LBI/BPW implementation?

Jeff,

There are some other threads on here that cover this topic and I think you can get some good feedback there. I know Rumas group looked into BPW, perhaps she can provide some better feedback (and from a healthcare perspective). From what I know its based on the Microsoft platform so familiarity with SQL Server Integration Services will help. It is a true developers tool, not turn-key, so at least one full time technical resource is going to be necessary and having a back up would be good to protect you on turnover. Beyond that I cant provide more than speculation and hearsay on cost and implementation time, so Ill leave it at that. I would say for any successful BI project, keep your scope small to start out and have plenty of sponsors. This will help you find your technical and business process road bumps, get them smoothed out and then tackle a larger implementation down the road.

hth,
Matt

Right after lawson introduced BPW at CUE we evaluated this product for our implementation at out hospital. The concept of BPW is not only innovative but gives the user the ability to create their datamarts suited best for their needs which can combine lawson as well as non-lawson data.

However the product needs to have an intial data model which could then be extended to include any lawson suite of applications. When the product was first introduced Lawson did not deliver the initial data model which means that there needed to be inhouse expertise to build the datamart as it related to mormalizing and de-normalization of data and all the rules to build a datamart. We do not have expertise inhouse in building datamarts and to build and design a datamart, seemed to be a project by itself leave alone extending it to report out of it.

However Lawson has promised that the CUE coming up in April is when they, exhibit the data model that will be initially delivered  with this product and from that point onwards you can customize this to suit your needs. Another very exciting product that Lawson will be introducing is Trend Analytics for Healthcare which combines financial, HR and supply chain data to serve as a datamart from which you can report off. These products are supposedly coming out or introduced to the S3 world this April at CUE.

However the concept of BPW is very exciting and offers users the ability to build views, tables etc to suit their needs built on the initial data model that will come with the product.

As Ruma stated, BPW looked promising last year at CUE. The data models she spoke about are available, I have received the promotional white papers on them.

The answers for cubes and cube development seems to be BPW, Pre-Built Solutions from groups like Dashboard Gear or building internally using Microsoft Analysis services or like product. I think it all comes down to time and effort, do you have the time and effort to build and maintain the cubes.

As far as how to make an LBI/BPW implementation successful, it comes down to scope, timing and roll out plan. The number of reports, scheduled vs on demand, crystal, smart notes, scorecard options. You have to stay focused on quick wins or key wins. Once everyone sees what it will do you will continue to get bombarded with requests. Build in time for testing and tweeks.

Below you will find the info on the data models for BPW. In case anyone is interested.

We are in the mid stages of the implementation of Dashboard Gear - A great tool created by Rich Bendickson, which extracts all of the data from Lawson and remodels the data in different cubes which then is being utilized by the users to create crystal and excel reports.

The cubes that we have now implemented are financial which includes activity management as well as the HR cube is built and ready for us. This is becoming a big win for users who do not have expert knowledge of tables, joins and relationships of different tables in Lawson.

We are in the assessment phase of selecting a reporting tool (BI tool) that will support the integration of non-Lawson data, Lawson data, dashboard templates that can become user defined, user defined OLAP/Cube technology, and multiple organizational structures. This would all need to work within the confines of a multi-level security environment (ability to control access by user and department).

Why would one choose a newly developed product (BPW, ViewPoint, Lawson Healthcare Analytics) versus Hyperion for example? I am looking for compelling arguments for/against Lawson versus non-Lawson solutions. Any feedback is greatly appreciated!!

sshank,

First let me say I am the VP of Sales for Dashboard Gear (always hesitant to post on forums)   . But I think I can provide valuable feedback for you. We have a couple of dozen customers live on our Lawson OLAP cubes and most of them are now also pulling data from non -Lawson systems. They use a variety of tools. The data layer is often under appreciated in this type of project. Please feel free to give me a call if you'd like. I can put you in touch with our customers.

 

 

 

 

I'm not sure if this belongs here or on another thread?? But I'm curious...

Are you (any Lawson client) finding that non-Lawson solutions are replacing LBI or Crystal Reports?