Medscheme is planning to upgrade its existing computing environment in a bid to lower operating costs and improve software development turnaround times as well as enabling it to globalise its medical aid administration operations.
The initial project in this move, which Medscheme describes as a "quantum stride into the future", is the commissioning of Rubico, the component-based business solutions developer, to implement a new R5.6 million broker management system.
If the new system meets the company`s need for a flexible system able to accommodate current and future business processes, Rubico could be involved further in the transformation of Medscheme`s core enterprise computing systems.
"From an IT perspective, we have to ensure our computing systems are engineered and certified to the necessary internationally recognised standards, SPICE, if we are to meet our globalisation plans," says Nicholas Parry, General Manager, IT, Medscheme.
"One of the reasons we chose Rubico is that their software engineering process is Spice compliant to the highest level."
One of the key benefits Medscheme is looking for in a new computing environment is to be able to implement systems that can adapt to changing business processes in timeframes in line with business expectations.
"All too often in the past, we have approached changes by initially focusing on the technology solution rather than on business requirements and processes, often resulting in inefficient business process and applications not living up to expectations," he says.
"The Rubico Methodology forces us to understand the business impacts of the initiative by mapping the existing processes and defining the gap to where we intend going. The benefits of this are almost immeasurable. The business requirements are fully modelled before a solution is developed. Just attaining a common view and understanding our business is a huge plus."
From a risk management perspective, the methodology of documenting the way management sees the business removes the risks normally associated with software development.
"You can seriously affect the business if software is not delivered timeously, or does not meet real needs. Apart from that, you incur huge costs if a project has to go beyond its original scope due to misunderstandings or omissions in the requirements definition," says Parry.
The other advantages of Rubico`s solutions is the speed with which its component-based solutions can be implemented and the subsequent flexibility to accommodate changing business needs in the future.
"Because of the pattern-based approach of the technology, we`re able to leverage the other projects we have completed with other financial services companies," says Willie Esterhuyzen, co-founder and CEO, Rubico.
"This ability to repeat patterns in other businesses was particularly attractive to Medscheme because the enhanced productivity delivers a time to market advantage going forward."
The broker management project replaces the existing system that is spread across two platforms - Oracle and PC-based - with the intention of integrating it into the administration systems of Medscheme and Sovereign Health (Sovereign Health is a Medscheme subsidiary operating out of Durban). The project has been sized in excess of 2 500 function points and would have taken between 18 to 24 months to implement using traditional programming methods.
With Rubico`s component-based solution, the actual build time projected is just four months with the entire project - from orientation and documentation to implementation and testing - taking under a year. The company has a build rate of 200 function points per staff month - 10 times the speed of conventional development.
"We wanted to prove the Rubico concept first, which is why we focused on the broker management system initially. While a critical part of our business, it does not impact our core claims processing environment," says Parry.
"We did not want to tinker with the core until we had tested the effectiveness of Rubico`s approach. The broker system is big enough to enable us to do this and then we can take it further at a later stage."
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Rubico delivers large-scale, mission critical business solutions for unique needs via a set of reusable components - a solutions development approach which Gartner predicts will account for 70% of applications delivery by 2003. The company`s key market focus is the financial services sector, but it has delivered solutions across a wide range of industries.
Rubico`s clients include Sanlam, Bankfin, JD Group and Metropolitan. It has appointed local and international value-added resellers as its main channel to market. For revenue growth, the company is looking for 80% of sales to be generated overseas by 2004.
The company has 180 staff members, 80% of whom are directly involved in product creation. Of these, two-thirds are business consultants - experts in fields other than IT, as delivering the Rubico solution never requires writing code.
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