Medunsa (Medical University of Southern Africa) the leading medical teaching institution, recently bought SAS Institute software to solve some of the management information problems that the university`s administration has experienced in the past. The new system will give administrators easy online access to management information needed for planning and forecasting the needs of the university. The system also allows access to information through a Web-browser interface, which means the information can be widely distributed.
"We have purchased SAS Institute software with Internet functionality and their data warehouse tools," explains Mani Maree, director of information technology at Medunsa.
Decision makers at the university will have access to the management information system.
Other information that can be gleaned more efficiently includes a comparison of the progress of students in different faculties. The new tools installed have given decision-makers a far better idea of the trends in student enrolment and will enable the administrators to act proactively.
Maree believes that SAS Institute provided the best option for their data warehouse. "We chose it also because our data warehouse runs on Windows NT, and SAS Institute software can work on this platform," says Maree.
"We are busy developing a data warehouse for our different administration systems and our student system was completed recently. Currently we are working on the financial system for release early next year," says Maree.
"Different departments and top management now have access to information which aids them in their strategic decision making and planning," says Maree
"Previously information access took place by way of manual production of reports written by the IT department and distributed to the departments. Now they can acquire that information themselves online as they need it," adds Maree.
By using the Internet capabilities staff can easily access reports that they need through the Web page of the university.
The deal has allowed the university`s IT department to provide quicker access to key management information. "This has proved to be a time saving and manpower saving device," points out Maree.
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