Lutheran Life Communities Works With Information Builders to Launch BI Solution for Executives

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Feb 10, 2014) - Information Builders, a leader in business intelligence (BI) and analytics, information integrity, and integration solutions, today announced that Lutheran Life Communities, one of the nation's fastest growing senior living systems, has selected WebFOCUS as its BI standard and engaged Information Builders Professional Services to develop dashboards and reports that will deliver operational metrics to Lutheran Life Communities' executives.

For more than 100 years, Lutheran Life Communities was a single-site senior living community in Arlington Heights, Illinois outside of Chicago. The organization has grown in recent years to include six continuing care retirement communities serving thousands of people across Illinois, Florida, and Indiana. This rapid growth has significantly benefitted and improved the lives of Lutheran Life Communities' residents, who enjoy fabulous communities with world-class recreation, dining, and therapy programs. However, that same growth has made it difficult for senior officers and executive directors to obtain a consolidated view of the business.

Working closely with Lutheran Life Communities' in-house personnel, Information Builders is defining key performance indicators (KPIs) to track operational metrics such as census, labor productivity, revenue goals, and culinary statistics. The new BI environment will present real-time snapshots of these metrics through interactive dashboards to keep managers abreast of each facet of the operation. Information Builders is also creating parameterized reports that track important variables such as daily census information, hours per patient per day, revenue earned versus budget, and culinary costs broken down by meal and resident.

"Information Builders' extensive experience with hospitals and insurance companies gave us confidence in their ability to develop a custom, real-time business intelligence environment for our needs," said Roger W. Paulsberg, president and CEO, Lutheran Life Communities. "Our new BI solution will combine data from multiple information systems into one seamless easy-to-understand user interface. Interactive dashboards will deliver actionable information to executives, so we can proactively interface with our operations and expand our services."

Part of the appeal of the WebFOCUS platform is its ability to access many different types of applications and data sources. For example, Lutheran Life Communities' new BI environment will draw data from an ERP system called Answers on Demand, that runs a Pervasive SQL database, as well as from an Empower time and attendance system, a Raiser's Edge Fundraising Software package, and Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. WebFOCUS reports will combine all of this data into cohesive reports that allow drill-down capabilities by location, level of care, and payer source. During phase two of the project, Lutheran Life Communities hopes to add enhanced functionality for predictive analytics, sentiment analysis, and mobile access via smartphones and tablets -- and possibly an external-facing BI environment for residents and their families.

"BI technology provides the insight that nonprofit organizations need to improve the quality of life for patients and residents," said Gerald Cohen, president and CEO of Information Builders. "With tools to make better and smarter decisions, Lutheran Life Communities will be able to conduct its business more efficiently, more productively, and with greater transparency to its donors and customers."

Information Builders will be exhibiting at the HIMSS Annual Conference and Expo, February 23-27, 2014 in Orlando. Stop by booth 4983 to learn how Information Builders' customers use BI, data integrity, and data integration solutions to improve processes and enhance care across their organizations.

About Lutheran Life Communities
Lutheran Life Communities is a system of senior living communities that reaches out to the community-at-large with comprehensive services and programs, including independent retirement living for seniors, long-term senior care, short-term rehabilitation services, Alzheimer and Memory Support services, home healthcare, adult daycare, relocation and moving services for seniors, hospice, pastoral services, volunteer programs, and child care. Ranked number 54 on the LeadingAge/Ziegler Top 100 list, Lutheran Life Communities is now one of the nation's fastest growing senior living systems.

About Information Builders
Information Builders helps organizations transform data into business value. Our software solutions for business intelligence and analytics, integration, and data integrity empower people to make smarter decisions, strengthen customer relationships, and drive growth. Our dedication to customer success is unmatched in the industry. That's why tens of thousands of leading organizations rely on Information Builders to be their trusted partner. Founded in 1975, Information Builders is headquartered in New York, NY, with offices around the world, and remains one of the largest independent, privately held companies in the industry. Visit us at informationbuilders.com, follow us on Twitter at @infobldrs, like us on Facebook, and visit our LinkedIn page.