicesReduced manual errorswith electronic dataexchangeAutomated reconciliationand QCReduced cycle from 7business days to 1 day

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Manual microfilmingPaper photocopiesCourier deliveryLengthy turnaround fromoutsourced data entryManual reconciliationand QC

BPM’s“Surprise” ROI

Expected ROI withBPM Solution

Current Business Process

Special Supplement to February 2003 S3

several dimensions, one of the more obviousbeing the flow of information. But marshallingmultiple communications channels across anarray of billing and clinical systems can bedaunting. Currently, some clinical systems areusing bypass surgery techniques to open dataarteries across several billing systems. Imple-menting a technology solution that can pro-vide a seamless, automated flow of informa-tion enhances security and provides an audittrail of “who-processed-what-and-when.”

Connecting the EnterpriseHow can technology connect clinical sys-

tems, billing systems, and the business office?An appropriate metaphor is the body’s nerv-ous system, which connects all vital organsand regulates their interactions. In technologyterms, this is known as an Enterprise NervousSystem (ENS). An ENS does not operate thevital organs (clinical systems or claims sys-tems); it connects the entities into a holisticsystem. The process management provided byan ENS becomes an asset for communicatingthe organization’s vital signs, while processmanagement’s monitoring and reporting toolsbring a large opportunity for compliance andreturn on investment.

Approach vs. Ability to ExecuteWhile the process management opportuni-

ties in the healthcare arena are much differentthan any other industry, the results will belargely influenced by the approach. Best prac-tices have served other industries well and haveformed the basis for quality initiatives (e.g., SixSigma and Lean Manufacturing). Issues polar-izing the high-touch and high-tech proponentscan surface as payers and providers opera-tionalize HIPAA compliance and implementnew technology. However, common sense sug-gests that doctors should be spending moretime with patients than paperwork, that billingcycles should be counted in days not months,and that recorded information should help thecaregivers, not impede them from arriving atthe best decisions. A technology partner withthe right approach to implementation will beable to balance the “high-tech” of complyingwith regulations with the “high-touch” of pro-viding quality service and care.

Picking Partners CarefullyTo summarize, here is a checklist of ap-

propriate questions to ask when considering a

technology partner to help architect a HIPAAblueprint:

◆ What regulatory expertise does the vendor

bring to the table?

◆ Do they include process and people in the

technology dimension?

◆ Do they know the difference between

document-centric workflow and business

process management?

◆ Do they understand the notion of an ENS?

◆ Do they have a demonstrable approach to

reducing revenue cycle days?

◆ Do they complement your core business

systems?

◆ Can they manage the delicate balance be-

tween monitoring the process and owning

the core systems? The answer to these questions can be found

in a comprehensive business process manage-ment (BPM) solution such as DST’s Auto-mated Work Distributor™ (AWD®). DST usesAWD in our own financial services operationswhich service more than 70% of all outsourcedmutual funds transactions. With AWD, we en-sure that the accounting complies with the law,customers’ confidentiality is maintained, andthat the business transactions are efficient. AsBPM solutions such as AWD aid compliancein financial services, they can also enhancehealthcare’s business processes centered onHIPAA compliance. With the right technologypartner, complying with HIPAA’s standardscan actually help to enhance healthcare qual-ity, maintain privacy, and contain the runawaycosts associated with providing and paying forhealth-related services. ❚

DST Technologies, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of DSTSystems, Inc.Through sophisticated information processing and com-puter software services and products, DST helps clients improve pro-ductivity, increase efficiencies and provide higher levels of customerservice. For clients in a variety of industries, including financial servic-es, healthcare, insurance and video/broadband, Automated WorkDistributor™ (AWD®) provides business process management, imag-ing, workflow and customer management solutions.

Matching Market Dynamics and ComplianceDemands to the Right Technology Partner

The healthcare industry is awash in debates re-garding the Health Insurance Portability and Ac-countability Act (HIPAA). Is HIPAA part of theproblem or the answer? To keep up with mar-ket dynamics and compliance demands, it willbe prudent to partner with a technology vendorthat not only has the right solutions, but also hasthe process management expertise in regulatorycompliance.

Growing Pains All AroundCompetition in healthcare is intense as

mergers and acquisitions have compressed thenumber of organizations. Customers and pa-tients are demanding service levels to whichthey have become accustomed in other partsof their lives. The hope is that HIPAA will helpincrease service expediency with technology,while maintaining the privacy and rights of theconsumer. As the healthcare market evolves,technology vendors are also evolving. Someimaging and workflow vendors are now in thecontent and business process managementspace. The key is to look at a vendor’s corecompetencies: who can streamline the backoffice, automate repetitive tasks, and increaseproductivity to decrease revenue cycle dayswithin the framework of compliance. HIPAAregulations and deadlines are also contractingand expanding. The various forces at work willshape the laws for many years to come. Manypayers and providers have no choice but to be-gin the regulatory journey without the clear in-sight into where the paper trail leads. The abil-ity to maintain the spirit of the law whenregulations are evolving is another key factorin picking partners.

Regulatory ExpertiseAs HIPAA takes shape, lessons learned

from other federal regulations can help buildan effective framework for handling paper-work without compromising privacy or de-laying service expediency. The basic SECrules that govern confidentiality and financialtransactions are a starting point for compar-isons to HIPAA regulations. A technologypartner should be familiar with regulations,good-faith intent, and the evolving nuancesof federal mandates.

Importance of Auditing and PrivacyIt is important to partner with a vendor who

has designed systems in compliance with au-diting and privacy issues. Auditing usually has

Rick Welch is product man-ager at DST Systems, Inc., forthe AWD product suite.Hehas worked for 22 yearswith content and digitalrights management,docu-ment imaging,and work-flow.To help define newmarket concepts,Rick is aspeaker and panelist forindustry events and publish-es articles and white papers.

Rick Welch

Rick Welch, Product Manager, DST

Special Supplement to

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas CityImplements AWD

When Blue Cross and Blue Shield ofKansas City (BCBSKC) chose to imple-ment the Automated Work Distributor™(AWD®) from DST, they were looking toestablish a more efficient and fraud-re-sistant infrastructure and fulfill approach-ing HIPAA deadlines. “We selected AWDbased on its ability to provide an end-to-end solution—from imaging to compre-hensive business process management,”said David Gentile, senior vice presidentof operations for BCBSKC. “Also, DST’sexperience with AWD in their own finan-cial services outsourcing operations enables them to understand the nature ofregulatory compliance and to offer guid-ance in creating efficient, secure infor-mation infrastructures for their clients.”With AWD, BCBSKC now has a stream-lined system to improve productivity byusing predefined business rules to routework to appropriate processors and auto-mated systems, enhance service and patient care with instant, simultaneousand secure access to information, and re-duce revenue cycle days.

Challenge: Streamlining Claims Processing

Before AWD, paper claims were man-ually microfilmed for storage. The mi-crofilmed claims were then distributed toBCBSKC’s processing units or theiroutsourced keying centers, which in somecases are hundreds of miles apart. Thisadded significant cost and time to theprocess. After data was entered into BCB-SKC’s two transaction systems, all dataand corresponding documents were couri-

ered back to BCBSKC. Reconciling thesedocuments and ensuring the claim wasentered correctly into the transaction systems added more time to the process.

Solution: AWD Business Process Management

With AWD,BCBSKC has a secure, au-tomated system for delivering work to the appropriate processing area. Paper isscanned and electronic data feeds are automatically imported into AWD’s cen-tral information repository. AWD assignseach new claim with a unique ID to ensurethat only authorized individuals have access to it. AWD then moves the claiminto a predefined queue where it waits tobe reconciled with data entry work result-ing from steps later in the process. At thesame time that AWD sends the claim to itsqueue, it determines where to send it forprocessing: to an in-house BCBSKC associate or to their third-party outsourcerfor data entry. AWD automatically deliv-ers an image of the claim to the appropri-ate step, reducing claim delivery cycle.

Facilitating Teleprocessing

AWD seamlessly transfers the elec-tronic claim to the third party for data entry. The third party’s processors workat home, using their imaging technologyto display the claim and perform data entry into BCBSKC’s transaction sys-tems. Upon completion, the data-enteredinformation is returned to AWD, whichthen matches it with the original, scanned

claim waiting in the queue. This recon-ciliation step provides quality control to verify that the data entered into BCBSKC’s transactions systems matchesthe original claim. During this entire cycle, AWD ensures the claim isprocessed according to regulated timelimits using BCBSKC’s aging and priority rules.

Tracking Incomplete ClaimsAWD also helps to ensure accurate

processing of incomplete and incorrectclaims, reducing the time spent research-ing them from days to seconds. The image of an incomplete claim can be updated with comments and codes to explain why it is being returned. Thenwhen a customer contacts BCBSKC tocheck on the claim’s status, customerservice can instantly explain why it wasreturned and how it should be fixed. Thisalso enables BCBSKC to track the causesof incomplete claims and make preventa-tive adjustments.

Privacy MeasuresBCBSKC is currently implementing

printing restrictions to decrease the possibility of unauthorized access to information. They will also enhance theprivacy of attachments, which are routedwith claims as supporting documenta-tion. AWD will assign these attachments,such as hospital records, with very specific levels of security.

Outsourcing the InfrastructureAWD has become a mission-critical

application for BCBSKC. Realizingthat this would be the case, BCBSKCchose to outsource its server and appli-cation operations to DST’s AWD DataCenter. The AWD Data Center providesreal-time disaster recovery throughDST’s redundant data centers and pro-vides all systems maintenance andback-end functions, allowing BCBSKCto focus on their core business. ❚

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City (BCBSKC) provideshealthcare benefits to more than 830,000 members in a 32 coun-ty region.The company provides a variety of health plan options,including two HMOs and two PPOs.BCBSKC has 1,100 employeeslocated primarily in Kansas City,Missouri.BCBSKC is an independ-ent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

February 2003S4

Special Supplement to February 2003 S5

◆ Organizations and work teams structuredaround multiple policy systems, leading toredundant processes. Beginning in the mid 1990s, life insurance

companies began implementing imaging andworkflow systems to solve some of the processproblems. Many only got as far as back-endscanning and work item routing, which im-proved the productivity of the operation onlymarginally. New thinking around process dy-namics, as well as the growing need to integrateboth customers and business partners into aseamless, electronically connected network hasled to an expanded set of requirements, mov-ing beyond the traditional limits of workflowto “Business Process Management” (BPM).

Business Process Management:The New Frontier

BPM extends the concept of workflow tomanaging all aspects of the process, includinghuman tasks as well as application-to-applica-tion transactions. It extends as well to incorpo-rate the “end-to-end” process—moving beyond company boundaries to integrate cus-tomer, supplier and partner interaction. This im-plicitly requires incorporation of sophisticatedintegration and messaging technologies foundin Enterprise Application Integration (EAI)tools with more traditional “desk-to-desk” rout-ing, queuing and assignment techniques tomanage human interactions. The combinationis intended to provide an environment wheretasks are automatically routed to either a hu-

man or a computer, in a coherent and seamlessfashion based on predefined business rules.

The competitive landscape for BPM isvery confusing at present. Vendors for inte-grated document archive and retrieval,EAI, image/content management, and work-flow are all moving into new areas, bridginggaps in functionality to deliver the “silver bullet” solution. Gartner refers to BPM as theconvergence of integration tools and workflowsoftware products, with the integration ven-dors having rich integration capabilities andlimited process management, and workflowvendors having rich process management butlimited integration capabilities.

Capturing the Benefits

Suppose your company is in the group thatis coping with policyholder retention issues,producer service problems, cost reduction ini-tiatives, or all three. The industry evidence isclear that efficient business process manage-ment will help, and the technology to enableit is there. However, there is no technology “sil-ver bullet” and the range of choices aroundproducts and techniques is almost over-whelming. What is best for your specific environment and how can you get from “here”

New World of BusinessProcess Management

Processes, those institutionalized rules writ-ten years ago for “how we run our business,”are finally being dragged out of the bottomdrawer and placed on the center of the desk-top. At nearly every weekly meeting, businessmanagers are discussing end-to-end processesand their impact on service levels. Executivesare demanding performance metrics, and en-tire organizations are embarking on Six Sigmainitiatives. What’s going on here? Why thenewfound focus on processes?

The new realization in life insurance is thatthe processes play a major role in managingoperating costs, as well as providing customerservice. Historically processes have evolvedbased on transaction engine capabilities anddeficiencies. This has led to an organizationalmodel structured around functions, notprocesses. The underlying application archi-tecture has typically been highly fragmentedwith limited system-to-system communica-tion. Performance across the enterprise is stillmeasured in many companies by manual datacollection and reporting. These dated, stale andinefficient processes are finally being reviewedand discussed as companies come to grips withthe fact that these processes are key determi-nants of operating cost and customer service.

The Problem with the ProcessesBased upon research and interviews with a

wide variety of life carriers over the last 24months, we have identified a number of prob-lems that continue to trouble the industry:◆ Difficulty in achieving a customer-centric

environment◆ Inefficient business processes leading to

high operating costs◆ Service levels that are difficult to achieve

and monitor◆ No management visibility into the organi-

zation◆ IT challenged by interfacing and integration

requirements◆ Inflexible organization unable to change the

operating model and form new alliances◆ Difficulty in managing cross-departmental

processes.

Joanna Creamer is aSenior Vice Presidentfor BusinessTransformationServices in CSC’sFinancial ServicesGroup. With over 30years experience inInsurance, her primaryfocus since 1990 hasbeen assisting financialservices companies in

the U.S. and Europe to achieve operational excellencethrough process redesign, organizational change, andintegration of technologies such as processmanagement systems, customer contact and e-business solutions. Her team has developed anddelivered comprehensive ROI models to over 50insurance companies, building the business andfinancial case for implementing process managementtechnology such as AWD.

Joanna Creamer

By Joanna Creamer, Senior Vice President, CSC Financial Services Group

"Processes play a major role in managing

operating costs, as well as providing

customer service"

to “there” within reasonable time and withoutan overwhelming technology development effort? Our customers tell us that all projectsmust have a solid return on investment (ROI),and an overall project payback within 2-3years. In addition, most companies want to experience and measure real benefits withinone year of project start.

The best path to results starts with carefulplanning. Recent experience with over 50process improvement and management initia-tives has allowed CSC to develop a base offacts and best practices we now routinely useto predict the specific technology that best ad-dresses a client’s actual problems as well as theexpected ROI, payback and time to initial ben-efits. The analysis process combines this in-

surance-specific experience base with detailsof the client’s actual environment, typicallygathered in a highly structured on-site reviewlasting approximately three days. The result-ing document details a business and financial “case for action,” including specificson process improvement opportunities, bene-fits capture strategies and technology specifics.Costs and benefits are quantified across potential improvement scenarios to identifyROI and other financial measures as well asthe “internal” costs for change. The objectiveis to create a clear “path for action” and pro-vide a realistic plan against which the effortcan be measured. Companies can use this document to determine whether to proceedwith this type of technology.

Technology Is Not the Objective

Achieving breakthrough results is not justabout the technology—it’s about transformingthe way your company does business. The in-surance industry’s long-term winners will needto exploit advances in process management toimprove or secure their competitive position.But the most astute companies will implementprocess management technology as a driver toorchestrate specifically planned changes inhow and where work is done, how results aremeasured and how internal and partner resources are leveraged. For the enlightenedfew who take the journey there will be bothrisks and rewards. Our customers have received great results, and BPM should receiveserious attention within your organization. ❚

Computer Sciences Corporation distinguishes itself through itstime-tested ability to plan, build and operate highly reliable, efficientand secure business and IT solutions. To complement its extensivecapabilities in consulting, systems integration, outsourcing and re-engineering, CSC provides financial services industry knowledge andexperience, a comprehensive portfolio of financial services applicationsoftware and an extensive network of industry and technology part-ners, to more than 1,200 major banks, insurers and investment man-agement and securities firms.

Special Supplement to February 2003S6

CSC’s Point of ViewOver the last 10 years, CSC has

worked with a large percentage of theinsurance companies to transform their

operations. We found, however, that justre-engineering the processes withouttechnology did not deliver the results

our customers required. In 1993 CSCpartnered with DST, the developer of aprocess management solution calledAutomated Work Distributor (AWD)that was driving dramatic productivityimprovements and cost savings in themutual fund industry. Based on our deepknowledge of the life insurance market,CSC determined that this product couldalso bring those same results to life andannuity carriers.

Results achieved through imple-mentation of AWD and a continuousimprovement cycle have proven to besignificant—on average a 20-30% costsavings, and a 25-35% productivity im-provement. The degree to which com-panies deployed the technology and ag-gressively re-engineered the processesled to increasingly higher productivitygains such as those shown on the chart.Process Management facilitates streamlining and automating entire processes

"Not just about the technology—it's

about transforming the way your

company does business"

Special Supplement to February 2003 S7

◆ Enable business users to analyze both his-torical and current information from mul-tiple perspectives;

◆ Build and distribute informative reportsthat enhance an organization’s knowledge-base and develop decision-support systemsthat mirror business processes;

◆ Make it easy for customers, partners andemployees to access the broad range ofinformation resources they need to makeinformed decisions and work more effectively;

◆ Deliver applied intelligence that enablesan organization to capitalize on untappedmarkets and new opportunities, re-engi-neer business processes and implementnew business models with speed and accuracy.

Information Delivery Maturity LevelsIn working with thousands of customers

at various stages of technology adoptionand evolution, we at Computer Associateshave defined a new Information DeliveryMaturity Model—one that provides thebasis for sequentially addressing the chal-lenges and opportunities surroundingknowledge delivery within an organiza-tion, and for identifying key requirementsand tools to improve the levels of informa-tion access, relevancy, and analysis.

Our Information Delivery MaturityModel defines four levels of InformationDelivery. As organizations progress throughthe four levels, they attain increasinglydetailed information access and analysisrequired to improve and automate the busi-ness decision-making process.

Level 1: Centralized Access to Data

Level 1 is about centralizing access todata, or raw material. This can include bothstructured and unstructured data, databaseoutput/access, documents, spreadsheets,slide shows, text files, PDFs, digital content,graphics, bitmaps, etc. Prior to reachingLevel 1, organizations and people are miredin manual processes or can’t get access tobusiness data without relying on IT oroutdated printed reports.

Level 2: Trustworthy Information Once organizations attain centralized

access to data, they have a need for moreobjective, trustworthy and usable informa-tion. Prior to reaching level 2, organizationsand people have access to a glut of data, butneed to make it useful and relevant, and oftenhave multiple versions of the same informa-tion without knowing which is the right one.

Level 3: Relevant Information asKnowledge

Once the organization has trustworthyinformation from known sources the nextchallenge is to apply rules and predictiveanalysis to make data relevant to individualneeds. Level 3 delivers only knowledgethat’s relevant to each individual’s area ofresponsibility.

Level 4: Intelligent ActionAn organization that is able to deliver rel-

evant information has empowered its deci-sion makers with the right information. Buteach decision must still be made on a case-by-case basis, no matter how routine or howoften the same conditions result in the samedecision. Level 4 applies predictive and rulestechnologies to automate the routine deci-sions, enabling executives to spend time han-dling exceptions and non-routine issues. ❚

For more information about how CA’s CleverPath solutions candeliver the business intelligence you need,visit http://www.ca.com/cleverpath/solution

Applying Intelligence forBusiness Value and Insight

In today’s competitive business climate,especially in the health care and insuranceindustries, executives and decision makersneed more immediate access to more rele-vant information than ever before. Decisionmakers need a more intelligent view of theenterprise; one that enables them to exploitinformation as the basis for practical andpositive action to reduce costs and losses,streamline business processes, increase prof-itability, and comply with government reg-ulations. For example:◆ How much of the decision-making process

is automated?◆ How is risk assessment evaluated?◆ How do providers and clinicians share

and update patient data?◆ How current, or outdated, is the informa-

tion used to make decisions about treat-ment or acceptance/rejection of policies or claims?

◆ How much money is lost to payments forfraudulent claims or invalid or duplicatebills?

◆ How much time and money is spent onstaff training?

◆ Are there government regulations such asHIPAA that need to be addressed imme-diately?New technologies are available that not

only enable businesses to address theseissues, but also describe a sequentialapproach that lets each business deal withtheir most pressing challenges first. The rightsolution needs to:◆ Present the right information to the right

people at the right time—all in a person-alized way;

Shari Shore has morethan 20 years experiencein the software industry,including managementpositions in engineering,sales, training, andproduct and brandmarketing. As CleverPathBrand MarketingDirector at ComputerAssociates, she is

responsible for defining the direction, vision andinternal/external positioning and messaging for thesolutions that comprise the CleverPath brand. Shewelcomes feedback at shari.shore@ca.com.

Shari ShoreBy Shari Shore, Brand Marketing Director, Computer Associates

www.infotoday.com

Produced by:

KMWorld MagazineSpecialty Publishing Group

For information on participating in the next white paper in the “Best Practices” series. contact:paul_rosenlund@kmworld.com or kathy_rogals@kmworld.com • 207.338.9870

Kathryn Rogals Paul Rosenlund Andy Moore207-338-9870 207-338-9870 207-236-0331kathy_rogals@kmworld.com paul_rosenlund@kmworld.com andymoore@adelphia.net

For more information on the companies who contributed to this white paper, visit their Web site or contact them directly:

www.kmworld.com

CSC (Computer Sciences Corporation)200 W. Cesar Chavez, Suite 100Austin, TX 78701

PH: 800.345.7672 or 512.345.5700FAX: 512.275.5434E-mail: info@csc-fs.comWeb: http://www.csc-fs.com

DST Systems, Inc.330 W. 9th StreetKansas City MO 64105

PH: 888.DST.INFOFAX: 816.843.8197E-mail: awdinfo@dstsystems.comWeb: http://www.dstsystems.com or http://www.awdbpm.com

Computer AssociatesOne Computer Associates PlazaIslandia NY 11749

PH: 631.342.6000Product Information: 800.225.5224FAX: 516.342.5329E-mail: cainfo@ca.comWeb: http://www.ca.com