In a deal worth in excess of R 1,2 million the Free State Department of Health has deployed a variety of Oracle products, including an up-grade to the Oracle8 database to enhance its established interactive database. Information is now immediately available to all of its 46 major health facilities and 24 provincial clinics. The Free State Department of Health had been running Oracle 7.3.2. on a Sun 150 machine since the beginning of last year. The department then added the Oracle Web Server 2.1.0 to that and started developing applications, using PL/SQL in mid-March 1997. After Oracle8 was released, the database was upgraded to Oracle8.0.3. The department has purchased Oracle Enterprise Server 8.0.3, with a 72 concurrent-user license, Oracle Application Web Server 2.1.0, Oracle Context Option, with a 52 concurrent-user license which is not yet in use, six developer/2000 licenses, five designer/2000 licenses, and Oracle Express Objects. Express Analyzer was also purchased and will be used in the development of a Decision Support Solution (DSS) in the future The project with Oracle has led to a better informed worker population, according to Dr. Ronald Chapman, director, planning and support, who is responsible for information technology developments in the department. The department, in its move away from traditional client/server connections, needed a database engine which could support Web-based developments as well as a stable database environment that could handle large volumes of information. "Management needed information on demand so we had to set up a central database to start collection statistics. We then put a browser on top of that so users could pull queries on demand," explains Eduan Kotze, the department`s intranet Web manager. Using the Oracle products, the Department of Health, with its staff complement of 19 000, has established an intranet Web server with 250 HTML pages, databases housing information on personnel, disciplinary actions, computer training, telephone numbers, facilities, immunisation, termination of pregnancy, as well as a guest book, hospital and clinic utilisation summaries, and a help desk database and call logging system. The current 72 database users will soon be increased by another 110 users. The network infrastructure consists of more than 800 points which all have access to the Oracle intranet site, according to Kotze. "We have many important static documents which needed to be centralised and accessible to all users," explains Dr. Chapman. "We also had to centralise essential departmental statistics that could be updated by the users themselves. These up-to-date reports are now all online, thanks to the Oracle solution." "We have also bought R250 000 worth of training units to train officials in Developer/2000, Designer/2000, Oracle Database Administration and Context Option, Oracle Web Server and Oracle Express (DSS)," continues Dr. Chapman. Although new databases are still being implemented, set-up of the initial database and Web server took only two to three weeks. Dr. Chapman says Oracle`s service from the start of the project had been professional and its staff "dynamic and intelligent". "We are currently on the Bronze Support level and are very happy with the assistance from the Oracle help desk itself."
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