Overview
When the Disability Management Institute (DMI) first opened its doors for business in 1982, it was to serve a handful of clients in the public sector. Twenty-four years later, DMI provides disability management services for an ever growing number of corporate and public sector clients. With business on track, it was time for DMI’s inadequate technology to catch up to the organization’s new business needs.

“At first, we managed Worker Compensation Board claims for three clients, so we ran three databases. Then we went private and added 20 more clients. Now, we offer non-occupational adjudication—a whole new side of business—and needed to bring all our databases together,” says DMI President Mavis Gibson. “Each new client stretched our system a little more until we needed something more custom. We needed to increase efficiency, starting with our existing 12 databases.”

Challenge
The large number of databases caused many problems, directly affecting productivity. “With all the databases open, we’d grind to a halt,” recalls Gibson. Also troubling was the lock out that occurred if a second user tried to store information on an already-in-use database. “We would not always know if someone was already working in a database and we would input information and save it. We wouldn’t know until we went back in that we had been locked-out and the file was gone,” says Gibson.

Other problems involved the main data entry form. The form was very long and required extensive scrolling, making navigating the form difficult and, more concerning, resulting in missed entry fields.

The Solution
With existing functional databases already in place, improving the system meant restructuring the data while simultaneously ensuring that valuable business information was not lost.

With its increasing clientele and corresponding work load, DMI needed to speed up its system, while simultaneously reducing errors and eliminating needless repetitive work. To eliminate repetitive data entry, TP Systems centralized all data by integrating the 12 original databases into 1 database and split the database into a front end and a back end. The back end housed all the data on one central server, solving the problem of lock outs and slow response time. Forms for managing DMI clients were incorporated into the front end of the system. To make the database entry forms user friendly, information was organized under main tab headings with corresponding drop down submenus, eliminating searching and scrolling.

Outcome
Pleased with the increased productivity DMI has experienced since implementing the new system, Gibson speculates about her next move and says, “Bringing all our databases together—that’s our first step towards figuring out where we go next. Eventually, we want to be web-based and allow our clients to access files and reports.” At its current rate of growth, a custom web-based application is a feasible reality in DMI’s very near future.