Belitsoft > Reliable Data Analytics Consulting Company

Reliable Data Analytics Consulting Company

Belitsoft is a one-stop shop for all data analytics needs. We design, develop, and deploy practical data analytics solutions across key stages of the data lifecycle, focusing on creating added value for businesses that want to better manage, analyze, and utilize data.

Data Analytics Consulting Services

Data Strategy
Our data experts, independent of any software vendors, outline the people, processes, and technology you need for your data analytics project.
Data Management
We create the data infrastructure and architecture you need to ingest, integrate, and analyze data, regardless of its size or rate of growth.
Data Architecture
The architectures can be implemented in cloud, on-premises, or hybrid forms to best match your business needs and reduce manual processes.
Cloud Data Migration
We help you migrate to a new data analytics platform without disrupting your business operations and optimize your cloud architecture and spending.
Data Analytics
We choose the most suitable tools to deploy and optimize enterprise-wide analytics solutions, fine-tune your current reporting, and more.
Generative AI
Our AI specialists deploy generative AI and transform your generative AI prototypes into production-ready applications.
Data Governance
We integrate a data governance framework into business processes while ensuring higher user adoption, making the company’s data accessible, uniform, secure, and reliable. Be prepared for mergers and acquisitions, investments, and expansion opportunities.
Data Visualization & Reporting
To easily navigate, organize, improve, and communicate your data, our consultants help you adopt modern BI technologies for optimized decision-making, supported by our BI consultants for fintech, as part of our broader expertise in data analytics, governance, and reporting.
Data Engineering & Integration
We clean and transform any type of your data in a secure, centralized location for unified analysis using up-to-date data integration tools and approaches.
Stay Calm with No Surprise Expenses

Stay Calm with No Surprise Expenses

  • You get a detailed project plan with costs associated with each feature developed
  • Before bidding on a project, we conduct a review to filter out non-essential inquiries that can lead to overestimation
  • You are able to increase or decrease the hours depending on your project scope, which will ultimately save you a lot of $
  • Weekly reports help you maintain control over the budget
Don’t Stress About Work Not Being Done

Don’t Stress About Work Not Being Done

  • We sign the Statement of Work to specify the budget, deliverables and the schedule
  • You see who’s responsible for what tasks in your favorite task management system
  • We hold weekly status meetings to provide demos of what’s been achieved to hit the milestones
  • Low personnel turnover rate at Belitsoft is below 12% per annum. The risk of losing key people on your projects is low, and thus we keep knowledge in your projects and save your money
  • Our managers know how to keep core specialists long enough to make meaningful progress on your project.
Be Confident Your Secrets are Secure

Be Confident Your Secrets are Secure

  • We guarantee your property protection policy using Master Service Agreement, Non-Disclosure Agreement, and Employee Confidentiality Contract signed prior to the start of work
  • Your legal team is welcome to make any necessary modifications to the documents to ensure they align with your requirements
  • We also implement multi-factor authentication and data encryption to add an extra layer of protection to your sensitive information while working with your software
No Need to Explain Twice

No Need to Explain Twice

  • With minimal input from you and without overwhelming you with technical buzzwords, your needs are converted into a project requirements document any engineer can easily understand. This allows you to assign less technical staff to a project on your end, if necessary
  • Communication with your agile remote team is free-flowing and instantaneous, making things easier for you
  • Our communication goes through your preferred video/audio meeting tools like Microsoft Teams and more
Mentally Synced With Your Team

Mentally Synced With Your Team

  • Commitment to business English proficiency enables the staff of our offshore software development company to collaborate as effectively as native English speakers, saving you time
  • We create a hybrid composition, where our engineers work with your team members in tandem
  • Work with individuals who comprehend US and EU business climate and business requirements

Portfolio

Cloud Analytics Modernization on AWS for Health Data Analytics Company
Cloud Analytics Modernization on AWS for Health Data Analytics Company
Belitsoft designed a cloud-native web application for our client, a US healthcare solutions provider, using AWS. Previously, the company relied solely on desktop-based and on-premise software for its internal operations. To address the challenge of real-time automated scaling, we embraced a serverless architecture, using AWS Lambda.
Professional Services Automation Software to Increase Resources Utilization and Projects Profitability
Professional Services Automation Software to Increase Resources Utilization and Projects Profitability
Belitsoft developed a comprehensive Professional Services Automation (PSA) software. It offers stakeholders centralized access to near real-time analytics and reporting by integrating data from project management tools (such as ClickUp and Jira), accounting, sales, and HR systems.
15+ Senior Developers to scale B2B BI Software for the Company Gained $100M Investment
Senior Developers to scale BI Software
Belitsoft is providing staff augmentation service for the Independent Software Vendor and has built a team of 16 highly skilled professionals, including .NET developers, QA automation, and manual software testing engineers.
BI Modernization for Financial Enterprise for 100x Faster Big Data Analysis
FinTech BI Modernization for 100x Faster Big Data Analysis
A private financial enterprise needed to fully modernize the architecture of a custom Business Intelligence system to effectively identify trends, mitigate risks, enhance customer experience, and optimize operations.
Power BI Inventory Management to Prevent Over- and Understocking
Power BI Inventory Management to Prevent Over- and Understocking
Our client is one of the largest retail suppliers who is tracking millions of records across multiple retail stores in different cities and would like to know how to walk the fine line between over- and understocking.
Migration from Power BI service to Power BI Report Server
Migration from Power BI service to Power BI Report Server
Last year, the bank migrated its financial data reporting system from a cloud-based SaaS hosted on Microsoft’s cloud platform to an on-premises Microsoft solution. However, the on-premises Power BI Report Server comes with some critical limitations by default and lacks backward compatibility with its cloud equivalent.

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Belitsoft Blog for Entrepreneurs
Healthcare Business Intelligence
Healthcare Business Intelligence
Our team of BI developers configures healthcare dashboards and reports for your organization by consolidating data from diverse sources. We offer implementation of Amazon QuickSight, Microsoft Power BI, Tableau, Google's Looker, Oracle, SAP, Sisense, and more. What is Business Intelligence in Healthcare? Healthcare business intelligence, as a subset of healthcare data analytics, takes historical health-related data from multiple internal and external sources and visualizes it multidimensionally. EHR/EMRs, labs, eHealth/mHealth apps and smart wearables, governmental agencies, accounting tools, and CRM platforms are among some of them. Data is saved, then analyzed, and finally reported. Cloud database development makes the process of healthcare data storage, data retrieval, and data analysis more efficient and secure. Using the information gained, it's possible to improve patient satisfaction and the financial performance of medical centers, clinics, hospitals, insurance vendors, research facilities, pharmaceutical companies, and data technology firms. Top Features to Look For in Healthcare Business Intelligence Software Security. User administration, platform access auditing, authentication management) Cloud-Readiness. The ability to build, deploy, and manage the BI software in the cloud across multi-cloud and hybrid cloud deployments. Data Source Connectivity. Enabling users to connect to and ingest data from various storage platforms, including on-premises and cloud. Supporting users to combine data from different sources using drag-and-drop. Data Preparation. Creating analytic models with user-defined measures, sets, groups, and hierarchies. Automated Insights, Natural Language Generation, and Data Storytelling. Applying machine learning to automatically generate insights and identify the most important attributes in a dataset. Automatically creating descriptions of insights in data that explain key findings or the meaning of charts or dashboards. Generating news-style data stories that combine headlines, narrative text, data visualizations, and audiovisual content based on ongoing monitoring of findings. Natural Language Searching. Enabling users to query data using terms typed into a search box or spoken. Data visualization. Supporting highly interactive dashboards and exploring data through manipulating chart images, including heat maps, tree maps, geographic maps, scatter plots, and other special-purpose visuals. Reporting. Providing parameterized, paginated, and pixel-perfect reports that can be scheduled and burst to a large user community. Top 7 Business Intelligence Software Tools for Healthcare With an emphasis on visual self-service, today's healthcare BI software incorporates AI and empower non-technical users to model and analyze data and share insights. Gartner lists Amazon QuickSight, Microsoft Power BI, Tableau, Google's Looker, Oracle, SAP and Sisense among top BI software providers. What possibilities do they bring to health-related companies? #1 Amazon QuickSight The key feature of Amazon's business intelligence tool, QuickSight, is a generative AI assistant named Q. It creates interactive visualizations, dashboards, reports, and customizable data stories on demand—without sending requests to the busy and overloaded BI team or waiting weeks or even months—simply by typing exact questions into the Q bar. Outputs include citations and references for transparency. API access allows integration of this capability into third-party applications. To make this business intelligence tool work, it should have access to your documents, images, files, and other application data, as well as structured data stored in databases and data warehouses. QuickSight connects with over 50 commonly used business tools and unstructured data sources (wikis, intranets, Atlassian, Gmail, Microsoft Exchange, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Slack, etc.). Get help with Implementing Amazon QuickSight #2 Microsoft Power BI Microsoft Power BI is a comprehensive data analytics tool available as a software-as-a-service option on Azure. It provides data preparation, visual data exploration, interactive dashboards, and augmented analytics. Power BI Premium includes AI-powered text, sentiment, and image analytics. Power BI seamlessly integrates with Office 365, including Microsoft Teams, Excel, and SharePoint. It can be enhanced by embedding Power Apps into its dashboards, and Power Automate flows can automate tasks based on the data. However, Power BI is limited to deployment on Azure and does not offer options for other cloud infrastructure as a service (IaaS). While data connectivity enables multi-cloud and hybrid cloud scenarios, governance of self-service usage is a common concern. On-premises Power BI Report Server has a more limited offering without features such as dashboards, streaming analytics, prebuilt content, natural language question and answer, automated insights, and alerting. To overcome the limitations of Power BI and use a more integrated analytics experience, as well as fully utilize their data infrastructure, organizations can transition to Microsoft Fabric. Belitsoft offers expert migration services to facilitate this shift, making the transition effortless for your workflows. Get help with Implementing Power BI #3 Tableau Tableau, a product from Salesforce, offers a user-friendly way to access, prepare, analyze, and present data. It empowers business users to explore visually their data with an intuitive drag-and-drop interface powered by the VizQL engine. Tableau provides a natural language query feature called Ask Data that can be integrated into a dashboard, and a data explanation tool called Explain Data. The vendor focuses on extending their natural language generation and data storytelling capabilities. Analysts can curate existing datasets using Lenses and access dashboard accelerators on the Tableau Exchange. The tool also offers centralized row-level security and virtual data connections. However, Tableau's licensing costs are relatively high, with additional fees required for features such as Data Management, Server Management, and Einstein Discovery. Some users report below-average satisfaction with Tableau's overall service and support, making it sometimes challenging to find Tableau-specific assistance. Get help with Implementing Tableau #4 Google’s BI software for healthcare Google's Looker is a cloud-based BI platform that provides users with self-service visualization and dashboard capabilities. It supports multi-cloud scenarios for deployment and database connectivity, with continuous integrations with other Google Cloud products like BigQuery. Looker's extension framework is a fully hosted development surface that allows developers to build data-driven applications. It offers direct query access to cloud databases, lakes, and applications as its primary data connectivity method. This enables users to leverage LookML's virtualized semantic layer without having to move their data. Google aims to open up the LookML data modeling layer to other BI platforms, including Microsoft Power BI, Tableau, and its own assets like Data Studio, Google Sheets, and Google Slides. Looker's APIs, software development kits, and extension framework, including the Data Dictionary, enable customers to create customer-facing applications and embed analytics in business workflows. The Looker Marketplace offers prebuilt data and machine-learning model Blocks to address common analytical patterns and sources. While Looker may have coding requirements compared to competitors' drag-and-drop data modeling and advanced analytics capabilities, it provides prebuilt data and ML model Blocks to mitigate this. However, Looker currently lacks augmented analytics features for automated insights, data storytelling, and Natural Language Generation, and its Natural Language Query interface is weaker compared to competitors. Get help with implementing Google's Business Intelligence software #5 Oracle Healthcare BI Oracle offers a comprehensive BI cloud solution that includes infrastructure, data management, and analytics applications. With data centers in 30 regions, Oracle supports customers' multicloud needs through an open architecture approach. Oracle focuses on conversational user experiences and automated data storytelling features. These include generating audio podcasts that highlight key trends, data changes, outliers, and contextualized insights. Users can benefit from Natural language queries in 28 languages and Oracle Analytics Day by Day for mobile devices. For on-premises deployments, Oracle offers Oracle Analytics Server, and for Oracle Cloud Applications, prebuilt analytics solutions are available through Fusion Analytics Warehouse. The Oracle warehouse provides native integration for Oracle's ERP, human capital management, supply chain, and NetSuite products. Although Oracle Analytics Cloud can access any data source, its packaged analytic applications (Fusion Analytics Warehouse and NetSuite Analytics Warehouse) are designed specifically for Oracle enterprise applications. Non-Oracle application customers would need to build their own applications using Oracle Analytics Cloud to gain similar capabilities. It's worth noting that customers have reported below-average satisfaction with Oracle's service and support. Additionally, the legacy Oracle Healthcare Foundation (OHF) analytics solution is no longer actively supported. Get help with implementing Oracle Healthcare Business Intelligence software #6 SAP Healthcare BI SAP Analytics Cloud is a cloud-based platform that integrates with SAP cloud applications and can query both cloud and on-premises SAP resources, such as SAP Business Warehouse, for live data. Its user-friendly Story Viewer and Story Designer tools enable non-technical users to create and interact with dashboards and reports. The Analytics Designer, a low-code development environment, facilitates the creation of analytics applications using APIs. SAP Analytics Cloud stands out with its integrated functionality for planning, analysis, and prediction. It offers "what-if" analysis, change tracking, and calculation capabilities. The platform also includes strong functionality for natural language generation, natural language processing, and automated insights. Its integrated functionality for planning, analysis, and prediction sets it apart from other platforms. For the healthcare industry and related lines of business, SAP Analytics Cloud provides pre-built business content, including data models, data stories, and visualizations. However, it is primarily utilized by existing SAP business application customers and legacy business intelligence users. Customers without a SAP-centric application or data ecosystem typically do not opt for SAP Analytics Cloud. While SAP Analytics Cloud is a cloud-native platform that can query on-premises data, customers seeking an on-premises deployment would need to use a standalone SAP BusinessObjects BI to fully leverage the analytics catalog functionality and Universe connector for a complete hybrid deployment experience. Get help with implementing SAP Healthcare Business Intelligence software #7 Sisense Healthcare BI Sisense is a self-service analytics platform that offers advanced analytics and application development capabilities. Many users utilize Sisense in its OEM form. Sisense Fusion focuses on integrating analytics into business workflows, providing interactive visualizations and natural language query capabilities. It offers a microservices-based architecture that is fully extensible, allowing for embedding analytics into applications and workflows. Sisense Notebooks serve as a bridge between data professionals and self-service users who want to perform advanced analysis using SQL, Python, R, and other programming languages. Infusion Apps provide users with prebuilt examples for Google Chrome, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Microsoft Teams, Salesforce, and Slack, helping to tie analytics to actions. Sisense Fusion is cloud-agnostic and multicloud-capable, with deep partnerships with AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft, as well as strong cross-cloud analytics orchestration. Sisense's analytics marketplace is a one-stop shop for publishing and building analytics artifacts, including connectors, applications, and workflows. Sisense can catalog other analytic vendors' assets via APIs, and it offers extensible connectivity to other reporting tools. Developers can utilize the Extense Framework to create custom applications or workflows or choose from prebuilt Infusion Apps for embedding analytic capabilities. However, customers have reported below-average evaluations of third-party resources, such as integrators and service providers, as well as the overall quality of the peer user community. Sisense's service and technical support have also received below-average evaluations. Get help with implementing Sisense Healthcare Business Intelligence software We work with B2B healthtech companies to help their clients make better use of healthcare information. Our developers create custom healthcare software based on their requests. Shortlist our company as your potential partner that has an available pool of talented data analysts and BI consultants for healthcare who can solve any business intelligence challenge by developing, customizing, and implementing complex analytics solutions. Benefits of Business Intelligence and analytics for healthcare organizations BI Consolidates Health Data and Protects It Business intelligence in healthcare is about consolidating clinical, administrative, and financial data. It works even with previously loosely-related systems. But it goes beyond that. Business intelligence tools allow one to protect sensitive patient information. Access to different parts of this data is easily restricted to comply with HIPAA law and more. BI Improves Decision-Making Business intelligence is a holistic visualization of all the KPIs you're tracking. It connects to multiple data sources to put the information into a single, centralized repository - a data warehouse. BI reports and dashboards answer the question "What happened?", and "Why did it happen?" can be explored with drill-down analysis. BI predictive analytics is based on data scientists' calculations. It's often more justified than personal opinions. Machine learning and statistics are unbiased ways to understand "What can we expect as a result?" Simulation and scenario analysis make clear "What actions should we take?" BI Reduces Healthcare Costs Business intelligence can quickly interpret large and complicated data like bills, medical records, and financial statements and provide useful information in a few hours instead of days. Coming from the research on clinical activities, supplies, logistics, costs, and outcomes, a BI helps turn data into timely resolutions. It links and puts together huge amounts of data from providers, life sciences organizations, and insurers to find cost savings, trends, and optimal treatments and medications. With quick situational insights, unexpected challenges can be mitigated, and resources can be used more efficiently. By leveraging built-in AI capabilities, it is possible to predict and plan for future needs. Avoid Costly Readmissions BI software highlights the patients with a certain condition who are readmitted within, for example, 30 days of discharge. It determines the factors contributing to these readmissions, for example, medication non-adherence. Steps to address them may involve providing patients with better education and support to ensure they take their medication correctly or improving follow-up care after discharge. Prevent Chronic Patients From Complications Business Intelligence systems identify the patients with a certain condition are at risk for complications, like foot ulcers or kidney disease. Taking action on these cases in the initial stages leads to more targeted interventions and prevents high expenditures on developed complications. It may concern mostly medication management, acting as reminders for drug refills or pill organizers to help patients stay on track with their treatment regimen. Or it aligns remote monitoring programs that include wearable devices to track blood glucose or blood pressure levels and send alerts to healthcare providers if the levels are outside of the target range. Optimize Healthcare Supply Chain Management In the healthcare sector, supply costs are considerably high. However, leveraging data analysis BI tools holds great potential to bring down these costs. With healthcare supply chain analytics, you can identify and forecast variations in demand or potential supply disturbances, quickly recognize and address supply chain problems, and prevent or ease shortages of medical supplies and drugs. Through monitoring inventory levels and expiration dates, then evaluating usage patterns, it minimizes waste by pinpointing areas where overstocking is taking place and adjusting inventory levels accordingly. Improved Patient Treatment Building a data-driven approach in healthcare propels this domain forward, as 94% of healthcare stakeholders believe. They emphasized the top advantage doctors and patients can leverage from implementing healthcare BI tools and data analytics: a more personalized treatment path. Dmitry Baraishuk Chief Innovation Officer at Belitsoft on Forbes.com Predicting Surgical Complications Healthcare BI tools with predictive analytics can determine a patient's risk of post-surgical complications, such as kidney failure and stroke. It should develop a special model collaboration with a multidisciplinary team comprising a surgeon, cardiologists, nephrologists, and other specialists. This predictive model determines which patients were likely to suffer a stroke, cardiac event, or die within 30 days of surgery. Health-related providers can use it at a patient's bedside to conduct pre-surgery assessments. Clinicians inform surgeons of potential risks and better advise patients, resulting in improved care delivery. Identify Patterns and Trends in Patient Health Outcomes The organization uses BI tools to analyze data from electronic health records: patient demographics, medical history, and treatment outcomes. Healthcare providers commit a notice. For instance, the patients with a particular condition are experiencing longer hospital stays and higher rates of readmission compared to patients with the same case at other hospitals. The Business Intelligence team works with the hospital staff to examine potential causes, like delays in diagnostic testing, longer wait times for specialty consultations, and slower medication reconciliation processes. After they operate the data to implement targeted interventions, such as optimizing the order of diagnostic tests, reducing wait times for specialty consultations, and streamlining the medication reconciliation process. Because of this interference, the hospital improves better patient outcomes. Limitations of Healthcare Business Intelligence Data entry, management, interpretation, and sharing can often rely on manual processes, which are prone to errors, particularly in the healthcare industry. Without a coherent system of accountability in place, these errors can accumulate and lead to further complications. Healthcare data is a complex and heterogeneous collection originating from various sources and takes many forms. This includes patient profiles, healthcare provider information, pharmaceutical company data, disease registries, diagnostic tests, treatment options, and various types of visual data, such as scans, images, and graphs. The above databases are constantly growing as new admission, diagnostic, treatment, and they add medical records on discharge. The diverse nature of these data sources presents significant challenges with aggregating and integrating the data, constructing a data warehouse, and loading the data into a rules-based engine for generating actionable insights and reports. Reliable Health Business Intelligence depends on accurate data access. Thus, prior to introducing a BI solution, it is vital to configure robust data management. Healthcare Business Intelligence Analyst A skilled BI analyst is essential, especially during the initial configuration of healthcare BI software and self-service tools. Their primary responsibility is to customize data models and dashboards to align with the unique needs of a health-related organization. Business Intelligence Analysts work with company data to identify areas for improvement in current processes and establish metrics or KPIs to track product performance and identify areas of improvement. These analysts possess strong data visualization skills to present their findings in a clear and understandable format to stakeholders. The role of a Business Intelligence Analyst extends beyond reporting. They assist businesses in uncovering insights by asking the right questions and exploring data. BI analysts help to guide organizations to discover new knowledge and find answers to unanticipated questions. To achieve this, BI specialists use a range of tools, including web analytics tools, database tools, ETL tools, and full-stack BI platforms like Power BI or Tableau. Requirements often include: Experience in health informatics and healthcare analytics Ability to analyze data and communicate insights through dashboards and reports Strong SQL programming and advanced data manipulation skills Experience building data products using business intelligence software Familiarity with healthcare data sources, such as claims, electronic health records, and patient-reported data Detail-oriented with a focus on producing accurate and polished work Excellent written and oral communication skills The specific responsibilities of a BI analyst vary depending on the company's needs. Example 1: Devoted Health was seeking a Sales Operations BI Analyst who could work with complex data, communicate insights through data visualization, and prioritize data governance. The ideal candidate would collaborate closely with various teams within the company, including business, data science, product management, analytics engineering, data engineering, and software engineering. Example 2: McLaren Health Care network was in search of a BI analyst to handle healthcare claims and quality data reporting, analytics, and statistical analysis. The ideal candidate would have a strong understanding of healthcare data, including cost of care and patient utilization metrics. Experience in healthcare analysis, including statistical methods, data mining, forecasting, simulation, and predictive modeling, was also required. Example 3: Aledade sought a Business Intelligence Data Analyst to provide continuous analytical support, using operational and clinical data to address pressing business questions, support data operations, and project management functions. This role would be a part of the Business Intelligence team. In each case, the analyst's responsibilities varied, such as: collecting and integrating health plan and internal systems data creating data visualization solutions examining trends, providing actionable insights, and supporting stakeholders with operational and clinical data analysis Other key responsibilities of the Data Analyst included: Developing actionable roadmaps for workflows and processes Setting up and organizing KPIs and timelines for deliverables aligned with team objectives Building interactive dashboards, reports, and data visualizations to effectively communicate insights from data and drive action Assisting in the design and implementation of data warehouse tables or views to support analysis and reporting Supporting the team in research, data analysis, meeting preparation, follow-through, and the development of strategies to address health disparities Proactively identifying and flagging major risks or challenges to draw attention, allocate resources, or implement mitigation steps Example 4: Franciscan Health was seeking a Healthcare Business Data Analyst with the following functions: Identifying and proposing evaluation strategies for key performance indicators (KPIs), quality metrics, outcomes, population management studies, and other relevant areas Developing technical and functional specifications based on business requirements and workflow analysis Managing database processing functions, such as merge/purge, data hygiene, data appends, and coordination with business partners Identifying and addressing data quality issues that may affect reporting, such as duplicate records or missing data Utilizing appropriate programming languages and technologies to extract and process data for business analytics Identifying effective methods of data visualization and presentation to communicate project findings to management Tracking and analyzing trends and relevant measures to maximize database capabilities Integrating add-on programs to optimize back-end processes Acting as a liaison between the analytical needs of departments and business partners Business Intelligence Dashboards for Healthcare Healthcare dashboards allow healthcare organizations, including providers and payers, to gain deeper insights into their data by drilling into trends and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) related to patients, providers, operational departments, clinical records, and finance. A healthcare dashboard offers users a real-time graphical display of their healthcare KPIs. It enables medical institutions to measure and compare metrics, such as patient satisfaction, physician allocation, Emergency Department Wait Times, and occupied bed count. This tool aids in improving operational efficiency, resulting in better outcomes and more intelligent decisions. Executive KPI Dashboard Many measures are now publicly reported, many of which are directly linked to reimbursement and are critical. It's challenging to prioritize what to work on next and respond to constantly changing needs while having fixed resources to improve patient experience, reduce the cost of care, and improve population health. The Executive KPI Dashboard quickly displays critical KPIs. It is vital to understand the performance clearly and focus the efforts on where it's possible to maximize returns. This dashboard accelerates information sharing and provides a scaffolding to automate the collection of critical data elements and unify analytics across multiple platforms. The Executive KPI Dashboard accomplishes this by using a consistent, simple, and easy-to-understand visualization of the most critical measures. A quick glance at the dashboard shows the state of dozens of KPIs, including the number on each bar, performance against the benchmark, trend over time, and most recent performance. Users can drill down to a linked dashboard to learn more or access reference material, such as an internal wiki page. Additionally, users can view performance through a statistical process control chart, with signals for particular cause variations automatically highlighted. Executive KPI Dashboard. Tableau Hospital Performance Dashboards The department can monitor a hospital's admissions, comparing the number of doctors and average wait time. Such monitoring can facilitate determining the necessary resources required to run each department. Additionally, tracking patient satisfaction provides a means to measure both the performance of doctors and the overall quality of each division. Establishing a relationship between the user and the dimension allows control over which divisions are visible to which users due to security reasons. Hospital Performance Dashboards. Sisense Dashboards for Patient No-Show Data Analysis and Prediction One common issue in outpatient practices is patient no-shows and late cancellations, which lead to decreased revenue for the practice, and longer wait times for other patients. Our aim is to increase patient attendance and reduce last-minute cancellations, to make more patients being seen by healthcare providers. We could use analytics to predict when patients may not show up or cancel at the last minute, allowing us to take a proactive approach to reduce these occurrences. To achieve this goal, we need to identify the breakdown of appointments by various patient characteristics, and then predict which patients are more likely to cancel, and schedule appointments accordingly. As a simple prevention measure, we can also implement tailored appointment reminders. Additionally, using run charts can provide valuable information about attendance trends and fluctuations over time, helping to further refine our predictive models and intervention strategies. Insurance Claims Dashboards To maintain profitability, insurance companies must continuously monitor the claims made under their various policies. This allows them to modify premiums for policies with chief claims ratios or introduce new policies to reduce premiums for their clients. Additionally, identifying the number of claims per customer or policy can help insurers offer cost-effective premiums that benefit both the customers and the company. The insurance analytics dashboard plays a critical role in achieving these objectives. Hire healthcare BI analyst Get Help with Implementing Business Intelligence Software
Dmitry Baraishuk • 15 min read
EHR Data Analytics Solutions
EHR Data Analytics Solutions
Before Extration To host and manage healthcare data for analytical purposes, a separate healthcare analytics database is needed. The raw EHR database data should be converted, preferably adopting the OMOP Common Data Model, to enable systematic analysis with standard analytic tools. Raw EHR databases are usually optimized for fast data entry and retrieval of individual patient records, not for complex analysis. Creating a separate database specifically for analysis can improve query speed and reduce the load on your operational EHR system. Database system development includes database design, implementation, and database maintenance.  Healthcare analytics database design  Conceptual Data Model This is an abstract representation of the data and connections between distinct entities (such as patients, visits, medications) without being tied to a particular database system. Specification of a logical schema The logical schema defines each table needed in your database, like "Patient", "Medication", "Diagnosis". It includes Columns (or fields/attributes) that determine what information goes into each table, such as patient name and date of birth). The Datatypes of the columns, like text, numbers, or dates, are also specified, along with any Constraints like Primary Key - a unique identifier for each row in a table, such as patient ID. Healthcare analytics database implementation This involves creating the actual database based on the logical schema. Examples include optimizing data storage for better performance, implementing security measures to safeguard data, and establishing user interactions with specific data segments. Healthcare analytics database maintenance This entails ensuring the database continues to perform well and adapt to changing needs. Monitoring performance and addressing issues, making changes to the structure as needed, effective communication between healthcare database administrators, developers, and users to determine necessary changes. Our healthcare software development services handle complex challenges of healthcare data analytics, ranging from data extraction to the application of advanced statistical and machine learning techniques. Contact our experts for deeper data insights. Difference between EMR and EHR data Electronic medical records (EMRs) digitize the traditional paper charts found within a specific hospital, clinic, or doctor's office.  Electronic health records (EHRs) are much more comprehensive, as they include all the data found in EMRs as well as information from labs, specialists, nursing homes, and other providers. EHR systems share this data across authorized clinicians, caregivers, and even patients themselves, allowing for coordinated, patient-centered care regardless of location. Besides patient care, EHR data serves administrative and billing purposes.  Recently, EHRs have become a major source of real-world evidence, aiding in treatment evaluation, diagnosis improvement, drug safety, disease prediction, and personalized medicine. We collaborated with a US healthcare solutions provider to integrate EHR with advanced data analytics capabilities. Our integration streamlined data management, empowered healthcare providers, and optimized care delivery processes, resulting in improved patient outcomes and operational efficiency. Check out our case to learn more. The complexity of EHR data demands a multidisciplinary team to handle the challenges at every stage, from data extraction and cleaning to analysis. This team should comprise experts in database, computer science/informatics, statistics, data science, clinicians, epidemiologists, and those familiar with EHR systems and data entry procedures. The large volume of EHR data also causes significant investment in high-performance computing and storage. For more information on effectively leveraging EHR data and healthcare analytics, explore our comprehensive guide on EHR Implementation. Improve patient care and streamline operations with our EHR/EMR software development. From seamless data integration to intuitive user interfaces, our team of dedicated healthcare app developers can tailor to your needs. Get in touch for project planning and preliminary research. Traditional Relational Database Systems  EHR data often fits well into the table format (patients, diagnoses, medications, etc.). Relational models easily define how different entities link together (a patient has multiple visits, each visit has lab results, etc.). Constraints offered by relational databases help maintain data accuracy.  Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, and PostgreSQL are widely used relational databases in healthcare. Distributed Database Systems   As databases grow massively, traditional systems struggle with performance, especially for analysis and complex queries. Apache Hadoop: The Framework Hadoop lets you spread both storage and computation across a cluster of commodity (regular) computers. The Hadoop Distributed File System can reliably store massive amounts of data on multiple machines. It also offers a programming model for breaking down large-scale analysis tasks into smaller parallel chunks. Apache HBase: The Real-Time, Scalable Database Apache HBase, on the other hand, uses HDFS for storage and is a non-relational database. It is designed to handle semi-structured or unstructured data, borrowing principles from Google's Bigtable solution for managing massive datasets. It enables fast retrieval and updates on huge datasets. NoSQL (like HBase, MongoDB, Cassandra DB) vs. Traditional SQL Databases NoSQL databases excel at handling images, videos, and text documents that don't fit neatly into predefined tables. They store data as "documents" (similar to JSON), providing flexibility in the structure of information stored in a single record. However, NoSQL databases prioritize horizontal scalability (adding more machines to store more data) and may sacrifice some consistency guarantees compared to traditional SQL databases. Data Extraction in Healthcare Inclusion/exclusion criteria may consider patient demographics like age, gender, or race. It can also involve extracting data from various tables in EHR/EMR systems, such as medication, procedure, lab test, clinical event, vital sign, or microbiology tables. However, some of these data or variables may have high uncertainty, missing values, or errors. To aid, Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques can be employed. NLP can analyze text data within EHR/EMR systems to identify relevant mentions that may not be directly linked to expected keywords or codes but are important for analytics purposes. Moreover, accurately identifying missing relationships based on indirect evidence requires substantial domain knowledge. Cohort Identification  Cohort identification selects patients to analyze based on diagnoses, procedures, or symptoms.  Careful definition of the cohort is essential to avoid mixing patients who are too different. Without a well-defined cohort, the analysis will not yield useful insights about any group. Identifying your research cohort in EHR data can be tricky due to input errors, biased billing codes, and missing data.   Phenotyping methods and data types Rule-Based Methods for Cohort Identification ICD codes are a starting point for identifying patients. When studying conditions like heart attacks (acute myocardial infarction), it may seem logical to search for ICD codes specifically linked to that diagnosis. However, relying solely on ICD codes, especially for complex diseases, is often not sufficient. It is important to note that ICD codes are primarily used for billing. Doctors may choose codes that are more likely to get reimbursed, rather than the code that precisely reflects a patient's complex condition. The condition's severity, complications, and management are important factors not easily represented by one code. Errors in data entry or delayed diagnoses can lead to patients having incorrect codes or missing codes. Machine Learning Methods for Cohort Identification Machine learning algorithms can be trained to spot patterns in complex EHR data that may go unnoticed by humans, potentially finding patients that traditional rules might overlook. Clinical notes contain detailed patient information that is not easily organized into codes. NLP techniques help computers understand human language within these notes. Key Tools and Methods MedEx. A specialized NLP system designed to extract medication names, dosages, frequencies, and other relevant information. CLAMP. A broader toolkit that supports various NLP tasks in the medical domain, like identifying diagnoses or medical procedures within the text. OHNLP. A resource hub providing researchers with access to a variety of NLP tools, thereby facilitating their implementation. Complex models like Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs) can effectively identify patterns in large datasets with many variables and patient records. Bayesian methods can help determine disease groups, even in situations where perfect data for comparison is unavailable. The FSSMC method helps cut down the number of variables you need to consider and ranks them based on their predictive utility for disease identification. Methods like clustering can group patients based on similarity, even without predefined disease labels. Simpler approaches can also be used in healthcare analytics for data extraction and transformation. One method is to define data requirements and use ETL pipelines. These pipelines extract data from different sources, transform it, and load it into a target database or data warehouse. ETL pipelines are efficient for processing large volumes of data, ensuring data integrity and consistency for analysis and reporting. While not as advanced as NLP or machine learning, these methods still provide valuable insights and practical solutions for organizations to leverage their data effectively. Leverage your healthcare organization's data analytics with our tailored healthcare business intelligence solutions. Our expert team employs advanced strategies to derive actionable insights from your clinical records and diverse data sources. Contact us now for advanced analytics to improve operations. Data Cleaning in Healthcare The primary purpose of EHR databases lies in supporting the daily operations of healthcare, such as billing, legal documentation, and user-friendliness for clinical staff. However, this singular focus presents challenges for analytics.   The purpose of data cleaning is to ensure that the analysis conducted is meaningful and focused on answering analytics questions, rather than battling errors or inconsistencies. This process aims to achieve a more uniform distribution of lab values. Various tasks fall under data cleaning, such as eliminating redundancies, rectifying errors, harmonizing inconsistencies in coding systems, and standardizing measurement units. Consolidating patient data from various clinical visits that have conflicting records of race, gender, or birthdate. Harmonizing disease diagnosis, procedures, surgical interventions, and other data that may be recorded using varied coding systems like ICD-9, ICD-10, or ICD-10-CM. Correcting variations in the spelling of the same medication's generic names. Standardizing the units used for lab test results or clinical measurements that vary across different patient visits. Data cleaning is essential for the entire EHR database to support all types of projects and analyses, except for projects that focus on studying errors in data entry or management.  Data cleaning methods should be tailored to the specific errors and structure of each EHR database. The provided methods serve as a foundation, but must be customized for each project. The first data cleaning project is usually the most time-consuming, but team experience with the database and common errors can help speed up the process for later projects. EHR data cleaning tools Many existing tools address datasets from specific healthcare facilities or focus solely on one aspect of data cleaning (like standardizing units). Some tools might be better suited for project-specific fine-tuning rather than broad database cleaning. Data Wranglers Data wranglers are tools specifically designed to handle diverse data types and offer transformations like reformatting dates, handling missing values, and pattern detection. Examples: DataWrangler (Stanford) and Potter's Wheel (UC Berkeley). They work with many data formats, help users understand big datasets quickly, and have optimized code for handling large datasets. While adaptable, they might not address the specific complexities and inconsistencies found in EHR data. Specialized EHR data cleaning tools may be necessary for the best results.  Data Cleaning Tools for Specific EHR Datasets  EHR databases can differ in сoding systems (e.g., ICD-10 vs. ICD-10-CM), date formats (European vs. US style), address Formats (country-specific). Because of this, data cleaning tools often need to be tailored to specific EHR database systems. It is unlikely that a single tool will universally apply to all databases. Even if certain tools aren't directly transferable, researchers can still learn valuable cleaning methods and approaches by studying tools like the "rEHR" package. rEHR package acts as a wrapper for SQL queries, making it easier for researchers to work with the EHR database. Statistical data cleaning methods also exist. For example, the Height Cleaning Algorithm detects and removes unlikely height measurements (like negative changes) based on median values across life stages. This algorithm is relatively simple to implement and catches many errors. But there are risks removing rare, but valid, data points (e.g., post-surgery height changes). Healthcare Data Quality Assessment Here's a summary of data quality metrics for assessing EHR data. Checking if data values are within expected ranges and follow known distributions. For example, pulse oximetry values should be between 0 and 100%. Verifying the soundness of the database structure, such as securing each patient, has a unique primary key. Ensuring consistent formatting of time-varying data and logical changes over time. Examining for logical data transitions. For instance, there should be no blood pressure measurements for a patient after their recorded death. However, it is important to note that rare exceptions may exist. Evaluating relationships between attributes, such as confirming a male patient does not have a pregnancy diagnosis. Common EHR Data Errors and Fixing Methods Cleaning methods primarily target tables containing numerical results from encounters, labs, and clinical events (vital signs). Issues with diagnosis codes, medication names, and procedure codes also can be addressed. Demographics Table The demographics table is the cornerstone of data quality assessment. Fixing Multiple Race and Gender Data analysis relies on unique identifier codes for individuals, especially sensitive personal information like medical records, instead of using actual names or identifying information. This is done to protect patient privacy and anonymize the data. It functions as a random ID tied to individuals or samples in the dataset, maintaining their anonymity. "Patient Surrogate Key" (Patient SK) is the unique key for each patient in a medical dataset. Data analysts can track patient records, test results, treatments, etc. without exposing personal information. Multiple demographic entries in a patient's records may have conflicting race or gender information. This is how we fix race/gender inconsistencies: Gather all Patient IDs linked to a given Patient SK, collecting all demographic data associated with that individual. Discard entries with missing race or gender (NULL, etc.) as they are likely incomplete or unreliable. If a clear majority of the remaining entries agree on a race or gender, assign that as the most probable value for the patient. If there is no clear majority, default to the earliest recorded value as a likely starting point. Fixing Multiple Patient Keys for the Same Encounter ID   The error of linking multiple unique patient identifiers (Patient SKs) to the same Encounter ID undermines the EHR database's integrity. If this error is widespread, it reveals a fundamental problem with the database structure itself, requiring a thorough investigation and potential restructuring. If this error occurred rarely, the affected records may be removed. Fixing Multiple Calculated Birth Date   In the healthcare database under analysis, patient age information may be stored across multiple fields—years, months, weeks, days, and hours. There are three scenarios for recording a patient's age: All age fields are blank, indicating missing age information. Only the "age in years" field is filled, providing an approximate age. All age fields (years, months, weeks, days, hours) are filled, allowing for precise calculation of the patient's age. It is important to consider that each patient's records may cover multiple visits, and the age values may vary between these visits. To determine the accurate birth date, we follow a systematic procedure: If all recorded ages are blank, the birth date is missing and cannot be calculated. If all ages have only the years filled, we either use the birth year indicated by the majority of encounters or the first recorded age in years as an approximation of the birth year. If at least one encounter has all age fields filled (third scenario), we calculate the birth date from the first such encounter.   This procedure ensures that we derive the most accurate birth date value possible from the available data fields. Lab Table Large EHR databases are used by multiple healthcare facilities. Each facility may use different kits or equipment to evaluate the same lab measurement. This leads to varying normal reference ranges for measurements, like serum potassium level. Additionally, EHR system providers allow each facility to use customized data entry structures.  These two factors resulted in multiple formats being used to report the same lab measurement.  For example, in one dataset, serum potassium level was reported using 18 different formats! Another major issue plaguing EHR data is inconsistency during data entry.  In an example database, it was noticed that some electrolyte concentration levels were incorrectly reported as "Millimeter per liter" instead of the common "Millimoles per liter" format.  Another common mistake is mixing and confusing the lab IDs for count versus percentage lab results.  This is prevalent in measurements related to White Blood Cells (WBC). For example, the database can have different lab ID codes for Lymphocyte Percentage (measured as a percentage of the total WBC count) and the absolute Lymphocyte Count. However, due to operator misunderstanding or lack of awareness, the percentage of lymphocytes is sometimes erroneously reported under the lab ID for the lymphocyte count, with the unit of measurement also incorrectly listed as a percentage. Instead of deleting these mislabeled values, which would increase the amount of missing data and introduce bias, we can develop a mapping table approach. This involves creating a conversion map to consolidate the data and make the reporting format uniform across all entries. Specifically, we can map the mislabeled percentage values to their appropriate lab ID code for the lymphocyte percentage. By employing this mapping, we are able to resolve the data entry errors without losing valuable data points. Developing Conversion Map Flow chart of the lab unit unification algorithm Conversion map example The conversion map is a table that helps us convert lab data from different formats into a unified representation. We use mathematical formulas in the Conversion Equation column to transform the original values into the desired format. If the original and target formats have similar distributions, no conversion is necessary. But if they are different, we need to find the appropriate conversion equation from medical literature or consult with clinicians. To handle extreme or invalid values, we incorporate Lower and Upper Limits based on reported value ranges in medical journals. Values outside these limits are considered missing data.   General strategies for managing the output of the data cleaning process When working with large EHR datasets, it is necessary to keep the unique identifiers in your output unchanged. These identifiers are required for merging data tables during subsequent analyses. It is also advised to be cautious when deciding to remove values from the dataset. Unless you are certain that a value is an error, it is recommended not to drop it.   To maintain a comprehensive record of the data cleaning process and facilitate backtracking, we save the results and outputs at each step in different files. This practice helps you keep track of different file versions. When sharing cleaned data with different teams or data analysis users, it is helpful to flag any remaining issues in the data that could not be addressed during cleaning. Use flags like "Kept," "Missing," "Omitted," "Out of range," "Missing equation," and "Canceled" for lab data. Clinical Events The clinical event table, specifically the vital signs subgroup, has a similar structure to the lab table in EHR databases. So, you can apply the same steps and approaches from the data cleaning tool to the clinical event table. However, it is important to note that this table may also contain other inconsistencies. Variable Combining   In the clinical event table, a common issue is the use of unique descriptions for the same clinical event. This happens because multiple healthcare facilities use the database, each with their own labeling terminology. To tackle this challenge, statistical techniques and clinical expertise are used to identify events that can be combined into one variable. For instance, there are many distinct event code IDs for the Blood Gas test, some with similar descriptions like "Base Excess," "Base Excess Arterial," and "Base Excess Venous." Once expert clinicians confirm these labels can be combined, a decision can be made to consolidate them into a single variable.   Medication Table Medication tables present their own unique challenges and inconsistencies that require different strategies. The data in the Medication table consists mainly of codes and labels, not numerical values. When working with this table, using generic medication names is more efficient than relying solely on medication codes (like National Drug codes). However, even within the generic names, there can be inconsistencies in spelling variations, capitalization, and the use of multiple words separated by hyphens, slashes, or other characters.  Procedure Table Procedure codes identify surgical, medical, or diagnostic interventions performed on patients. These codes are designed to be compatible with diagnosis codes (such as ICD-9 or ICD-10) to ensure proper reimbursement from insurance companies, like Blue Cross Blue Shield or Medicare, which may deny payment if the procedure codes do not align with the documented diagnosis. Three types of procedure codes are commonly used.  ICD-9 procedure codes Consist of two numeric digits followed by a decimal point, and one or two additional digits. They differ from ICD-9 diagnosis codes, which start with three alphanumeric characters. ICD-9 procedure codes are categorized according to the anatomical region or body system involved. CPT (Current Procedural Terminology) codes Also known as Level 1 HCPCS (Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System) coding system, CPT codes are a set of medical codes used to report medical, surgical, and diagnostic procedures and services. Physicians, health insurance companies, and accreditation organizations use them. CPT codes are used in conjunction with ICD-9-CM or ICD-10-CM numerical diagnostic coding during electronic medical billing. These codes are composed of five numeric digits. HCPCS Level II codes Level II of the HCPCS is a standardized coding system used primarily to identify products, supplies, and services, such as ambulance services and durable medical equipment when used outside a physician's office. Level II codes consist of a single alphabetical letter followed by four numeric digits. The data cleaning for the procedure table often may not be necessary. The data analysis framework, which involves multiple steps iteratively Healthcare Data Pre-Processing   Variable Encoding   When working with EHR datasets, the data may contain records of medications, diagnoses, and procedures for individual patients.  These variables can be encoded in two ways:  1) Binary encoding, where a patient is assigned a value of 1 if they have a record for a specific medication, diagnosis, or procedure, and 0 otherwise.  2) Continuous encoding, where the frequency of occurrence of these events is counted.   Tidy Data Principles  Variable encoding is a fundamental data pre-processing method that transforms raw data into a "tidy" format, which is easier to analyze statistically. Tidy data follows three key principles: each variable has its own column, each observation is in one row, and each cell holds a single value.  Variables are often stored at different tables within the database. To create a tidy dataset suitable for analysis, these variables need to be merged from their respective tables into one unified dataset based on their defined relationships. The encounter table within an EHR database typically already meets the tidy data criteria. However, many other tables, such as the medication table, often have a "long" data format where each observation spans multiple rows. In these cases, the long data needs to be transformed. A diagram illustrates how the principles of tidy data are applied. Initially, the medication table is in a long format, with multiple treatment variables spread across rows for each encounter ID To create a tidy dataset, we follow a few steps: Each variable is put into one column. The multiple treatment variables in the medication table are transformed into separate columns (Treatment 1, Treatment 2, Treatment 3, Treatment 4) in the tidy data. This ensures that each variable has its own dedicated column. Each observation is in one row. The encounter table already has one row per encounter observation. After merging with the transformed medication data, the tidy dataset maintains this structure, with one row representing all variables for a single patient encounter. Each cell has a single value. In the tidy data, each cell contains either a 1 (treatment given) or 0 (treatment not given). This adheres to the principle of having a single atomic value per cell. The merging process combines the encounter table (with patient ID, encounter ID, age, sex, and race variables) and reshaped medication data to create a final tidy dataset. The merging process combines the encounter table and reshaped medication data to create a final tidy dataset. Each row corresponds to one encounter and includes relevant variables like treatments, demographics, and encounter details. Feature Extraction: Derived Variables  Сertain variables, such as lab test results, clinical events, and vital signs, are measured repeatedly at irregular time intervals for a patient Instead of using the raw repeated measurements, feature extraction and engineering techniques are applied to summarize them into derived feature variables.  One common approach is to calculate simple summary statistics like mean, median, minimum, maximum, range, quantiles, standard deviation, or variance for each variable and each patient. Let's say a patient's blood glucose levels are recorded as follows: 90, 125, and 100. Features such as mean glucose (105), maximum glucose (125), and glucose range (35) could be implemented. Derived feature variables can also come from combining multiple original variables, such as calculating body mass index from height and weight.  Additionally, features related to the timing of measurements can be extracted, such as the first measurement, the last measurement, or measurement after a particular treatment event. The goal is to extract as many relevant features as possible to minimize information loss. Dimension Reduction  Variable Grouping or Clustering Many EHR variables, such as disease diagnoses, medications, lab tests, clinical events, vital signs, and procedures, have high dimensions. To reduce data complexity, we can group or cluster these variables into higher-level categories. This also helps to ensure a sufficient sample size for further analysis by combining smaller categories into larger ones. For example, the ICD-9-CM system comprises over ten thousand diagnosis codes. However, we can use the higher-level ICD-9-CM codes with only three digits, representing less than 1000 disease groups.  Healthcare Data Analysis and Prediction Statistical Models  EHR datasets are big, messy, sparse, ultrahigh dimensional, and have high rates of missing data. These characteristics pose significant challenges for statistical analysis and prediction modeling. Due to the ultrahigh dimensionality and potentially large sample sizes of EHR data, complicated and computationally intensive statistical approaches are often impractical. However, if the dataset is properly cleaned and processed, certain models, like general linear models, survival models, and linear mixed-effects models, can still be appropriate and workable to implement. Generalized linear models (GLMs) are commonly used and effective for analyzing EHR data due to their efficiency and availability of software tools. For time-to-event analysis, survival regression models are better suited than GLMs, but they need to account for issues like missing data and censoring in EHR data. Mixed-effects models are useful for handling longitudinal EHR data with repeated measures and irregular timing. Dealing with the high dimensionality is a major challenge, requiring techniques like variable screening (SIS), penalized regression (LASSO, Ridge), and confounder adjustment methods. Large sample sizes in EHR data pose computational challenges, requiring approaches like divide-and-conquer, sub-sampling, and distributed computing. Neural Network and Deep Learning Methods Deep learning (DL) is a class of machine learning techniques that uses artificial neural networks with multiple hierarchical layers to learn complex relationships between inputs and outputs. The number of layers can range from a few to many, forming a deeply connected neural network, hence the term "deep" learning. DL models have input, hidden, and output layers connected through weights and activation functions. DL techniques are increasingly applied to various aspects of EHR data analysis due to their ability to handle high dimensionality and extract complex patterns. Deep learning approaches can be categorized as supervised learning for recognizing numbers/texts from images, predicting patient diagnoses, and treatment outcomes, and unsupervised learning for finding patterns without predefined labels or target outcomes. Supervised learning is the most developed category for EHR data analysis. DL has some advantages over classical machine learning for EHR data: Can handle both structured (codes, tests) and unstructured (notes, images) data Can automatically learn complex features from raw data without manual feature engineering Can handle sparse, irregularly timed data better Can model long-term temporal dependencies in medical events Can be more robust to missing/noisy data through techniques like dropout However, DL models require careful hyperparameter tuning to avoid overfitting. Types of Deep Learning Networks Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) The foundational DL model, with multiple layers of neurons. Good for basic prediction tasks in EHR data. Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) Excels at analyzing data with spatial or local relationships (like images or text). Used for disease risk prediction, diagnosis, and understanding medical notes. Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) Designed for sequential data (like EHRs over time). Can account for long-term dependencies between health events. Used for disease onset prediction and readmission modeling. Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) A unique approach where two networks compete. Used for generating realistic synthetic EHR data and disease prediction. Choosing the Right Architecture CNNs are great for images and text. GANs offer more flexibility (data generation, prediction) but can be harder to train. RNNs are good for long-term dependencies but can be computationally slower. Deep Learning Software Tools and Implementation  TensorFlow, PyTorch, Keras, and others offer powerful tools to build and train DL models. They are often free and constantly updated by a large community. Online tutorials and documentation make learning DL more accessible. TensorFlow Mature framework, easy to use, especially with the Keras open-source library that provides a Python interface for artificial neural networks). It has a large community and is production-ready, with good visualization tools. However, it may have less of a "Python-like" feel in its basic form and there may be potential compatibility issues between versions. PyTorch Feels like standard Python coding, easy to install and debug, offers more granular control of the model. However, without Keras, it requires more coding effort and the performance can vary depending on how you customize it. We have a team of BI analysts who tailor solutions to fit your organization's unique requirements. They create sharp dashboards and reports, leveraging advanced statistical and machine learning techniques to uncover valuable insights from complex healthcare data. Contact our experts to integrate BI for a comprehensive view of patient care, operations, and finances.
Alexander Suhov • 19 min read
Inpatient Dashboards with Length of Stay Analytics to Reduce the LOS in Hospitals
Inpatient Dashboards with Length of Stay Analytics to Reduce the LOS in Hospitals
Optimizing inpatient care, or, in particular, optimizing LOS, often means targeted interventions to improve inpatient financial performance and mitigate the financial impact of LOS challenges. However, this is only possible if length-of-stay management relies on an integrated technical infrastructure, including an enterprise data warehouse and an associated analytics platform. In organizations where it's implemented, clinicians have near real-time access to LOS performance metrics, updated by the minute rather than just by the day. Challenges in Reducing Length of Stay LOS Data is Needed Right Now, While Patients are Hospitalized Reducing LOS by adjusting clinical decision-making is possible when providers, care team members, and leaders within a healthcare network have access to LOS data and recognize its clinical relevance. However, if manual processes are used for gathering and sharing LOS data (which are typically very resource-intensive), it can take several weeks or even months before this data is disseminated across the organization. By then, patients may have been discharged long ago, making the data useless for clinicians. Calculating LOS in Whole Days is Inaccurate If calculating and reporting LOS is based on data from financial systems and insurance claims, where it is recorded in days rather than hours, it creates confusion in the true utilization of hospital resources. The issue lies in the methodology: a patient discharged in the morning, who frees up a bed, may be recorded as having occupied the bed for a full day. Adjusting Acuity Can No Longer Rely on Legacy Approaches It only takes a few complex surgical patients to skew LOS numbers. The traditional method to adjust LOS for patient acuity uses CMI (Case Mix Index), based on the assigned DRG (categorize patients with similar clinical diagnoses), which does not consider all required factors that affect patient acuity and cost. As a result, LOS of a very sick patient may be compared to the LOS of a healthier patient. A doctor may be forced to discharge patients before completing their treatment in order to meet average benchmarks calculated this way. Patients within the same diagnosis group often require similar resources and share comparable clinical complexity. Grouping patients by similar diagnoses (MS-DRGs) and comparing their LOS to the GMLOS (a national average for each diagnosis group) provides a more accurate way to determine whether a patient’s LOS is appropriate. Dividing each patient’s actual LOS by the MS-DRG-specific GMLOS better highlights areas where LOS is either above or below the expected standard, helping to identify opportunities for reduction. Missing Discharge Information Increases LOS The common practice is that social workers and nurses don’t know when particular patients are ready to leave the hospital or what the anticipated discharge date is, leaving them with little time to prepare for the patient’s discharge. This often leads to spending more time ordering medical equipment, finding a bed in a nursing facility, or confirming a ride, delaying the patient’s discharge (unnecessary hospital stays). What Benefits to Expect After Implementing Length of Stay Analytics Performance reports reveal insights that completely shift the focus of LOS improvement initiatives. For example: It’s possible to estimate cost savings per day through automated calculations based on complex formulas. The ability for providers to view their own performance levels (e.g., LOS differences due to practice pattern variation) motivates them to achieve higher performance. When clinically relevant near real-time data is available, hospitalists become more engaged, leading to reduced practice pattern variation through clinical transformation (ultimately reducing LOS systematically). Finally, it’s possible to create a discharge planning process where the team is consistently informed about both the anticipated discharge date and the actual timing of discharge orders. Or more specific findings, such as: Hospitalists often complete discharge orders in the early morning, but patients are discharged only later in the day. This highlights an opportunity to reduce LOS. LOS may vary by the day of the week, especially on weekends, due to limited availability of diagnostic procedures and challenges in discharging patients to specialized nursing facilities. How Belitsoft Can Help Belitsoft is a full-cycle software development and analytics consulting company that specializes in healthcare software development. We help top healthcare data analytics companies build robust data analytics platforms. For integrated data platforms developed to collect, store, process, and analyze large volumes of data from various sources (Electronic Medical Records, clinic management systems, laboratory systems, financial systems, etc.), we: Automate data processing workflows (cleansing, standardization, and normalization). Configure scalable data warehouses. Set up and implement analytical tools for creating dashboards, reports, and data visualizations. Ensure a high level of data security and compliance with healthcare regulations such as HIPAA. Integrate machine learning and AI into analytics. We also help build: Inpatient data marts (to store and structure patient information from EHR, including demographics, diagnoses, timestamps across care processes and pathways, and billing details) Inpatient dashboards, which do not require significant technical skills to segment the population (by “method of arrival,” “discharge destination,” “clinical service line,” “discharge unit,” “ICU utilization,” and other variables), but provide the possibility to create detailed reports in near real-time and share them for distribution, and export them in customizable formats (such as Excel, PDF, PowerPoint, or image files). If you're looking for expertise in data analytics, data integration, data infrastructure, data platforms, HL7 interfaces, workflow engineering, and development within cloud (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud), hybrid, or on-premises environments, we are ready to serve your needs. Contact us today to discuss your project requirements.
Alexander Suhov • 3 min read
ACO Analytics Software to Achieve the Highest MIPS Quality Scores
ACO Analytics Software to Achieve the Highest MIPS Quality Scores
If Accountable Care Organizations manage to improve healthcare quality and reduce costs, they are rewarded with a share of the generated Medicare savings. To be eligible for that share, ACOs pass an annual assessment and prove their efficiency in thirty-four categories. However, a lack of relevant tools that would allow ACOs to estimate progress on the way and make timely improvements often prevents them from scoring high. As a result, ACOs fail to reach their aims and get a share of the generated Medicare savings. Applying data analytics and several other organizational measures helps tackle such issues. Challenges of Data Access for Analytical Purposes The benchmarks for the ACO annual performance assessment become higher with every new year. That is why the quality and transparency of the data from each provider inside the ACO are vital. It should appear timely and be easily accessible for further analysis and sustainable results. While tackling those demands, ACOs face the following issues: Delays in getting actionable data to engage patients Some providers receive the data about their ACO group aggregated performance once a month Some clinics have limited access to data, which restricts the possibility to use it for improvements—for example, if only one person has access to the information Limited access to data leads to delays in sharing the results about the performance and a lack of knowledge about how to use the analytics and how to apply the insights generated by it Limited access to the analytics app also leads to concerns regarding the data accuracy Insufficient transparency results in the inability to track the high performance of peer providers. This creates an impression of unachievable goals and an absence of possibility to provide mutual coaching and training Lack of different information levels about performance for various stakeholders Absence of holistic approach to motivate providers to improve for sustainable results Features of Data Analytics Software to Track ACO MSSP Measures ACOs should be able to track and manage the performance of their providers during the year and check the compliance with the CMS requirements. A necessary precondition for that is wide access to analytics software for business executives, practice managers, doctors, nurses, and other stakeholders. They should be able to: Identify the specific measures that need to be completed for each patient (by integration of the provider schedule with patient-specific data into the analytics application) Evaluate both individual and general clinic performance Examine the data in the analytics application before the patient visits. It allows medical experts to select the right measure that has not been yet applied Be able to specify each measure at any moment and improve it before the dates of the reports Based on their roles, analyze visualizations that demonstrate performance assessment results and get actionable insights on possible ways of improvements and required numbers of patients who need care to be able to show better measures. Clinician visualizations allow for peer comparison, in the result of which providers may contact the top performers to understand how to improve ACOs, in partnership with reliable healthtech software product companies, develop a strategy to drive improvements in data analytics. This may even include reaching out to CMS to clarify measure requirements, clearly identifying the inclusion criteria, exclusion criteria, and denominator for each measure. Organizational Measures to Implement Analytics Software It’s not enough just to implement any analytics software to automate workflows. A lot of organizational efforts are required. Some of them are critical because they directly affect the quality, on top of which the high-quality analytics is laid. Provider workflow should be standardized, ensuring consistency in documentation within the EMR All stakeholders should pass personalized education. It is important to understand how to apply filters to find and visualize the most relevant data, create bookmarks for the information that is often referred to, such as individual performance dashboards, and see the comparison with other providers in the group. At regular weekly meetings, reports and visualization dashboards are presented to providers so they can assess performance, compare it with previous data, validate information iteratively, and make improvements before preparing internal or external reports. What Benefits Can Practices Expect from Using Data Analytics? The ACOs that had already benefited from the analytics software notice such improvements as: increased indicators of influenza immunization and pneumonia vaccination raised numbers of population who passed body mass screenings increased screenings for future risk of falls, tobacco use, and cessation intervention better monitoring of the patients with clinical depression and developing a follow-up plan for them increased number of patients with blood pressure monitoring prescribing antithrombotic drugs, such as aspirin, for those suffering from ischemic vascular disease improvement in diabetes HgbA1c poor control, and in the number of patients with diabetes receiving eye exams improvement in the documentation of current medications in the medical record Improved above-mentioned measures may result in achieving the top position among national ACOs. How Else Can Practices Use the ACO Analytics Software? ACO analytics software may indicate lower-than-expected metrics, for instance, for breast cancer screenings. Thanks to this insight, practices may focus on raising awareness among the population about the necessity of completing mammograms – by proactively contacting patients who have not yet passed screenings. During a patient visit, the care team can see that a patient hasn’t received a required mammogram. The procedure may be scheduled for the same day. In case of detection of an early stage of breast cancer, lifesaving treatment starts as early as possible. Without the patient data from the analytics software, the treatment might never happen. Analytics software also helps to identify knowledge gaps. For instance, the clinic may perform required counseling, however, it may fail to save this data correctly. As a result, the measured performance can be assessed negatively even if patients received proper care. Analytics applications help to find the errors in the documentation and correct them before the deadlines. Not only do members of ACOs benefit from the ACO analytics software. Some specialized providers do not have to report ACO measures but may still use the tool to identify patients who, for example, could achieve improved blood pressure control. Therefore, the distribution of best practices in preventative care results in better patient outcomes. How Belitsoft Can Help Belitsoft is a full-cycle software development and analytics consulting company that specializes in healthcare software development. We help top healthcare data analytics companies build robust data analytics platforms. For integrated data platforms developed to collect, store, process, and analyze large volumes of data from various sources (Electronic Medical Records, clinic management systems, laboratory systems, financial systems, etc.), we: Automate data processing workflows (cleansing, standardization, and normalization) Configure scalable data warehouses Set up and implement analytical tools for creating dashboards, reports, and data visualizations Ensure a high level of data security and compliance with healthcare regulations such as HIPAA Integrate machine learning and AI into analytics. We also help build specialized analytical applications like ACO MSSP Measures to: Monitor 34 quality measures covering various domains such as patient experience, care coordination, preventive health, and management of at-risk patient populations Compare their performance metrics against industry standards and best practices, identify areas for improvement, and track progress over time Understand complex data and quickly identify trends and anomalies with interactive dashboards and visualizations Prepare reports for submission to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) by automating data collection and generating necessary documents If you're looking for expertise in data analytics, data integration, data infrastructure, data platforms, HL7 interfaces, workflow engineering, and development within cloud (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud), hybrid, or on-premises environments, we are ready to serve your needs. Contact us today to discuss your project requirements.
Alexander Suhov • 5 min read
Fraud Analytics in Insurance
Fraud Analytics in Insurance
Converting Business Problems into an Analytics Solution Organizations have goals like making more money, getting new customers, selling more, or cutting down on fraud. In a data analytics project, it's really important to first understand the problem the organization wants to solve. Then, figure out how a predictive analytics model, built using machine learning, can provide insights to help solve this problem. This step is all about creating the right analytics solution and is the key part of the Business Understanding phase in the project. Fraudulent Claim Prediction A predictive analytics model predicts the likelihood of fraud in insurance claims. It analyzes patterns in past insurance claims data, including both fraudulent and non-fraudulent claims, to identify indicators of fraud. To train the model, it would require a large dataset of insurance claims that have been classified as fraudulent or non-fraudulent.  The model would use the data to learn patterns and correlations that are often seen in fraudulent claims. For example, it might find that claims filed immediately after a policy change or claims for certain types of incidents are more likely to be fraudulent. Once the model is trained, it can be applied to new claims. Each claim would be given a score representing the likelihood of it being fraudulent. This is typically done on a scale, where a higher score indicates a higher likelihood of fraud. Claims that receive a high fraud likelihood score would be flagged by the system. This doesn't mean they are certainly fraudulent, but they have characteristics that warrant closer inspection. By using the model to prioritize which claims are investigated, the company can focus on the most suspicious cases. This targeted approach is more efficient than random checks or trying to investigate a large number of claims. This approach will increase the detection of fraudulent claims, thereby saving the company money and protecting resources. This could also deter fraud over time, as potential fraudsters realize that the chance of being caught is higher. The feasibility The key requirement for successfully implementing a claim prediction analytics solution in an insurance company is the business's capacity to provide database of historical claims marked as fraudulent and non-fraudulent, with the details of each claim, the related policy, and the related claimant. The prioritization mechanism should  identify and flag certain claims as high priority and operate within the existing timeframe for handling claims.  If the insurance company already has a claims investigation team, the feasibility study would assess how the team currently operates and how they would adapt to using a new system. High Risk Policyholders Prediction The primary goal is to predict the likelihood of a member (policyholder) committing fraud in the near future. This preemptive strategy aims to identify potential fraud before it occurs, rather than reacting to it after the fact. Running the model, for example, quarterly allows for regular updates on the risk profiles of members.  The model would likely use historical data, including past claims, behavioral patterns, policy changes, payment history, and other relevant data points. Advanced analytics and machine learning algorithms would analyze this data to identify patterns or behaviors that have historically been indicative of fraud. The model assigns a risk score to each member, indicating their propensity to commit fraud. Members with higher scores would be flagged as high risk. Based on this risk assessment, the company might contact the policyholder with a warning to with some kind of canceling their policies. By identifying and addressing potential fraud proactively, the insurance company could save significant amounts by preventing fraudulent claims. This approach could also deter potential fraudsters if they are aware of the company's proactive measures. The feasibility The feasibility of the proposed analytics solution for detecting potential fraud risks among members depends on several key conditions being met. Here are scenarios where the solution would be considered feasible. The organization has: the ability to link every claim and policy to a specific member and maintain historical records of policy changes. the operational capacity to conduct detailed analyses of customer behavior every quarter. a skilled team adept at maintaining positive customer relations, even when discussing sensitive issues like fraud. The organization should be well-versed in relevant legal and regulatory standards, such as privacy laws, and has mechanisms in place to ensure compliance. Fraudulent Intent of an Applicant Prediction This is a strategy aimed at identifying potential fraudulent activity at the earliest stage – when a policy application is submitted.  The primary goal of the model is to assess the likelihood of a new insurance application resulting in a fraudulent claim in the future. This preemptive measure is aimed at fraud prevention rather than detection after the fact. To make accurate predictions, the model would analyze a variety of data points. This could include information provided in the application, historical data of similar policies, patterns identified in past fraudulent claims, and possibly external data sources (like credit scores or public records). Each application would be screened by the model, assigning a risk score indicating the likelihood of a future fraudulent claim. Applications that score above a certain risk threshold could be flagged for further review or potentially rejected. The feasibility Here are scenarios where this solution would be considered feasible. The organization: has access to a collection of claims data, classified as either fraudulent or non-fraudulent, spanning many years, given the potential long interval between policy applications and claim submissions. have the capability to link each claim to the original application details. must have the capacity to integrate the automated application assessment process seamlessly with the existing application approval processes. Exaggerated Insurance Claim Prediction A common problem in insurance is claims where the requested payout is higher than what is justifiable. When an insurance company suspects a claim is over-exaggerated, they conduct an investigation. This process is resource-intensive and costly. The idea is to develop a machine learning model that predicts the likely payout amount based on historical data of similar claims and their outcomes. The model would use historical claim data, including the nature of the claim, the amount initially claimed, the results of any investigations, and the final settled amount. When a new claim is filed, this model can be run to estimate the likely legitimate payout amount.  Instead of going through the full investigation process, the insurer could offer the claimant the amount predicted by the model. This would be a faster, less costly process than a full investigation. The feasibility The solution will be feasible in scenarios where the following conditions are met. The organization: have access to information on the original amount specified in a claim and the final amount paid out.  needs the operational capacity to act on the insights provided by the model. This includes making offers to claimants, which assumes the existence of a customer contact center or a similar mechanism for direct communication with claimants. In this article, we are working under the assumption that following a review of its feasibility, the decision was made to move forward with the claim prediction solution. This involves developing a model capable of predicting the likelihood of fraud in insurance claims. Designing the Analytics Base Table The core of the model's design involves the creation of an Analytics Base Table. This table will compile historical claims data, focusing on specific features that are likely indicators of fraud (descriptive features) and the outcome of whether a claim was ultimately deemed fraudulent (target feature). The design of the Analytics Base Table is driven by the domain concepts. Domain concepts are the fundamental ideas or categories that are essential to understand a particular domain or industry.  Each domain concept translates into one or more features in the Analytics Base Table. For instance, the domain concept of "Policy Details" might be represented in the table through features like policy age, policy type, coverage amount, etc. The identification of relevant domain concepts is a collaborative effort involving analytics practitioners and domain experts within the business. The general domain concepts here are:  Policy Details. Information about the claimant’s policy, including the policy's age and type. Claim Details. Specifics of the claim, such as the incident type and the claimed amount.  Claimant History. Historical data on the claimant's previous claims, including the types and frequency of past claims. Claimant Links. Connections between the current claim and other claims, particularly focusing on repeated involvement of the same individuals in multiple claims, which can be a red flag for fraud. Claimant Demographics. Demographic information of the claimant, like age, gender, and occupation. Fraud Outcome. The target feature, which is derived from various raw data sources, indicating whether a claim was fraudulent.
Dmitry Baraishuk • 5 min read
Run Charts in Healthcare Data Analysis
Run Charts in Healthcare Data Analysis
What is a Run Chart? A run chart is a line graph that plots data points along a timeline. It highlights trends, shifts, or unusual patterns within a process. Run charts reveal insights about your process over time that tables or summaries might miss. These charts are valuable for analyzing smaller data sets before using more complex Shewhart control charts.  In our experience, run charts serve not just as tools for analysis, but as narratives of the process being studied. You can see if things are stable, improving over time, getting worse, or showing dramatic variability.  You also can observe shifts in data upwards or downwards after making changes. Improving a process is one thing, sustaining the improvement is another. Run charts help monitor over time to see if the gains you worked hard for are lasting. Consider, for instance, how we can support primary care clinics in monitoring depression care improvement efforts. By employing run charts to track the percentage of patients attending follow-up visits, we enable clinics to visualize and quantify the impact of targeted changes aimed at improving patient attendance. Run chart example This run chart tracks the percentage of outpatient follow-up attendance for depression care.  The median is the middle value represented by a horizontal line in the chart.  With a goal of achieving 85% attendance, the chart not only showcases an increasing trend over time but also highlightes the effectiveness of three key interventions:  the introduction of a support group for outpatients with depression in February 2019 implementation of a new follow-up appointment system to simplify scheduling  deployment of follow-up reminders to encourage patients to keep their appointment  The resulting data vividly demonstrates a marked improvement in attendance rates post-intervention. Belitsoft offers expert custom healthcare software development services, helping you turn complex healthcare data into clear insights with advanced analytics and visualization tools. Reach out for guidance. Constructing a Run Chart There are seven steps to construct a run chart. While software can automate most of the process, it's crucial to verify that the software's output follows established guidelines.  Here's how we guide our clients through each step: Formulating a focused question to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions Every run chart begins with a clear, investigative question. The question may be, “Are more patients arriving on time for their appointments compared to the past?” This question sets the direction for our analysis.  Data collection to monitor the impact of these interventions across a selected timeframe Percentage of on-time appointments in clinic by month Accordingly, the table may present the monthly percentage of on-time appointments, aggregating data from multiple patients. Developing horizontal scale To determine the horizontal scale, we select time intervals (such as days, weeks, or months) that accurately represent the collected data, and the observed changes.   To prepare the chart for long-term use, we include space for future data. Developing vertical scale The vertical scale is designed to highlight the data effectively. We aim to have most of your current data points fall within the middle half of the chart's vertical axis. Also we implement clear and consistent increments for your axis labels, ideally using round numbers that are evenly spaced. For instance, if aiming for 85% on-time appointments, we might use 10% increments for clarity. Our expertise ensures that the chart remains balanced, informative, and easy to interpret. For that we place tick marks at consistent intervals and make them visually distinct to help estimate values between labeled points. We leave space on the scale to accommodate potential future data points that may fall outside the initial range. In case you have a benchmark or standard for comparison, we include it on the scale to provide context and assess performance relative to the benchmark. For the best visual presentation, we keep a ratio of 2 parts vertical to 5 parts horizontal. This ratio creates a rectangular chart area with enough vertical space for data and labels, and enough horizontal space to display the sequential order. Visual Data Plotting Our specialists accurately plot data points with clear symbols, connecting them to depict the story over time.  This visual representation allows for easy identification of trends, shifts, or patterns. Titling and labeling the graphs To confirm clarity, we title and label the run chart accurately, with the horizontal axis (x-axis) representing time and the vertical axis (y-axis) providing details on the specific measure being tracked.  If the x-axis units are obvious, we don't include an extra label, ensuring that the chart is clear and easy to understand. Median calculation  The median is the middle value when data is sorted from highest to lowest. If you have an even number of data points, the median is the average of the two middle values. Our team calculates the median to serve as a centerline, providing a benchmark against which changes can be measured. However, a median line may not be necessary for run charts with very few data points or those displaying multiple data series, as it can add unnecessary complexity. How we Determine the Median for Your Run Chart we plot your data in chronological order then reorder the data values from highest to lowest and find the middle value directly. This is your median. Method 1: Run chart data reordered and median determined Run chart with labels and median Enriching Run Charts for Deeper Insights Besides these steps, we enhance run charts by adding a goal line and annotations for significant changes or interventions. This added layer of context adds visual reference for progress and turns raw data into actionable insights for healthcare providers. Run chart data with goal line and tests of change annotated The potential of run charts in healthcare data visualization is just the beginning. Belitsoft's expertise in cloud analytics modernization is showcased with our healthtech client on AWS, highlighting our ability to tackle challenges in scalability, security, and data customization. Discover how our end-to-end analytics services can bring similar innovations to your healthcare data strategies. Small Multiples Small multiples are a visualization technique that arranges similar charts in a grid layout. Each chart uses the same scales and axes, making it easy to compare different data subsets. This is especially useful for run chart applications, as it allows our clients to monitor the same metrics across different segments or locations, or providers. Our use of small multiples makes it easy to compare trends and patterns across different groups in healthcare. By keeping scales and axes consistent, we can visually highlight whether changes are widespread or limited to specific areas. Despite the focus on individual locations or providers, the overall results can still be understood in one view. Run chart used as small multiples Chart with Multiple Measures Run charts can track multiple related measures over time. In this case, all measures share the same vertical axis (percentage) and horizontal axis (time). Plotting multiple measures on the same chart allows for direct, side-by-side comparison of their trends, revealing the evolution of each measure and their connections to one another. Run chart displaying multiple measures This chart focuses on three measures of diabetes care: foot exams, eye exams, and self-management goal setting. The chart shows that both foot and eye exam percentages have sustained improvement. However, self-management goal setting initially improved but then plateaued at around 35%. Dual-axis Run Chart When dealing with measures that have different scales, such as clinic wait times and visit volumes, we use dual-axis run charts,since using a single vertical axis can make visualization difficult. A dual-axis run chart solves this problem by having separate, appropriately scaled vertical axes on each side of the chart. Run chart displaying multiple measures for each axis This type of chart enable us to track median clinic wait time in minutes and clinic workload in the number of visits. The chart reveals a significant decrease in wait time.  However, this decrease is not due to a drop-in clinic visits, as the workload remained stable.  This suggests that other factors, such as improved processes or staffing, are contributing to the decrease in wait time. Our analysis aims to uncover the underlying factors that contribute to changes in performance, providing a deeper understanding of the data. Displaying multiple related statistics on a single run chart Averages can sometimes mislead us because they are affected by extreme values (outliers) and may mask the actual performance of most of your data points. To address this issue, our approach involves using a run chart to track multiple statistics related to the same healthcare measure, revealing a more nuanced and accurate understanding of changes over time. Run chart displaying multiple statistics for the same measure For instance, let's consider our efforts in monitoring glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels, a crucial indicator for managing diabetes.  Instead of just monitoring the average HbA1c values across all patients, we also track the percentage of patients who achieve HbA1c targets below 7. Both these statistics move together. Just looking at the average HbA1c alone could be misleading because it might be influenced by a few outlier patients who made significant improvements. This dual-statistic method allows us to have a comprehensive view of the situation. While the average HbA1c value gives us a broad overview, analyzing the percentage of patients who meet specific targets gives us direct insight into the effectiveness of diabetes management strategies. Median of the 'Before' Data and Median of the 'After' Data At Belitsoft, we place great importance on the nuances within healthcare data, especially in projects where data points are limited. Fluctuations in such datasets can distort the assessment of process performance, much like short-term stock price movements may not accurately reflect a company's overall well-being. In these cases, our experts rely on median analysis to provide a more precise evaluation. Medians are less influenced by extremes or outliers that can distort the analysis of a small sample.  By comparing the median before and after a change, we get a broader sense of whether there has been a shift in the overall performance of the process, rather than just focusing on a few individual data points. Run chart with little data How to Interpret Run Charts Visual analysis of run charts is powerful but subjective. What may appear as improvement to one person may not seem significant to another. Run chart rules offer a standard, statistical way to identify meaningful patterns in data that may not be immediately obvious. These rules are especially helpful when there is not enough data to create a more sophisticated Shewhart control chart. To detect actual changes in processes, we use four important rules for identifying "nonrandom signals of change." These rules are based on statistical principles and look for patterns such as shifts, trends that are unlikely to occur due to pure chance, suggesting that an actual change in the process has likely happened. Rule One - A shift  Rule Two - A trend  Rule Three - Too many or too few runs Rule Four - An astronomical data point Four rules for identifying nonrandom signals of change Rule One—Shift A "shift" in your run chart data is a sustained period where your data points consistently deviate from the median. We draw the median line on the run chart. Our experts look for sequences of six or more consecutive data points either ALL above or ALL below the median, disregarding data points that precisely align with the median. Then they exclude any data points that fall exactly on the median line.  For example, if the run chart tracks patient wait times, seeing 6 or more points in a row below the median suggests consistently shorter wait times. This suggests the changes had a positive impact. Note that Rule One requires a minimum of ten data points to be practical. Rule Two—Trend The Trend Rule identifies a sequence of five or more consecutively increasing or decreasing data points. This signals a gradual and a sustained change in your process. The threshold of five points helps teams avoid unnecessary reactions and wasted time investigating false alarms. It also prevents overreacting to short-term random fluctuations that may appear as a trend with only 2 or 3 points. If there are consecutive points with the same value, they should be ignored as they do not contribute to the upward or downward trend. Simulations have shown that the Trend Rule is effective at detecting changes with five points, and increasing it further to six or seven does not significantly improve detection. Rule Three—Runs We utilize Rule Three to assess the stability of your processes. An unusually high or low number of runs may indicate hidden complexities or instabilities within your process. Sometimes, data points can bounce around a lot, causing frequent ups and downs. These fluctuations may have underlying causes you haven't thought about. Rule Three serves as a warning sign for potential hidden complexities in your data that trends and shifts alone might miss. It helps identify data instability by looking for "too few" or "too many" runs. If the data points stay clustered on one side of the median for a long time, it creates very few runs. This suggests that the process is not fluctuating as much as it should be. It's possible that our measurement isn't sensitive enough, making everything appear the same. Too many runs is also a problem. Imagine your data line rapidly zig-zags above and below the median, creating lots of runs. It indicates an unusual level of fluctuation. Something in your process might cause wild or inconsistent results. In such cases, we make a further investigation to find the root cause. Combining data from different sources without separating them, like in the day/night shift example, can create a false sense of hyperactivity in the run chart. To make Rule Three (number of runs) practical, we need at least ten data points. Run chart evaluating a number of runs Measure with too few runs Run chart with too many runs Rule Four—Astronomical Point  An astronomical point is not evidence of a change, but it highlights the need to investigate its cause. It stands out from other data points like a bright star in the night sky. It is significantly different and easily noticeable on a chart. Every dataset has its highest and lowest points, but not all of them are considered astronomical. An astronomical point is exceptionally abnormal for your specific data. Rule Four, unlike other rules, does not rely on statistical probabilities. It requires judgment and agreement from those familiar with the tracked process. Astronomical points can signify something unusual happened – a sudden spike or drop.   Regardless of whether these points suggest a sudden shift caused by new processes, equipment failures, or data entry errors, we investigate to uncover and comprehend their underlying causes. By paying meticulous attention to detail, we ensure our clients receive a thorough analysis that considers all aspects of their data, ultimately offering a clear direction for. Special Considerations Using Run Charts Medians Run chart rules like Shift (Rule One) and Too Few/Too Many Runs (Rule Three) rely on the median acting as a balance point, with data roughly evenly distributed above and below.  Our team monitors for data distribution issues, if too much data falls directly on the median or clusters at the extreme edges (like always at 0% or 100%), this balance is broken. The statistical basis of the rules is no longer valid. We can't reliably detect shifts or unusual patterns of data fluctuation. Two cases when median ineffective on run chart Trend Lines If the run chart shows only normal variation (no signals according to the four rules), a trend line can make it look like a meaningful change is happening when it's not. Recognizing the potential for misinterpretation, we only incorporate trend lines when a clear, statistically significant change (shift, trend, too few/too many runs) is identified through the application of the four rules. This cautious strategy prevents the overinterpretation of normal variations, focusing instead on genuine signals of change. Run chart with inappropriate use of trend line Autocorrelations We tackle the challenge of autocorrelation head-on, particularly prevalent in healthcare data at regular intervals (e.g., monthly). This means that data points from consecutive months are related or similar because patient information can be carried over from one month to the next if new measurements aren't taken. In chronic conditions like diabetes, patients may not need new health assessments every month. This leads to the reuse of previous data, creating artificial similarity between consecutive months. Autocorrelation makes it difficult to identify genuine trends or changes in patients' health status because the data isn't truly independent. It can skew statistical analysis. Imagine a clinic measuring blood glucose levels in patients with diabetes. A patient with well-controlled levels might have appointments every three months. If the clinic's data summary uses their last measurement for the months in between, the monthly data will appear artificially stable, potentially masking subtle changes in the patient's condition. To avoid the skewing effect of autocorrelation, we analyze data only for patients who actually had appointments and measurements within that month. We help healthcare organizations analyze data and make strategic decisions with our Business Intelligence services. Our BI solutions offer advanced analytics, customizable dashboards, and detailed reporting features. With these tools, you can convert complex healthcare data into a valuable strategic asset. Contact us for a personalized consultation.
Alexander Suhov • 11 min read
Predictive Data Analytics
Predictive Data Analytics
What is Predictive Data Analytics Predictive data analytics involves the creation and application of models for making predictions based on patterns identified in historical data. These models are often trained using machine learning techniques. In daily life, we often guess what will happen next. But in data analytics, 'predicting' can mean different things. Sometimes it's about guessing future prices. Other times, it's about figuring out what category something belongs to, like what kind of document we have. Predictive Data Analytics for Price Prediction Hotel chains, airlines, and online retailers must continually modify their pricing strategies to optimize revenue. This adjustment is influenced by various elements, including seasonal variations, changes in consumer demand, and the presence of special events. Businesses can use predictive analytics models, which are trained using historical sales data, to forecast the most effective prices. These predicted prices can then guide their pricing strategy decisions. Predictive Data Analytics for Propensity Modeling Propensity modeling involves predicting the probability of individual customers engaging in specific behaviors. These behaviors can include purchasing various products, reacting to certain marketing initiatives, or switching from one mobile phone operator to another. Predictive Data Analytics for Dosage Prediction Doctors and scientists often determine the appropriate amount of medication or chemicals to use in treatments. Predictive analytics models can assist in predicting the optimal dosages by analyzing historical data on past dosages and their corresponding outcomes. Predictive Data Analytics for Diagnosis Doctors, engineers, and scientists typically rely on their extensive training, expertise, and experience to make diagnoses. Predictive analytics models, however, utilize vast datasets of historical examples, encompassing a scale far greater than what an individual might encounter throughout their career. The insights derived from predictive analytics can aid these professionals in making more accurate and informed diagnoses. Predictive Data Analytics for Risk Assessment Risk plays a crucial role in decision-making processes like loan issuance or insurance policy underwriting. Predictive analytics models, once trained on historical data, can identify key risk indicators. The insights gained from these models can be employed to make more informed and accurate risk assessments. Predictive Data Analytics for Document Classification Predictive data analytics has the capability to automatically categorize various types of documents, including images, sounds, and videos, into distinct categories. This functionality is useful in a range of applications such as assisting in medical decision-making processes, directing customer complaints to the appropriate channels, or filtering email spam. Predictive Data Analytics Project Lifecycle The likelihood of success in a predictive data analytics project is heavily reliant on the process employed to manage the project. Therefore, it is advisable to focus on and utilize a well-defined project management process for these initiatives. In predictive data analytics projects, the majority of the work, approximately 80%, is concentrated in the phases of Business Understanding, Data Understanding, and Data Preparation. Conversely, only about 20% of the effort is dedicated to the Modeling, Evaluation, and Deployment phases. In predictive data analytics projects, some phases are more closely interconnected. For instance, the Business Understanding and Data Understanding phases are tightly coupled, often leading to projects oscillating between these two stages. Likewise, the Data Preparation and Modeling phases are closely connected, with projects frequently alternating between these phases. Business Understanding Predictive data analytics projects typically begin with objectives such as acquiring new customers, increasing product sales, or enhancing process efficiencies. The process of developing a predictive model should start with a deep understanding of the business problem, ensuring that the model not only predicts accurately but also provides actionable and relevant insights for the business. In the initial phase, the primary responsibility of the data analyst is to comprehensively understand the business or organizational problem at hand. Following this understanding, the next step involves designing a data analytics solution to tackle this problem. Data Understanding At this stage, the data analyst gains a thorough understanding of the available data sources within the organization and the types of data these sources contain. For building predictive data analytics models, it's crucial to have specific types of data, which need to be organized in a particular structure known as an Analytics Base Table (ABT). This structured approach is essential for effective model development. Data Preparation This phase encompasses all the necessary activities to transform the various data sources within an organization into a well-structured ABT. The ABT is the key element from which machine learning models can be effectively trained, ensuring that the data is in a format suitable for this purpose. Modeling During the Modeling phase, the focus shifts to the actual machine learning work. This involves employing different machine learning algorithms to construct a variety of predictive models. From this range, the most effective model is identified and selected for deployment. This phase is crucial for determining the most suitable model based on performance and applicability to the specific problem. Evaluation (Testing) Prior to deploying models within an organization, it is vital to thoroughly evaluate them to ensure they are suitable for the intended purpose. The evaluation phase encompasses all tasks necessary to demonstrate that a prediction model is capable of making accurate predictions once deployed. This includes verifying that the model does not suffer from overfitting or underfitting, which are critical factors for its effectiveness and reliability in practical applications. Deployment   The final phase of a machine learning project involves all the work necessary to successfully integrate a machine learning model into an organization's existing processes. This phase is critical, as it ensures that the developed model effectively serves its intended purpose. It covers aspects such as deploying the model into a production environment, integrating it with existing systems, and ensuring it operates seamlessly within the organization's processes. Predictive Data Analytics Tools The initial decision in selecting a machine learning platform involves choosing between an application-based solution and a programming language-based approach. Application-based Solutions for Building Predictive Data Analytics Models Application-based, or point-and-click, tools are well-designed to facilitate the rapid and straightforward development, evaluation of models, and execution of associated data manipulation tasks. Utilizing such tools, one can train, evaluate, and deploy a predictive data analytics model in a remarkably short time, potentially in less than an hour. Enterprise-wide solutions Key application-based solutions for constructing predictive data analytics models include platforms like IBM SPSS, Knime Analytics Platform, RapidMiner Studio, SAS Enterprise Miner, and Weka. These tools offer user-friendly interfaces and a range of functionalities that streamline the model development process, making them especially valuable for users who may not have extensive programming expertise. The tools offered by IBM and SAS are designed as enterprise-wide solutions, seamlessly integrating with other products and services provided by these companies. This integration facilitates a cohesive and comprehensive approach to data analytics within larger organizations. Open-source solutions In contrast, Knime, RapidMiner, and Weka stand out for being open-source and freely available. These tools provide a significant advantage for individuals or organizations looking to explore predictive data analytics without an initial financial commitment. The open-source nature of these platforms also encourages a community-driven approach to development and problem-solving, offering a wealth of resources and support for users at all levels of expertise. Programming languages for Building Predictive Data Analytics Models R and Python are indeed two of the most widely used programming languages in the field of predictive data analytics. Building predictive data analytics models using languages like R or Python is not overly challenging, particularly for those who have some background in programming or data science. Advantages One of the significant advantages of using a programming language is the immense flexibility it provides to data analysts. Virtually anything that the analyst can conceptualize can be implemented.  In contrast, application-based solutions have limitations in terms of flexibility. Analysts using these tools can typically only achieve what the developers had in mind when designing the tool.  Additionally, the most recent advanced analytics techniques are accessible in programming languages well before they are incorporated into application-based solutions Disadvantages Certainly, using programming languages does come with its drawbacks. The primary disadvantage is that programming is a skill that requires a significant investment of time and effort to learn. Utilizing a programming language for advanced analytics presents a notably steeper learning curve compared to using an application-based solution. The second drawback is that when using a programming language, there is generally limited infrastructural support, including data management, which is readily provided by application-based solutions. This places an additional responsibility on developers to implement these essential components themselves. Supervised machine learning To build the models for predictive data analytics applications, supervised machine learning is often used. It starts with a collection of data that has already been labeled with the correct answer. The dataset is referred to as a labeled dataset if it includes values for the target feature.  Other types of machine learning include unsupervised learning, semi-supervised learning, and reinforcement learning.  Historical Dataset to Train a Model A machine learning algorithm analyzes the training dataset and develops a model by finding patterns between the descriptive features and the target feature based on a set of historical examples (training dataset), or historical instances.  The two steps in supervised machine learning: Learning and Predicting The model's goal is to understand the relationships in such a way that it can predict the target feature for new, unseen instances. Descriptive features and a Target feature In supervised learning, the target feature is known from the training (historical) dataset. It's used to train a machine learning model to predict the probability that a mortgage applicant will fail to repay the loan as agreed (credit default risk). In this dataset, the descriptive features are occupation, age and loan-salary ratio of the loan amount to the applicant's salary.  The "Outcome" field (a target feature) indicates whether the mortgage applicant has failed to make the payments on their loan according to the agreed terms, an event which is recorded as "default". Model consistency with the dataset A model that is consistent with the dataset is one that accurately reflects the relationships between the features and the target outcome in the historical data. Consistency means that for every instance where the model makes a prediction, the prediction matches the actual outcome that is recorded in the historical dataset. For instance, if the model predicts that a person with a certain age, occupation, and loan-salary ratio will default on a loan, and the dataset shows that the person did indeed default, then the model's prediction for that instance is consistent with the dataset. A consistent model not only fits the training data but also generalizes well to unseen data. Such model's predictions are stable across the dataset even if there are small variations in the input data. Machine learning is not for simple datasets For simple datasets with 3 descriptive features and dozens of instances, we can manually create a prediction model. A decision rule model used to predict loan repayment outcomes in this case: If the ratio of the loan amount to the borrower's salary is greater than 3.1, then the prediction is that the borrower will default on the loan. If the loan-to-salary ratio is not greater than 3.1, then the prediction is that the borrower will repay the loan. However, to manually learn the model by examining the large datasets containing thousands or even millions of instances, each with multiple features is almost impossible. The simple prediction model using only the loan-salary ratio feature is no longer consistent with more complex datasets.  A training historical credit scoring dataset with 25 historical instances, 7 descriptive features and 1 target feature (outcome). FYI: Ftb are first-time buyers, stb are second-time buyers.  A decision rule model used to predict loan repayment outcomes in this case: If the borrower's loan amount is less than 1.4 times their salary, then predict that the borrower will repay the loan. If the loan amount is more than 4.1 times the borrower's salary, then predict that the borrower will default on the loan. If none of the above conditions are met, but the borrower is younger than 39 years old and works in the industrial sector, then predict that the borrower will default on the loan. If none of the above conditions are met, predict that the borrower will repay the loan. When we want to build consistent prediction models from large datasets with multiple features, machine learning is the solution. It’s able to detect relations which are not immediately obvious and could be missed in a manual examination of the data. Machine learning algorithms notice "unnoticed" patterns Detecting such relations manually is very difficult, especially when there are many features. As you add more features, the number of possible combinations increases exponentially, making it virtually impossible to manually explore all potential rules. A simple observation might suggest that a high 'Loan-Salary Ratio' leads to a higher likelihood of default. However, there might be an interaction between 'Loan-Salary Ratio' and 'Occupation'. For instance, it could be that professionals with a high loan-salary ratio default less often than industrial workers with a high loan-salary ratio because they have more stable incomes or better prospects for salary increases. Patterns that are subtle may only emerge when looking at the data in aggregate, often through statistical methods. A statistical analysis may reveal, for example, that defaults are more common among industrial workers who are younger than 40 and have a loan-salary ratio greater than 3. This pattern might not be obvious when looking at individual records because it's the combination of three separate features. There could also be a threshold effect where defaults spike once the loan-salary ratio exceeds a certain value, but below that threshold, the ratio has little impact on the likelihood of default. Without statistical analysis, such threshold effects could go unnoticed.
Dmitry Baraishuk • 8 min read
CRM Analytics
CRM Analytics
Analytical CRM Goals The first step before developing an analytical CRM is to answer the question: 'What is expected from the analysis?' Analytical CRM, or analytic CRM, can provide insights on customers with the highest lifetime value, those at risk of switching to competitors, and the best next offer. With data analytics tools, a company can create more effective cross-selling, up-selling, customer retention, and acquisition programs. CRM databases help marketing teams find signals indicating potential customer churn. By analyzing these patterns, they can target retention offers to customers at risk, proactively keeping their valuable customer base. Companies may identify highly satisfied customers and promote tailored offers, capitalizing on their positive experiences to drive repeat sales. Website personalization is a strong suit of CRM databases. Organizations that use CRM analytics see lower cancellation rates thanks to personalized campaigns. E-commerce platforms can analyze customer browsing behavior and purchase patterns to dynamically recommend the "next best offer" as customers navigate the site. Personalized product recommendations increase the likelihood of conversions. Our custom CRM development services simplify operations and enhance productivity. With over 20 years of experience, Belitsoft offers tailored database solutions to enhance business interactions and customer relations. Whether you need a fully customized platform or modifications to an existing CRM, we adapt our services to meet your unique requirements. Contact us for a consultation. CRM Databases CRM Analytics relies on customer-related data from corporate databases like purchase history, payment history, campaign responses, loyalty scheme data. It can be augmented with additional information from external business intelligence organizations or social media, such as geo-demographic/lifestyle data. CRM databases serve as the central repository for all customer data. The effectiveness of CRM data analytics depends on the quality, comprehensiveness, and organization of the data within these databases. Structured Data Most corporate databases store data in a structured format with a fixed structure. Each field holds specific data, such as customer name, address, purchase history, etc. Records contain multiple related fields based on the data model. Commercial CRM applications come with pre-defined data models for different industries. For example, the data model for a banking CRM would differ from a life sciences CRM. Users can't modify the core data model but can add fields.  Structured data is common in corporate databases used by sales, marketing, service, logistics, and accounts departments. Third-party sources provide structured data, including market research firms and credit scoring agencies. Unstructured Data Unstructured data does not follow a predefined model. It includes text files like emails and customer feedback, as well as documents, presentations, handwritten agent notes on phone conversations, recorded calls, images, and videos.  The amount of unstructured data generated by social media users has significantly increased. This exponential growth of unstructured data from diverse sources has led to the term "big data". CRM practitioners can already utilize certain big data technologies, such as voice recognition, predictive analytics, social media monitoring, and text analytics. Our services are oriented towards integrating a broader array of both structured and unstructured data from various sources into the CRM. Your system will be capable of pulling in data from IoT devices and social media, among other sources, creating a 360-degree view of the customer. We enhance data quality, completeness, and cleanliness within CRM systems. This involves data cleaning, de-duplication services, or enriching the data. Relational Databases Relational databases are the standard architecture for CRM applications that use structured data. They store data in tables with rows and columns, similar to a spreadsheet. Each table holds information on a specific topic, such as customers, products, transactions, or service requests.  Each record (row) in a relational database has a unique identification called the primary key. For example, in a sales database, each customer has a unique number that serves as the primary key.  Companies often have multiple databases for marketing, service, inventory, and payments. The primary key for each customer is used to connect data across these databases. Data Warehousing and CRM Companies operating globally generate massive amounts of customer data from various sources. To convert this data into actionable information, data warehouses are used. These warehouses store large volumes of operational, historical, and customer-related data, often exceeding terabyte or even petabyte levels. Building a data warehouse involves several steps: Identifying relevant data sources Extracting data from those sources Transforming the data into a standardized and clean format Uploading the transformed data into the warehouse Regularly refreshing the data Basic Data Configuration for CRM analytics Retailers, home shopping companies, and banks have been enthusiastic adopters of data warehouses to consolidate and analyze their customer data. CRM Data Mart A data mart is a subset of a larger enterprise data warehouse that is tailored to the needs of a specific department. For example, marketing and sales departments can have their own dedicated data marts that contain only the relevant CRM-related data.   Salespeople can use it to determine revenue and profitability by customer, product, region, or sales channel. They can analyze call response rates and times. Partner managers can compare marketing fund approvals to partner-generated revenues and assess each partner's performance. Implementing data marts is less complex than a full data warehouse project, as they involve less data, fewer users, and a more precise business focus. Due to their smaller scale and scope, data mart projects tend to have lower costs compared to enterprise-wide data warehousing initiatives. The technology infrastructure required for data marts is less demanding, making them more accessible for departmental use. We develop data warehousing solutions as per the clients' requirements. They improve data analysis without disrupting operational data. OLTP/OLAP Models Customer data is divided into two subsets: operational data and analytical data. Operational data resides in Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) layer, designed to handle day-to-day transactional data processing, such as customer orders, payments, and account updates.   On the other hand, analytical data is stored in an Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) layer, optimized for data analysis and reporting purposes. The information in the OLAP layers is a summarized extract or subset of the data from the OLTP layer, or a consolidated view of data from multiple sources, containing only the necessary information for analytical tasks.   This optimization allows for data storage and processing for analytical queries and reporting, enabling complex data analysis, like trend analysis, forecasting, and data mining.  Online analytical processing (OLAP) OLAP technologies aid in data analysis with slice-and-dice, drill-down, and roll-up processes. Slice-and-Dice This process allows us to view data from different perspectives. For example, a salesperson could "slice" the data by region (e.g., North America) and "dice" it by a specific product to analyze the sales performance of that product in that region. Drill-Down The drill-down process starts from a summary view of data and goes into more detailed levels. For example, a sales manager can start by looking at the total sales revenue for the company. Then, they can drill down to see revenues by country, state, and individual salespersons or stores within a state. Roll-Up Roll-up is the opposite of drill-down. For instance, sales data can be rolled up from individual transactions to daily, monthly, and quarterly sales. OLAP is used to analyze data stored in a star schema. A data warehouse integrates multiple star schemas for different analytical subjects, like customers, opportunities, service requests, and activities. Star Schema A star schema is a type of database schema that is optimized for data warehousing and OLAP applications. It gets its name from its resemblance to a star, with a central fact table surrounded by dimension tables. Fact Table The fact table is the core of the star schema and stores quantitative data (or "facts"), such as sales revenues and volumes. For instance, in customer-focused schema, the fact table would contain metrics like sales revenue, sales volumes, cost of sales, profit margins, discounts, and promotional expenses. Dimension Tables Surrounding the fact table are dimension tables, which contain descriptive attributes related to the facts. The attributes (or "dimensions") are perspectives through which the facts can be analyzed. Examples of dimensions include geography, time period, customer, and product class. In the customer schema, dimension tables could include customer demographics, geographic locations, time periods, and product categories. Example of a star schema: fact table and dimensions Disaggregation and Analysis Facts can be disaggregated and analyzed through various dimensions. To illustrate, sales revenues can be segmented based on geography (country, state, city) and time (year, month, day). This helps understand sales performance across different locations and periods. Hierarchical Dimensions Dimensions often have a hierarchical structure, allowing for detailed analysis at various levels. In the geography dimension, one can analyze data at the country level and then drill down to states and cities for more granular insights. Questions Answered by OLAP Using Star Schema With a star schema and OLAP, users can address a wide range of business inquiries: What discounts are available to this customer? How do the quantities shipped or sales figures change annually? What are the total sales for a particular product? OLAP also enables users to explore data and understand the reasons behind certain metrics' performance. In the case of lower-than-expected sales in the UK, users can investigate the data more extensively by analyzing geography, time, or product class, giving them the opportunity to identify potential causes. The business analytics market features numerous providers that deliver OLAP capabilities. Key players include Tableau, Qlik, Microsoft, IBM, SAS, SAP, and Oracle. For a US-based digital health company, we developed a custom CRM database to enhance patient recruitment and retention for clinical trials. This solution improved patient engagement and trial outcomes by simplifying the process and providing advanced analytics. Get in touch for guidance. Data enrichment (ETL/AI/ML) Data enrichment involves adding extra measures or dimensions to enhance the existing data, allowing for generating forecasts using data mining techniques on the raw statistical data stored in the database. Techniques like classification, prediction, and clustering can segment customers, anticipate their needs, and personalize their experiences. This approach, which relies on data marts and warehouses, strengthens customer relationships and drives success within CRM strategies. Description One goal of analytics is to understand complex data. Descriptive analytics cut through the noise within millions of customer records, revealing trends and patterns. This simplified view of "what's going on" provides a starting point to realize the reasons behind customer actions. Classification Analytics also help in making informed decisions about new prospects. By classifying customers based on factors like customer lifetime value (CLV) and creating profiles for each group, you can quickly assess where a new customer might fit. This insight allows for tailored approaches and personalized interactions from the very beginning. Classification is like sorting items into distinct groups. Think of it like categories such as "likely to buy", "unlikely to buy", or "high-value customer". Customer classification based on their response likelihood to a new credit card offer is one way banks may segment their clientele. Estimation When dealing with estimation, the numbers involved can span a broad spectrum. The focus shifts from categorization to making accurate predictions of specific values, such as a customer's spending potential or the probability of them leaving (churning). The bank's marketing campaign probably utilizes a prediction model to assign a score (ranging from 0 to 1) to each customer, indicating their likelihood of responding positively.   Prediction Prediction in CRM means forecasting customer actions through either classification or estimation. Curious about who will recommend a friend, increase their spending, or upgrade? Predictive models examine past data where these activities have taken place, creating patterns that can predict future behavior. Affinity grouping Affinity grouping helps businesses understand the hidden connections within customer purchases. In retail, this involves examining shopping carts to identify frequently purchased items. This reveals potential cross-selling opportunities and informs store layouts. The Walmart example of diapers and beer on Fridays illustrates this strategy's effectiveness in boosting sales. Clustering Clustering transforms customer data into actionable segments. Instead of forcing customers into predefined categories, it analyzes their behaviors and characteristics to reveal naturally occurring groups. These clusters should contain members who are very similar to each other, yet distinct from members of other clusters. CRM practitioners can use this insight for targeted marketing, customized experiences, and even understanding factors behind customer complaints. Once formed, these clusters are given descriptive labels like "Young Professionals" or "Rich people in the suburbs" to easily understand their characteristics. Directed and undirected data mining Directed data mining aims to predict specific outcomes (customer response, churn likelihood, etc.) using historical data as a guide. Classification, prediction, and estimation are the key tools here. The goal of undirected data mining is to uncover hidden patterns and relationships within the data itself without a specific target outcome in mind. Clustering and affinity grouping techniques help identify these patterns. Data mining procedures Decision trees turn complex data into simple decision paths. They use a series of questions to make predictions. Each question is based on a specific factor and helps split the data into smaller groups. Consider the scenario of predicting customer turnover - the decision tree would pose inquiries such as "How long has the customer been with us?" or "What is their recent spending trend?". These questions lead to smaller and smaller groups and ultimately predict the likelihood of a customer leaving. Logistic regression Logistic regression is a powerful tool for understanding customer behavior. It goes beyond basic data analysis by considering factors like phone ownership time and social media usage. It predicts specific actions that customers are likely to take, such as upgrading or churning. The results provide probabilities for each customer's engagement in that behavior. CRM teams can use these probabilities to personalize offers and improve the success of their campaigns. Multiple regression When predicting customer spending, multiple regression analyzes multiple factors, including income and purchase frequency. It determines which factors have the greatest impact on spending amounts. This helps focus efforts on the factors that are most important. Discriminant analysis (DA) clusters This tool creates groups based on similarities. It helps identify patterns that differentiate "big spenders" from "budget shoppers". New customers can be assigned to groups using discriminant analysis. Neural networks Neural networks are powerful for prediction, even with complex, messy data. They can uncover hidden patterns and interactions. Picture them as a highly versatile brain that gains knowledge from vast amounts of data. However, they can be difficult to understand. They are best used when accurate results matter more than understanding the inner workings of the model. Hierarchical clustering Hierarchical clustering breaks down complex customer data into manageable groups. It is flexible and allows analysts to choose the level of detail they need. Imagine grouping export markets based on sales patterns. The hierarchical model can reveal both larger regions (like Northern Europe) with similar sales trends and smaller clusters with specific buying habits. This helps tailor strategies for each group and maximize the impact of CRM efforts. K-means clustering K-means clustering is a popular tool for organizing data into groups. You choose the number of clusters you want (that's the "k") and the algorithm finds optimal groups that are tightly packed together but well-separated from other groups. Analysts often experiment with different values of "k" to uncover useful groupings. Once the clusters are formed, the clusters are analyzed and labeled for easier understanding and use in CRM. Two-step clustering Two-step clustering helps make sense of extensive customer databases. It quickly breaks down complex data into smaller, more manageable chunks and uncovers patterns within each group. This is useful when you have mixed customer information, like demographics and purchase history. These insights can power targeted CRM strategies. Factor analysis  Factor analysis reveals hidden connections between individual data points, grouping them into a smaller number of underlying factors. This is valuable when you have many variables to analyze. It uncovers core factors, simplifying large datasets for better comprehension and usability. Imagine a company wants to improve customer satisfaction. They conduct a survey with many questions covering various aspects of the customer's experience. Instead of looking at each answer separately, factor analysis is used to find patterns. The results might show that customer satisfaction is driven by a few key things, like "product reliability" and "customer service responsiveness." The company can then focus on these core areas to improve overall customer satisfaction more effectively. CRM Data Visualization via Reporting   Reporting in CRM analytics offers valuable insights into sales, customer behavior, and market trends. Reports can be displayed as tables, charts, graphs, maps, dashboards, and can be exported to other applications for further analysis. CRM Reporting can be divided into two main types: standardized reports and query-based (ad hoc) reports. Standard Reports Standardized reports are predefined and often come as a built-in feature within CRM software. These reports can focus on performance against quota, sales rep/call center activity or, list key accounts and annual revenues. They are generated on a regular schedule (daily, weekly, monthly) to provide a consistent view of certain metrics over time. Standard reports may have limited customization options, such as date ranges, specific products, or geographic regions. While standardized reports are quick and easy to generate, their usefulness is limited to what the report designers anticipated. Organizations may find that standard reports may not always address unique questions. Query-based Reports Query-based reporting, also known as ad hoc reporting, is a flexible approach to data analysis. It allows users to create specific reports based on their role. For example, a report could be generated to identify customers in a specific territory with expired maintenance agreements and annual revenues above $100,000. Explore how Belitsoft modernized a US healthcare company's system by developing a cloud-native web app on AWS, integrating BI and CRM functionalities. This helped to improve patient relationships and streamline healthcare processes. Connect with us to enable your data-driven decisions.
Alexander Suhov • 11 min read
Patient Readmission Analytics Software to Reduce Readmissions by Hundreds
Patient Readmission Analytics Software to Reduce Readmissions by Hundreds
If healthcare organizations are able to effectively implement improvements in discharge and follow-up activities, they are rewarded with avoidance of hundreds of readmissions and, as a result, save millions of dollars in total costs. However, a lack of relevant tools often prevents healthcare organizations from consistently performing hospital discharge and follow-up procedures across the organization which results in increased readmissions and decreased overall variable cost savings. Using data analytics and other organizational actions helps address such issues. Challenges with Hospital Readmissions Even if organizations significantly reduce the number of readmissions, they still do not use all the ways to reduce them. Follow-up after discharge is problematic. Clinics experience uncertainty about whether virtual and phone visits could effectively prevent hospital readmissions. Organizations experience a lack of expertise and tools to analyze data, scale their analytics-based readmission reduction strategies, and improve patient care transitions. Gaps in follow-up are identified for patients who aren’t discharged directly home. Patients who go through a third-party facility like a rehab center, do not always receive timely follow-up after being discharged from this center. Organizational Measures to Implement Readmission Analytics Simply using analytics software to automate workflows isn’t enough. Many organizational efforts are needed. Providers and care managers work together to create effective discharge and transition plans for each patient. Redesign when discharge planning happens by starting it right at the time of the patient's admission. Accurate medication reconciliation is a crucial part of discharge planning, and the organization needs to make sure it happens within 24 hours of the patient's admission. Add telehealth options, like virtual and phone visits, to the analytics application to see and evaluate how different visit types affect timely follow-ups and hospital readmissions. Providers who discharge a patient need to leverage a standardized discharge note and an order in the electronic healthcare records to document and communicate medication changes and patient needs. This measure ensures that primary care providers (PCPs) have the crucial information to manage the patient effectively and avoid unnecessary readmissions. What Benefits Can Be Expected from Using Readmission Risk Analytics Tools Care managers and providers report the following improvements: Identifying patients at the highest risk of readmission and focusing interventions on them. It allows care managers to contact the patient in the days following discharge to schedule their next appointment with their primary care physician to adjust care and avoid readmission. Receiving from the analytics app a list of patients who go to a third-party facility such as a rehab center and aren’t always getting timely follow-up after leaving this center. This list ensures care managers invite patients to an appointment within the optimal app-determined time period after leaving the third-party facility. Positive impact on readmissions of virtual and telephone visits. The provider can engage care teams in ensuring discharged patients receive timely follow-up via telehealth and contribute to better patient outcomes. Creating a tailored serious disease risk framework via an analytics platform and a specialized data mart, that is specific to this framework to apply the risk score to all patients. This framework spots patients before their health worsens and helps providers know the best time to have a serious disease conversation with them. The app helps determine the optimal period from discharge day to follow-up appointments. Providers can use this info to adjust their target and reduce unnecessary readmissions. How Belitsoft Can Help Belitsoft is a full-cycle software development and analytics consulting company that specializes in healthcare software development. We help top healthcare data analytics companies build robust data analytics platforms. For integrated data platforms developed to collect, store, process, and analyze large volumes of data from various sources (Electronic Medical Records, clinic management systems, laboratory systems, financial systems, etc.), we: Automate data processing workflows (cleansing, standardization, and normalization). Configure scalable data warehouses. Set up and implement analytical tools for creating dashboards, reports, and data visualizations. Ensure a high level of data security and compliance with healthcare regulations such as HIPAA. Integrate machine learning and AI into analytics. We also help build specialized analytical applications like the Readmission Risk Analytics tool to: find and understand the factors behind patient readmissions identify specific areas where improvements can be made and which improvements can be made create a visual representation of readmission performance that includes risk-based identification and grouping of patients with risk of readmission see quickly how many inpatient visits each patient has had over a specific period display readmissions based on the care unit where patients were discharged, the level of care, the main issue, the provider, the discharge plan, or the insurance payer calculate and track the ratio of actual-to-expected (A/E) for potentially preventable readmissions (PPR) basing on risk-adjusted data use data in the analytics app and the PPR A/E to spot and address changes in performance monitor the PPR A/E both in the entire large network and in each clinic of this network keep track of how changes affect balance measures such as death rates, length of stay, and patient satisfaction assess how changes affect the outcome measures that matter. If you're looking for expertise in data analytics, data integration, data infrastructure, data platforms, HL7 interfaces, workflow engineering, and development within cloud (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud), hybrid, or on-premises environments, we are ready to serve your needs. Contact us today to discuss your project requirements.
Alexander Suhov • 3 min read
Business Intelligence Consultant for Fintech
Business Intelligence Consultant for Fintech
Fintech Segments That Hire Business Intelligence Consultants Neobanks (Digital-Only Banks) Digital banks don’t have branches or tellers. Their only real-world footprint is the data trail their users leave behind: login patterns, spend habits, churn events, drop-off flows.  BI in a neobank environment answers questions the CEO is already asking: Where are we “bleeding” in the funnel? What’s our fraud exposure today, not last quarter? Which users should we invest in retaining and which should we quietly let churn? Which features are sticky? And BI doesn’t just report; it drives actions. A consultant might flag a spike in failed logins in a specific zip code, triggering fraud mitigation protocols. Or identify a high-performing onboarding path that can be replicated in a new feature. These are the kinds of insights that move CAC, LTV, and NPS: the CEO-level numbers that ultimately determine valuation. Growth, Retention, and Spend Efficiency  Neobanks compete on slim margins. Every ad dollar has to work. That’s why BI consultants are often embedded with growth teams, analyzing: Which acquisition channels yield high-LTV customers? What’s our CAC by segment or cohort? Which incentives convert one-time users into daily ones? This isn’t just about visualizing the funnel but optimizing it. BI experts connect the dots between marketing analytics, in-app behavior, and user segmentation: you’re not just acquiring users but the right ones. In markets with high churn and expensive acquisition, that’s the difference between Series D and getting delisted. BI Drives Product  Product intuition in a digital bank is incomplete without analytics. BI consultants feed product managers the behavioral fuel they need to prioritize: Which parts of the registration flow lose the most users? Are users really using that new savings feature, or just clicking in and bouncing? Does adding another KYC step kill conversion or reduce fraud? Consultants surface these patterns early - often before they show up in revenue or support tickets. That’s what makes them so powerful. They shift teams from reacting to preempting. Chime is the example here. Their BI and analytics team sits with product and marketing: building the metric frameworks that define success, guiding feature rollout, and shaping long-term roadmap decisions. BI is part of their DNA, not an afterthought. In 2025, the firms that lead in fintech are insight machines. And the companies who know how to operationalize BI, not just to monitor, but to inform and optimize - are the ones building market advantages. When your fintech team needs more than just reports but real-time analytics, our experienced BI consultants and development team turn your data into action. We build custom dashboards, predictive models, and decision-ready analytics tools tailored to your product and users. Payment Platforms (Payments and Digital Wallets) The payment stack looks deceptively clean to the customer: swipe, tap, done. But under the hood? It’s a spiderweb: acquirers, processors, fraud engines, banks, FX services, regional gateways, and APIs that all have to handshake in milliseconds. Every one of those layers produces data. And unless you have the BI expertise to aggregate, reconcile, and interpret it - you’re blind. BI consultants in this space are solving hard problems: Why did a merchant’s authorization rate dip 3% last Thursday? Why is a specific gateway showing latency spikes during peak hours? Which payment methods are growing fastest by geography and margin? Without that clarity, you’re firefighting. Operational Intelligence Payment firms build dashboards tracking: Success vs. failure rates, by method and region Average transaction value and volume Latency by gateway, issuer, or network Error codes tied to specific banks or devices This data isn’t just for engineers - it’s for executives. A spike in transaction failures in Latin America? BI surfaces it first. A partner gateway degrading slowly across a week? The BI team shows the trend before support tickets pile up. This visibility directly protects revenue - by detecting performance issues before they become churn events. Stripe, for example, built live dashboards that track the global health of its payments infrastructure, not just for technical health, but business impact. That’s the difference between passive monitoring and business-aware analytics. Revenue, Risk, and Optimization BI stitches together what most organizations still treat as separate: Revenue insights: Who’s transacting the most? Which cohorts drive margin? User behavior: Which payment methods convert best by segment or region? Fraud detection: What anomalies are just edge cases - which are early signals? The best BI consultants bridge these questions in the same dashboard. They help risk teams build fraud scoring models without killing user experience via false declines. They help product teams understand which payment options are underperforming and why. They help revenue teams isolate profitable merchant tiers and optimize pricing. For companies like PayPal, these BI-driven insights directly inform which partnerships to prioritize, which UX flows to AB test, and which countries to double down on for growth.  BI Is the Compass Whether it’s Stripe expanding into new markets, or Square introducing BNPL features, those moves are backed by BI: What’s our volume by vertical in this region? What’s the fraud profile for the top 5 banks in the market? Can our infrastructure sustain another 100k users per day at current latency? BI teams provide the answers: in dashboards, in forecasts, in decision memos. They don’t just answer what’s happening. They model what’s next. Stripe’s internal BI team builds the metrics infrastructure that leadership runs the business on. They’re involved in product planning, operational readiness, and even feature deprecation, because everything touches the data. Lending Platforms (Digital Lending and BNPL) Credit Risk Isn’t Static From education history to bank cashflows, mobile phone usage to payroll APIs: the underwriting model is only as smart as the data behind it, and that’s where BI consultants come in. They surface correlations, test segment performance. They determine whether a borrower who scores 660 but has a recent college degree and three months of perfect neobank activity is a risk - an opportunity. Affirm’s entire underwriting model lives and dies by one question: what default rate are we accepting at this level of loan approval? BI teams track that in real time. The model may approve 70% of users, but if loss rates creep from 2.1% to 2.8%, someone has to catch it - and fast. That’s the job of BI.  Portfolios Need Radar Once loans are disbursed, it’s not just about waiting for repayment. It’s about active portfolio surveillance. Which cohorts are going sideways? Which geographies are softening? Is BNPL delinquency rising among Gen Z shoppers in fashion retail but not in travel? BI consultants power dashboards that answer these questions daily - by segmenting portfolio data across behavior, demographics, and payment patterns. Collections teams don’t blast everyone anymore. They target likely-to-cure segments first, based on repayment history and contact method effectiveness. That’s BI applied directly to recovery - turning analytics into dollars reclaimed. In many platforms, a 1–2% lift in collection rates across at-risk segments can unlock millions in preserved revenue. BI is how that happens. Growth That Pays for Itself Customer acquisition isn’t just a marketing function anymore, but it’s an analytical battlefield. CAC, drop-off rates, cost-per-funded-loan, funnel velocity - BI consultants run these models. And they’re not just measuring. They’re shaping targeting strategies. BI tells SoFi which ones bring good borrowers: high FICO, low churn, high cross-sell uptake. BI tells Upstart if a cleaner UX after A/B test of web pages increased completion from qualified users, not just more volume. Even pricing is analytics-driven. Want to bump conversion? Offer 1% lower APR, but only for segments with high predicted repayment likelihood. BI makes it possible to do that surgically, not by blunt discounting. This is where growth and risk get braided together, and BI is the unifier. Strategic BI Every lending decision has a downstream effect: risk, revenue, capital burn, regulatory exposure. And as markets fluctuate, capital costs shift, and borrower behaviors evolve: BI gives leadership the real-time radar to steer. You can’t afford to review performance quarterly. It has to be continuous recalibration. Upstart and Affirm are models of this in action. Their BI teams sit in daily standups with product, growth, and credit policy, pushing insights upstream into decision-making. When loss rates nudge, when default curves change, when new user behavior signals emerge, BI flags it before it shows up in charge-off reports. Insurtech (Insurance Technology Firms) CEOs leading insurtech ventures know that your value proposition is only as strong as your visibility into risk, claims, and customer behavior.  Pricing Risk is About Pattern Recognition Underwriting is the heart of the business. BI consultants here don’t just build dashboards. A BI-driven insurtech can analyze telematics, IoT feeds, weather models, historical claims, and demographic data, and then push it all into pricing models that can segment customers with precision. A user drives aggressively but only during the day? Adjust pricing accordingly. Claims spike in flood zones following two weeks of rainfall? Adjust exposure models in real time. A new cohort of Gen Z pet owners? Predict claims patterns before the actuaries catch up. This is where BI merges with predictive analytics.  Claims Are Where You Make (or Lose) Trust and Margin Claims management is where most insurers lose customer loyalty and money. It’s also where BI makes the biggest operational impact. BI dashboards monitor: Claim volume by region or cause Time to first contact, time to payout Approval vs. denial rates Anomalous behaviors or patterns that suggest fraud The key advantage? Proactive visibility. When a claims region is lagging, BI shows it. When a claim looks suspicious, BI flags it, not after the payout, but as it’s being processed. Lemonade has used this kind of data to deliver on its instant-payout promise, even as it scales.  From Mass Coverage to Micro-Personalization BI is also the engine behind product innovation. What riders are being added most? Which customer profiles are buying bundled coverage? Who’s likely to churn next quarter? This isn’t just CRM territory. It’s profitability intelligence: Which products deliver healthy loss ratios? Which customer segments drive margin vs. loss? Where can you push growth without spiking risk? Personalization in insurtech isn’t just a better quote flow. It’s using BI to match risk appetite with customer demand at scale. And BI doesn’t stop at customer insights. It drives capital allocation and regulatory posture. Whether it’s surfacing trends for board-level strategy or calculating reserve requirements for auditors - BI keeps the business compliant, informed, and agile. Lemonade: A Case Study in BI-Led Growth Lemonade didn’t just build an app. It built a BI platform that feeds product, pricing, marketing, and ops from a single source of truth. Their Looker-based system allows cross-functional teams to pull consistent KPIs, explore product performance, and spot new opportunities before competitors react. They didn’t guess at pet insurance or car insurance - they launched them based on customer data and BI-led opportunity mapping. That’s BI as product strategy - not back-office analytics. Wealthtech (Investment and Wealth Management Fintechs) AUM Is Not Just a Metric Your total assets under management (AUM) are the single biggest indicator of scale and trust. But AUM on its own is static. BI gives it motion: Where is AUM growing or shrinking: by cohort, by feature, by time of day? What’s the breakdown of recurring contributions vs. one-time deposits? How do performance returns compare against benchmarks and are users actually beating inflation? A strong BI layer doesn’t just report AUM. It explains it.  Betterment and Wealthfront are classic examples: they don’t just track daily balances. They correlate changes with user actions, product launches, or marketing campaigns. They know what’s driving growth, not just that it’s happening. Even trading spread revenue or advisory fees become BI artifacts. How much are you earning per user segment? Which services are most profitable per dollar of dev effort? Where is the cost-to-serve highest? In a market that’s increasingly margin-compressed, BI is your profitability microscope. Engagement Isn’t Just Retention Wealthtech lives and dies by active use. Inactive users don’t deposit. They don’t upgrade. They churn silently. BI helps you surface: Login and session patterns Feature interaction funnels Abandonment triggers (drop-off in funding flows or rebalancing features, etc.) You’re not just asking “how many users logged in today?” You’re asking: “which behaviors correlate with retention?” “Which feature launches actually move engagement?” “Where are people stalling in their first 30 days?” Wealthfront tracked how often users engaged with the app and used color-coded thresholds: green for healthy activity, yellow for drop-off, red for risk. Then they built features specifically aimed at improving those numbers. If your product roadmap isn’t shaped by this kind of BI telemetry, you’re iterating blind. You may be wasting dev cycles on features that look cool but don’t drive deposits or loyalty. Personalization Is the Monetization Engine All wealthtechs talk about personalized finance. Few deliver on it.  With the right BI systems, you can: Segment users by behavior, demographics, risk tolerance, financial goals Trigger personalized messaging, offers, or dashboard layouts Recommend the next best action: contribute, rebalance, upgrade A BI consultant might build a model that predicts which users are at risk of cashing out and trigger educational content or support follow-up before they go dark. Or you might run a segmentation analysis and discover that high-LTV users engage more with tax-loss harvesting tools, so you elevate that feature in the dashboard for similar users. Robinhood didn’t add crypto trading because someone had a hunch. They saw where user interest was spiking. BI flagged the signal, and the product followed. BI: From Compliance to Strategy in Real Time And then there’s the backend value: compliance. Regulatory reporting, audit trails, capital exposure - it all flows through the BI layer. The real upside is how BI aligns the whole business:   Product: “Which features actually move AUM?” Growth: “Which channels bring in the most profitable users?” Support: “Where are users stuck, and what’s causing ticket spikes?” Leadership: “Where should we invest headcount and capital next quarter?”   Betterment’s use of Looker dashboards to democratize visibility means every employee has access to real-time data. When everyone can see the score, everyone plays the game better. Blockchain/Crypto Firms BI as the Trading Floor Control Panel Crypto exchanges like Coinbase and Kraken operate more like infrastructure providers than traditional brokerages. Every second, they’re processing thousands of trades across dozens (or hundreds) of assets. BI consultants are the ones turning that firehose into intelligence. Key metrics tracked in real time: Volume by asset, trading pair, and region Liquidity and bid-ask spreads Order book depth and volatility Exchange fee revenue by customer segment Custodial asset value on-platform If trading volume on a specific token spikes, your infrastructure needs to scale. If liquidity dries up on a new pair, BI surfaces it before users feel it. If fees drop below profitability thresholds, BI raises the flag. And with on-chain activity now part of the data stack, BI teams even monitor blockchain inflows/outflows - spotting demand signals before they hit the platform. Your next most profitable trading pair? BI already saw it coming. Know Your Users - Or You’re Building for Ghosts Crypto platforms serve wildly different personas. The same interface may host: Passive holders checking price once a week High-frequency traders with custom APIs Users bridging tokens from L2s to mainnets NFT collectors Stakers and DeFi liquidity providers You can’t build one product for all of them. BI tells you who’s who - and what they want. At Coinbase, data analysts routinely cluster users by behavior — frequency, volume, asset mix, wallet age — and use those clusters to define roadmap priorities. New mobile features? Tailored for casual users. Advanced order types? Built for the top 5% of trading volume. This segmentation powers precision product strategy. Without it, you’re flying blind, building what you think users want — not what the data proves they’ll use. BI Is the First Line of Defense In crypto, the speed of fraud is fast. You don’t get weeks to detect patterns. You get minutes - if you’re lucky. BI teams in crypto companies are wired into: Anomaly detection ( sudden spike in withdrawals or trading from flagged IPs, etc.) Real-time exposure to volatile assets AML monitoring and suspicious activity pattern recognition KYC funnel conversion and identity risk scoring BI supports reporting, too — surfacing metrics for regulators, partners, and internal risk committees. Coinbase’s internal risk scores, lifetime value models, and fraud prediction systems are built off BI-led integrations between blockchain data, transaction logs, and user accounts. BI Isn’t just a Function  When Chainalysis decides which chains to support next, it’s not guessing. It’s analyzing: Market data demand User behavior across clients On-chain activity trends That’s BI, not product management alone. When Coinbase runs promotions or referral programs, they’re targeting users with modeled lifetime value curves — shaped by BI. In crypto, the feedback loop is faster, the cost of delay is higher, and the opportunity window is shorter. BI enables your team to react in time — or, more often, to act before the market moves. How Belitsoft Can Help Belitsoft is the technical partner fintechs call when they need BI that does more than visualize - BI that operates in real time, predicts what’s next, and supports business-critical decisions across risk, growth, and product. BI Consulting and Strategy Design Help fintech firms define KPI frameworks tailored to each segment: onboarding funnels for neobanks, fraud triggers for payment platforms, claim efficiency for insurtechs. Build BI roadmaps to connect siloed departments (product, risk, ops, marketing) through shared, actionable data. Custom BI Infrastructure Development Build data pipelines, ETL processes, and dashboards from scratch - using Looker, Power BI, Tableau, or open-source stacks. Integrate data from multiple sources (CRM, mobile apps, APIs, transaction logs, KYC systems) into a unified reporting platform. Behavioral Analytics & Predictive Modeling Implement machine learning models to predict churn, fraud, repayment likelihood, or upsell potential. Analyze user actions (logins, clicks, conversions, claims filed) to segment customers and drive retention or LTV. Embedded Analytics in Custom Fintech Platforms Build platforms with BI built-in — not just for internal reporting but to give users real-time views of their own data (AUM growth, spend insights, creditworthiness, etc.). Design admin dashboards for compliance, audit, or operational oversight. Risk, Compliance, and Regulatory Reporting Tools Automate report generation for audits, board meetings, and regulators. Ensure secure handling of sensitive financial/insurance data — complying with GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS, or other frameworks. Ongoing BI Operations and Support Offer BI-as-a-service: ongoing support for dashboard updates, data quality management, or metric tuning. Help internal teams become self-sufficient with data through training or embedded analysts. Partner with dedicated Power BI developers and BI consultants for fintech from Belitsoft who collaborate directly with your team. Our experts design secure, tailored analytics solutions, from Power BI dashboards to full-scale data systems, backed by deep technical and industry know-how. Contact for a consultation.
Alexander Suhov • 12 min read

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