White Papers
Changes to the 340B ProgramSince its inception in 1992, the 340B drug discount program has undergone intense scrutiny by the government, and its participants: the covered entities and industry, which includes drug manufacturers, vendors and retail. The program continues to evolve in HRSA’s attempt to gain integrity provisions for the 340B drug discount program.
Is There Still a Case for PMO?The PMO is still a vital and viable solution for companies looking to improve their project, program and portfolio success. A comprehensive self-assessment can help companies find the right path.
Data Visibility and Supply Chain IntelligenceIn this paper, Collaborative experts discuss creation of an optimal KPI model through an integrated, multi-tiered process. Additionally, the authors describe how companies can begin to enhance the way they measure performance.
Operational Staff Can Make Great Project ContributorsThis paper addresses challenges operational staff face when transitioning to project work. It discusses how project work differs from operations; and it identifies management techniques that enable SMEs to adapt effectively to project-oriented work. This paper concludes with recommendations on key characteristics to consider when selecting SMEs for project work.
Application RationalizationThis paper details a proven method, used most recently to evaluate a financial services application portfolio. At the method's core is the scorecard. The scorecard provides a framework for grading applications along business and technical dimensions.
Identifying Application Performance RiskUnder what conditions will an application require a performance test? Not all applications require performance testing, and the same application may not require repeated performance testing for every release.
The Evolution of Business IntelligenceNow decades old, the practice of "business intelligence," or BI, has continued to evolve as powerful new analytical capabilities are developed and innovative new operational models are deployed.
Service ModelProduct managers focus on building new product features and functions, opening new markets or retaining existing clients, but they often fail to devote enough time, resources and strategic planning to service model development.
Revisiting the Promise of SOAThe questions that need to be asked are: have organizations gotten any better at developing their SOA plans and are they executing those SOA plans any better than two years ago?
The C in Business OptimizationIn this white paper we answer the question, “Why do your business improvement initiatives sit on a shelf, not adopted?” and we offer a strategy for mitigating the risk of failure for these initiatives. The intended audience for this paper is C-class executives who represent buyers of business transformation services, and mid-level management who represent the implementers of business improvement initiatives.
Four Elements of Successful Data QualityMost organizations that have addressed application and data integration have also launched data quality campaigns to meet the challenges head-on. These campaigns can include any combination of four elements to achieve data quality improvements: processes, technology, governance, and people.
Consolidating BI Intelligence InfrastructureBusiness Intelligence has been increasingly popular for many years, and with good reason. Business Intelligence enables large groups of users to access information, analyze it with exceptional effectiveness, and allocate or distribute it throughout an organization (internally, or with customers, suppliers and partners) with speed and ease. As a result, employees at every level- not just executives can make educated, intelligent business decisions more quickly.
Understanding and Selecting Geospatial Analytics ToolsGeospatial Business Intelligence (BI) has been in the conversation related to BI now for quite some time. Simply stated, it is the relating of analytical data to geography, usually through the use of visualization techniques to relate metrics to their location on a map. Being able to relate key business metrics such as sales, inventory, target customer density, and claims experience gives business insights into how best to optimize their resources to address the effect of geography.
Enterprise Systems Performance ManagementPerformance Engineering (PE) has matured beyond load testing, tuning and performance optimization. Today, PE must enable business success beyond application delivery into the operational life cycle, providing the entire enterprise- both business and information technology- with the key metrics to ensure proactive achievement of company objectives.
Drive On-Demand Performance Testing with Cloud Computing and Proactively Meet Your Market NeedsNew user behaviors that businesses are introducing to their web sites are driving more volume than ever before. Product promotions and shifting business models can trigger radical spikes in user traffic and expose issues not encountered at more traditional levels. This new, unexpected workload can result in a flash or 'burst' and spike traffic to dramatically high levels in a short period of time.
Driving BPM Success Requires the Right PeopleBPM is vital for businesses to improve and optimize their core processes. Too often, the 'people' aspect is neglected, causing critical aspects of the BPM program to fail or under perform. By ensuring a 'people' focus and using some specific people-oriented analysis techniques, program managers can help ensure success in their BPM efforts.
Master Data ManagementThe author discusses challenges organizations must overcome to implement a successful MDM program, such as technology barriers, organizational and process issues, lasting governance, and funding.
Best Practices for Applying Agile Techniques to Data WarehousesAgile has been an important development approach for some time, and now agile techniques have found their way into the BI world. This article explores the key principles of the agile methodology and the benefits it offers to data warehousing projects, explores how to avoid the risks and maximize the success of your own agile data warehouse project, and illustrates the discussion with a representative case study.
The Perils of Over-Complicating Data WarehousesBy considering some key common sense actions and practices, IT architects can avoid the pitfalls of over-architecting and devise a data warehousing solution that is right-sized, pragmatic, cost effective, and successful.
