NHS BI specialists, 21C, leverages existing Microsoft software infrastructure to liberate information silos in just two months

London, 17 November 2009 - NHS business intelligence (BI) specialists, 21C, today announced that NHS Nottinghamshire County has deployed its BI Accelerator to improve operational efficiency. Utilising Microsoft products available through the NHS enterprise agreement, the BI solution is enabling the PCT to deliver wider access to more meaningful management and clinical information.

NHS Nottinghamshire County was created when six former primary care trusts (PCTs) in Nottinghamshire merged to create a new PCT. Andy Hall, Associate Director of Performance at NHS Nottinghamshire County explains, "One of the obvious challenges of such a merger was that despite good information infrastructures, the different systems didn't match."

The PCT outlined its requirements for developing a data warehouse and analytical tools to help it achieve world class commissioning status. 21C was selected to deliver on this vision as Nottinghamshire's BI partner following an open tender and model testing process. Using 21c's technology, Nottinghamshire will now be able to share information with managers, analysts and practice-based commissioning clusters, using graphical presentations and analytical tools to enable relatively non-technical users to uncover trends and relationships and use drill-down features to find answers.

According to Hall, the 21C approach of leveraging the NHS-Microsoft Enterprise agreement using tools such as SQL Server, MS Office and SharePoint was the right one. "It means that the centrally funded products are nearly free to PCTs and investing in Microsoft means we are assured of a future-proof infrastructure," he adds. "21C clearly knows the NHS and its data. And, they turned it around incredibly quickly: from legacy systems to beta testing in just 8 to 10 weeks is outstanding."

Paul Henderson, Managing Director at 21c added, "The significant advantages of BI needn't be complex, expensive or time-consuming. PCTs are starting to take advantage of the NHS-Microsoft enterprise agreement to use tools such as SQL Server, MS Office and SharePoint. These are not only centrally funded products but assure a future-proof infrastructure."

The PCT has named their Business Intelligence suite ‘ROBIN' and there are plans to extend the scope over the coming months to support strategic teams, invoice validation, commissioning and public health functions.