Systems developed by Dodds Consulting Services (DCS) are developed using a custom advanced rule-based tool. Each system is fully customized to the client’s needs. There are no superfluous menus, options, details, etc. The client will not have cause to conclude anything in the system is not applicable to their specific business or adapt their business to the software.
Development begins with a core application with features applicable to any IT system, for example, a menu structure, authorization features, auditing capabilities, etc. Industry specific modules are then included and tailored specifically to the client.
Most features of the system can be maintained by the user in a table-driven manner. The original system deliverable is a fully functional system as per the requirements determined prior to the system being put into production. Once in production most aspects of the system can continue to be maintained directly by the users.
Below is an overview of the structure and base features of any system developed by DCS.
There are three main areas of focus of Systems by DCS.
Data can be manually or electronically entered. If data is entered manually the user will be prompted. Data can be entered electronically from any source. If required, it can be flagged to be reviewed manually as having been entered from an external source. The base system includes a robust EDI component used to map any incoming data to your system.
Data will be checked for accuracy and validated according to the business rules, using the same process whether entered manually or electronically.
Reports are designed so they can be viewed on-line or downloaded/exported.
Tables are defined within the base system using the same interface for the IDE as the end users. The data to be captured for each table is defined via the IDE. New tables can be added at any time without requiring any programming. Additionally, new data items can be added to a table at any time, without requiring any programming. This results in a highly flexible system, adaptable to easily customizing a system for specific clients and responding to changing business needs.
Each system is composed of 3 levels of tables:
Tables can have any number of data items associated with it.
The following describes the standard features included with any system.
The system is designed such that no matter what aspect of the system the user is reviewing all screens will have the same presentation. Whether a list of transactions is being reviewed, a list of reports that can be produced, a list of codes on a code table, etc. the presentation will be the same. This gives the system a consistency making it user friendly and intuitive.
When reviewing a table if a record on a table refers to another table a drilldown option exists such that the details of the other table can be reviewed. For example, if reviewing a claim, the claim will be for a person, for a benefit, by a provider, etc. Details of the person, the benefit, the provider, etc. can be viewed via the claim.
Links of a table to another table can also be reviewed. For example, if reviewing a person, links can be requested and details of anywhere this person is linked can be viewed, i.e., links to their claims, invoices, etc. NB: only links to which the user is authorized will be shown. This works on an unlimited drilldown basis. For example, if a claim is being reviewed, the claim will be for a person, links to the person can be reviewed via the claim.
User profiles are defined in the system. A client user is designated as the user controller and will have the authority to define additional users within the system. The user controller will also be responsible for defining group profiles within the system. Each user profile is assigned to a group profiles. The group profiles are used throughout the system to control authorization to parts of the system.
There are several levels of authority throughout the system which can be controlled by the user controller. If a user is not authorized to any part of the system it will not be visible to them.
A menu system is included in the base model of the system. Options are assigned to each menu. An option is the menu representation of a table within the system.
A user must be in a group profile authorized to the menu for the menu to be visible. Likewise, they must be in a group authorized to an option for the option to be visible.
The work with module provides the user interface to the system. It determines the functions available to the user when reviewing a table, i.e., authority to enquire on or maintain the table. If there are functions specific to a table that require special authority (for example, reverse or cancel a transaction). Only the functions that are available to the user will be visible. This is based on both the specific table the user is reviewing and their authority to specific functions related to the table.
Any changes made to the data in the system are audited at the data item (field) level. The date, time, user, before, and after values are stored.
Each table can be designated to be date-based or not. If the table is date-based, each detail associated with the table can be designated as date-based or not.
For example, a policyholder table would be a date-based table as at least some of the details could change over time, which plan they have, the status of the policy, etc. Not all details within a table are necessarily date-based. For example, a date of birth would not be date-based as this will not change over time.
NB: This is not to say that such a detail cannot be changed if it were entered incorrectly. The detail could be changed, and the change will be audited, but the system will not indicate that from this date the person had one date of birth and from another date they had another date of birth.
A transaction table such as a claim table would not be date-based. A claim is a transaction, i.e., a snapshot of details at a single point in time.
Free format notes can be associated with any record in any table throughout the system.
Help text can be associated with a table for a general overview of the table or with individual data items on the table. Notes on records also serve as help text in some cases. The system is delivered with help text. This can be modified if the user has authority and wishes to modify it.
A generic reporting option allows reports of any table to be produced. These reports can be tailored using the search engine and the EDI download module. The reports can be downloaded to the user’s desktop and reviewed using the application of the user’s choice, for example, Excel, Word, Business Intelligence (BI) tools, etc.
EDI capabilities are included as part of the base product.
File definitions of files to be uploaded are entered and mapped to data items of tables in the system.
A module is included that defines extracts of data from within the system to be downloaded. This is part of the generic reporting system.
A search engine is provided allowing any table to be searched based on any of the data items associated with the table.
A job scheduler is integrated as part of the base system. One control job is scheduled. The specific jobs to be run are then scheduled via the system. Authority to this table can be assigned as required. For example, the security officer may want to have authority to review which jobs are running on which days. At least one user should always have authority to this table as generally a user should have some awareness of processes that run in the background.
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