Data Warehouse Consultants Releases Major Enhancements to Custom Analytics Tool
PITTSBURGH (April 25, 2019) — Data Warehouse Consultants equips Allegheny County Department of Human Services with an updated Outcomes Tool application, enabling advanced analytics across 25+ human services data sources as of February 1.
The Outcomes Tool is a web-based analytic application that allows authorized users to compile data for evaluation. The purpose is to compile aggregate results based on the specific outcomes of individual programs for Allegheny County Department of Human Services’ (DHS), a public health organization in Pittsburgh, programs and services.
Data Warehouse Consultants furnished the Outcomes Tool with an instinctive functionality and navigation making it easy to use and boosting the tool’s efficiency. This tool solves two primary problems that analysts often face.
When studying the effectiveness of a program, analysts must first identify a cohort of individuals meeting specific demographic and programmatic criteria. For example, for a prevention program the analyst may need to identify clients who have had a homeless episode and also recently been in jail. This tool enables them to define the criteria they would like for the cohort across a range of available options, and to generate a list of clients. This cohort is then saved for future analysis over time.
The analyst may want to evaluate the effect of a program to see what percentage of the group has gone back into jail within a designated amount of time.
The problem with doing this analysis is that these criteria must be evaluated independently for each individual because the release date and relevant time period are different for everyone. The first person may have been released from jail in January, and the next person in March. So determining whether the individual returned to jail within one year changes for each person. The Outcomes Tool performs this analysis individual-by-individual, then compiles the results into a common format the analyst can use for future evaluation.
Overcoming both of these hurdles simultaneously provides DHS analysts with a powerful tool that enables consistent program evaluation over time. The release of the recent enhancements to this tool have greatly increased the range of analyses that can be performed on the DHS data warehouse allowing DHS to enhance the service quality and care provided to Allegheny County residents.
About Allegheny County Department of Human Services: DHS is responsible for providing and administering publicly-funded human services to Allegheny County residents. DHS is dedicated to meeting these human services needs, most particularly for the county’s vulnerable populations, through an extensive range of information exchange, prevention, early intervention, case management, crisis intervention and after-care services.
About Data Warehouse Consultants: Data Warehouse Consultants is a consulting firm based in Pittsburgh, PA. Founded in 2004 the firm provides custom development services for web applications and corporate database and data warehouse environments.