In today’s data-driven world, having a strong grasp of data analytics is essential for organizations to leverage their data effectively and drive data-informed decision-making. This article presents a collection of case studies, each highlighting the journey of a different organization towards analytic maturity, facilitated by the expertise of MedInsight’s Strategic Services team. Through the stories of Ashley, George, and Sharanya, we explore the challenges faced and the solutions implemented to enhance data governance, quality, and literacy.
Case study 1: Data governance & accessibility
The challenge
Ashley, the senior director at a large state-wide employer organization, found herself grappling with a critical question: “How can I improve data governance while educating my workforce to maintain it?” The organization was in the process of refining its culture, processes, and habits surrounding data acquisition and management. Ashley recognized that data, like any tool, is only valuable when fully understood. If her colleagues struggled to use data to its fullest potential, much of its value would be lost. Ashley recognized her organization’s need for proper data governance methods to ensure data accessibility for everyone, from technically-minded coders to business goal-oriented executives.
The solution
Recognizing the complexity of the task, Ashley reached out to the Milliman MedInsight Strategic Services team (Strategic Services) for their expertise in data analytics, communication, and data governance. Her chief executive had a clear objective: make their data and its analyses accurate, consistent, meaningful, and accessible not only to internal stakeholders but also to external individuals and organizations. To achieve this, several initiatives were necessary, ranging from data organization and consolidation to dashboard optimization and presentation.
The first obstacle was the entity’s data quality. Multiple sources of information made it difficult for Ashley to answer key questions. The Strategic Services team worked with the client to develop a universal data approach. Stakeholder meetings were crucial to gather requirements, establish business glossaries, shared definitions and well-maintained data dictionaries supported by documentation, as well as informative metadata. Movement towards a single source of truth was gradual. With these efforts, data quality and consistency began to improve, providing a solid foundation for further advancements and greater confidence for Ashley in her agency’s data governance.
Next, the focus shifted to making data accessible to non-technical data consumers. The Strategic Services team emphasized the importance of well-designed dashboards. A good dashboard, they explained, is more than just visually appealing; it is an efficiency booster that allows users to interpret data without delving into its complexities. With the team’s guidance, Ashley and her colleagues gained intuitive dashboards that empowered data consumers to fully utilize the organization’s data.
However, Ashley’s ambitions extended beyond internal accessibility. One of her goals was to share her company’s analyses with external stakeholders and collaborators quickly and easily, without requiring technical expertise to do so. This presented a new set of challenges: ensuring data security, consistency, and reliability while enabling seamless sharing. The Strategic Services team meticulously planned and executed a system that allowed for quick access to the organization’s analyses by approved third parties, without any intermediary technical steps.
The outcome
Looking back, Ashley saw that her company had come a long way from its frustrating days of chaotic data management. With the expertise and support of the Milliman MedInsight Strategic Services team, they were developing a culture of data governance, where data was not just a tool but a trusted ally in their mission. Ashley’s story is a testament to the transformative power of effective data governance. The entity successfully improved its data governance and took strides towards advancing its analytic maturity, setting a benchmark for effective data management and utilization.
Case study 2: Data quality & documentation
The challenge
George, a lead project manager at a health care information management organization, was tasked with the administration of a variety of organizations’ employee health data. George received requests for customized reports and queries from one of his company’s clients that were outside time budget. At the same time, lack of documentation in the work of a third-party contractor was complicating their data management and process flow. With these issues in mind, George turned to the Milliman MedInsight Strategic Services team (Strategic Services) for help.
The solution
The Strategic Services team worked with George’s organization to help it move towards more mature analytic practices and adapt to the customization being asked of them. Without proper documentation, custom reports have an expiration date. To address the lackluster documentation, the Strategic Services team implemented a cataloguing and documentation procedure that resulted in much cleaner and more understandable data queries. This was accompanied by improvements of the automation and efficiency of queries to reduce turnaround time and streamline the production of new analyses.
This improvement of established queries aided the organization in providing more straightforward and efficient reporting to their clients and laid the groundwork going forward for standards of documentation. The client lauded MedInsight’s documentation for its consistency and readability. Eventually, the organization’s analytics could be transferred smoothly to a resource augmentation team for ongoing monthly or quarterly data processing services.
The outcome
The work of the Milliman MedInsight Strategic Services team provided George’s organization with a firm foundation of mature analytics. By addressing the documentation issues and enhancing data quality, the organization was able to meet client demands more effectively and efficiently. George’s experience underscores the importance of meticulous documentation and data quality in achieving analytic maturity.
Case study 3: Data literacy & common language
The challenge
Sharanya, the manager of the data analytics division of a large regional organization, faced a challenge related to data literacy and communication. Sharanya was responsible for multiple strategic initiatives, but the scope of her projects revealed a need for enhanced data literacy and a common language around data. For data owners, the lack of a common language and standards of data organization were affecting data quality. For data users, lack of data literacy was leading to missed opportunities for data insights. For information technology specialists, over-customization, data silos, and poor documentation or conflicting definitions were a source of inefficiencies and confusion. It was not uncommon for two teams to produce different answers to the same question, and it took a long time to determine and resolve root causes.
The solution
Sharanya worked with the Milliman MedInsight Strategic Services team (Strategic Services) to develop data literacy through custom training courses, focusing on using data in business, driving performance with analytics, data visualization, and communication. Additionally, Sharanya trusted the Strategic Services team to use its knowledge of data accuracy to inform the development of these courses. This trust arose from her experience with the Strategic Services team’s ability to catch small errors with the depth of their analytical methods and procedures.
As part of a standard series of reports, Sharanya changed a few subtle details in the dataset as a test of the thoroughness of the team’s data quality processes. Without knowing this to be the case, the team caught these discrepancies, excluded them from the analyses in the report, and automatically documented the reasons those failed the quality check, proving their attention to detail to Sharanya. The ability to catch small errors in large datasets with quick turnaround was something she both expected and received from the team.
The outcome
While custom courses were a major part of the service provided to Sharanya’s agency, the licensed Milliman MedInsight Certification and Learning Program® played a vital role. The established basic training and framework that comes with this program ensured that the custom courses had a firm foundation for learners to develop their skills. With Strategic Services’ guidance and experience in facilitating analytic maturity, Sharanya’s organization was well on its way to a culture of data literacy built around a common language.
Conclusion
The journeys of Ashley, George, and Sharanya illustrate the diverse challenges organizations face on the path to analytic maturity. Through the expertise and support of the Milliman MedInsight Strategic Services team, each organization was able to overcome its unique obstacles and achieve significant improvements in data governance, quality, and literacy.
These case studies serve as a testament to the transformative power of effective data management practices and the critical role that expert guidance plays in achieving analytic maturity, which the Milliman MedInsight Strategic Services team is equipped to deliver.