FUTRIX 8 NOW AVAILABLE!

Futrix continues to expand its powerful, game-changing business analytical capabilities to meet the ever-changing analytical demands of the market today. Delivering its unique brand of self-service analytics, Futrix has new additional functionality that allows users to gain even more insights across diverse information sources, the following video introduces some of the functionality available:

Expanding Business Analytics

Taking feedback and direction directly from our clients, along with analytic trends in the market and in-house innovations, Futrix has expanded its already comprehensive and unique analytics to a higher level. Unidirectional analytics utilizing our unique Metadata Matrix allows for a cross-section of analytical result sets to apply, and allows users to freely navigate across any diverse source of information.

Unique analytic options that are NEW and exciting!! in Futrix 8 include:

• Aggregate Statistical Banding – this expands on the concept of stratified band Dimensions to incorporate a broad range of statistical group options against any Measure for any group. This group can be freely applied all data sources. Examples include ranges of high cost patients, percentile ranges of length of stay (LOS) or disease severity levels. The statistical banding options include:

• Based on Value - the default method of band creation based on high and low boundaries and clustering the values into bands based on the boundary rounding level.

• Standard Deviation - band creation that sets lowest/highest band boundary of -5 and 5 by default with options to set the boundary rounding levels of 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1 or more. During the creation of the bands, processing occurs to find the values that are at each Standard Deviation threshold and loop through all the values to cluster them into bands. Users can analyze a normal distribution removing the skewed data elements for trimmed analysis within the bell curve avoiding outliers. Conversely, users can focus on just the outliers such as high cost claimants or customers with a standard deviation greater than 2.

• Percentiles - band creation that sets lowest/highest band boundary of 0 and 100 by default. This can then provide options to set the boundary rounding levels of 1, 2, 5, 10 (default), 20, 25 or more. During the creation of the bands, processing occurs to sort all values, get the total number of values and cluster the values into bands segments based on the percent of total. One example would be to RANK your clients based on the number of members enrolled into percentile groups.

• Segments of Total - band creation available only to SUM Measures. This method sets lowest/highest band boundary of 0 and 100 by default and provides options to set the boundary rounding levels of 1, 2, 5, 10 (default), 20, 25 or more. During creation of the bands, processing occurs to sort all values, get the total SUM value of all the values, loop through all the values keeping track of the cumulative sum and cluster the values into bands based on “cumulative sum” divided by the “total sum values”. Users can create provider groupings based on the VALUE segments to help identify the overall larger cost groups.

• Cross Dimension Calculated Measures – Users can work with an entire array of Measures across all related Dimensional values to created formulas and custom Measures including rolling averages and lag Measures for time sensitive and percentage growth metrics. For example, users can generate the % change from previous month’s cost per admit and understand the underlying cost trends for admissions. Users can also compare against the overall average cost per admit and see where cost spikes appear. There are a number of new options for these type of calculations that include:

• Single Values from Previous Cell – These values allow the calculation to point to a previous column or row value within a given table location.

• Single Value from Sub-total and/or Grand-total – The calculation will be able to use various Total values at the column, row, and table levels.

• Single Value from a Set of other Cells – for calculations across multiple Measures for Sum, Average, Minimum, and Maximum.

• If-Then-Else Logic – Providing for more complex formulas that allow for conditional analysis of different types and drivers for strategic, actionable Measures. This conditional logic within Calculated Measures/Dimension Values also allows for alternative “Text Values” within cells for Calculated Measures. For example, users can check the value of a calculation comparing Actual Payments to Budget Payments, and decide to only display values that are Over Budget and display the text “Under Budget” for everything else.

• Summary Value Rules – Allowing users to have control over the summary values of Calculated Measures and Calculated Dimension Values. In some cases you may want to use the formulas from calculated columns, set them as missing, or simply use a Sum statistic.

• Calculated Dimension Value (CDV) Referencing – Allow CDV’s to be referenced within other CDV formulas. For example, users can create a Calculated Dimension showing the “difference” between the current year and the previous year for any Measure. Then use that difference value to also calculate and display the “percent change” for those Measures.

• Enhanced Dynamic Benchmarking – Expanding on our ability to create dynamic benchmarks from any Dimensional variable, users can easily select between % Difference and Ratio difference from isolated (single or multiple) value(s) and compare them to Benchmark and/or Summary values.

These new analytic features can be combined with our existing unique business analytic functionality to produce an even more powerful solution for analyzing across disparate data sources for new insights, for example using:

• Cohort Analysis Groups – create population groups or clinical analysis groups based on any criteria within certain data source(s) and analyze those groups across all other data sources.

• Event Based Analysis Groups – specify a group based on a particular event from one or separate sources based on specific timing criteria and then this becomes another cohort group to be freely applied across all sources.

• Dynamic Grouping – provides flexibility to categorize existing Dimensional values in any way desired.

• Linked Measures – define Measures from multiple data sources and then freely analyze across all sources with dynamic accuracy as you view the Measurements.

Big Data Performance

Big Data volumes are becoming commonplace and getting a comprehensive understanding of this data is critical for decision makers. Futrix provides the flexibility and strengths of its rich analytic capabilities to work with a wide range of data warehouse appliances to effectively utilize the power of the appliance and leverage the underlying data within. Futrix 8 has enhanced the utilization of the SQL Pass-Thru that runs natively within the data appliances such as Teradata or Neteeza (IBM PureData System for Analytics), resulting in exceptional performance improvements. Futrix provides a data-agnostic solution that can mix and match different data source environments while allowing analysis across all sources and platforms.

Notable “in-database” enhancements include:

• Expanded Segmentation Dimensions – Ability to support large number of segment values from the analysis Dimension of Analysis Group or Segmentation Dimension populations and carry across sources.

• Detail Banding Dimensions – Ability to effectively create “Detail” bands from source detail being stored within a big data appliance environment.

• Complex Filters – Support “pass-thru” sources for more complex filtering options than ever before. The system will generate the required SQL code to effectively apply filters to the desired database environment.

Enhanced User Experience

Futrix continues to expand and enhance the user interface to provide analytical options that are highly effective and easy to use. The powerful Enterprise Viewer interface that was introduced in Futrix 7 has now been expanded in Futrix 8 to incorporate all analytics previously only available within our traditional interface. All users can now have direct and easy access to all analytic setup and functionality available via our web-based interface options.

Users can now Create, Edit, and Apply the following options within Enterprise Viewer:

• Segmentation Dimensions (Analysis Groups and Aggregate Banding)

• Benchmark Dimensions

• Dynamic Grouping Dimensions

• Detail Banding Dimensions

• Filtered Measures

• Calculated Dimension Values

• Count Distinct Measures

Included in the enhanced user experience, geographic mapping now provides for customizable Point Mapping that allows for customer-specific points of interest that can be tailored to different deliverable options and interaction.

 

Applied Futrix Administration

Futrix continues to enhance and streamline the administrative aspects of a Futrix deployment. System administrators will now have additional visibility and troubleshooting tools at their disposal along with enhanced security controls down to an individual basis. This empowers a more productive, central administration of many different users both internal and external depending on their deployment strategy. The flexibility and power of Futrix is well positioned to support the growing SaaS initiatives in the marketplace.

Some of the highlighted administrative advancements include:

• New Tracking Types – for Dashboard and Viewpoint level tracking from both our traditional interface and Enterprise Viewer activity for both performance metrics and all Dimension utilization

• Web Menu Manager – When moving/copying menu items that use Segmentation Dimensions between levels/users, copy the Segmentation Dimensions with them

• Single User Utility – Provides a fast and efficient option for managing an individual user’s system access control without using the full Web User Manager. The administrator only needs to provide an individual User ID that is either entered or searched for (with the new User ID search option) to conduct the following actions:

• Utilize any of the standard “Reset Password” options

• Deactivate User

• Activate User

• Individual User Logging – allows individual user’s actions in Futrix to be logged separately from the existing logging options.

There is also now a staged startup of the web mid-tier that improves the granularity of the start-up process for better problem reporting/resolution, Enterprise Viewer Database synchronization and improved visibility of any problems via the administrative web console.