Business Intelligence initiative gives first innovation awards

The University recently honored individuals on campus who have demonstrated innovative uses of data to support decision-making.

At a Business Intelligence Community of Experts (BICE) kick off event March 13, the Advisors on Information Strategy (AIMS) and Michigan Administrative Information Services (MAIS) honored innovators from the Medical School, College of Engineering and U-M Health System whose projects not only have saved time and resources for their units, but show promise for use elsewhere at U-M.

"These are proven, documented success stories that help streamline operations from finance to human resource to operations and student administration," says Shane Fortune, manager of Business Intelligence for the Ross School of Business.

Business Intelligence (BI) involves using data to make better-informed decisions, and it is being practiced by a host of individuals across the organization. BI links colleges, schools and departments to allow them to share best practices, tools, processes and lessons.

One project, M-Dash—short for Michigan-Dashboard—pulls together a wide variety of statistical data about the Medical School and turns it into easy-to-understand and useful charts, graphs and projections. It can be used to evaluate productivity of faculty members and departments, which can be helpful when trying to forecast future needs, such as when a new research building may be required. M-Dash received national attention last year in Academic Medicine and Business Week. Locally, it was featured in the Ann Arbor Business Review.

"This tool developed by the Medical School provides the basis for intelligent business decisions," says Bill Elger, executive director for administration and chief financial officer of the Medical School. "The development team deserves this recognition for its outstanding work."

The M-Dash team was awarded $7,000 for the significant impact members have had on the Medical School. The team includes: Tony Chan, Vince Chmielewski, Matt Comstock, Karen Dannemiller, Michael Frickman, Jennifer Gillespie, Lorrie Harvey, Mary Hill, Will Jaynes, Deb Komorowski, Michelle Leung, Bruce Meier, Brett Miller, Dave Mohr, Gary Nichols, Patti Nurse, Heather Offhaus, Peggi Pfeffer, Bennett Stallone, Gus Teschke, Robin Wagner and Marilyn Warner.

"We're very pleased to receive this honor," says Dannemiller, project leader and associate director, Medical School Information Services. "We're very proud of the excellent teamwork that was in play for this project—from the vision and support given to us to the detailed technical work that made it come together so well."

In another initiative, Shelly Crundwell, College of Engineering (CoE) created a tool for scholarship matching that combines enterprise and engineering data to match student qualifications for scholarships with donor stipulations, automating the matching of more than 600 scholarships.

"It often took several days for this to be accomplished. It allows us to run our scholarship matching program for all students at once, which saves time and reduces the need for reshuffling matches down the line, Crundwell says. Many of the engineering features were incorporated into a new MAIS application that is being implemented by LSA and the Ross School of Business, and may be useful to other schools and colleges as well. Crundwell was awarded $1,000 for sharing her solution.

"The system proactively aids in the identification of students' eligibility for scholarships, and ensures that donor funds are being used as intended, and better leverages the resources available for student support. It really has strengthened our stewardship of donor funds," says Marcella Brighton, director of financial management and planning for CoE.

The final award went to Pharmacy Services in the U-M Health System. It recently became eligible for a federal program called the 340B Program, which allows institutions that provide for a disproportionate share of indigent patients to purchase drugs at a significant savings. Complex government rules, however, made it difficult to take full advantage of the program.

"By designing a new system that examines overall drug usage, identifies the percentage eligible for discount and then interacts with the wholesaler to determine the appropriate pricing, we were able to save over $10 million a year," says James Stevenson, director of Pharmacy Services. "In the past these systems were spreadsheet based. The team developed processes and software that integrates several systems, manages virtual inventory, and coordinates drug purchases for a federal program."

Michael McGregory, Alice Schuman and Larry Ligeski were recognized for their contribution with a $3,000 award.

For more information on Business Intelligence go to www.businessintelligence.umich.edu.

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