GGD Gelderland-Zuid (Municipal Health Service) protects, monitors and promotes the health of residents. A fast-growing organization, with its own research team that collects a lot of data. Employees are mobile, more often work at home or at other locations, which is why there was a desire to have access to data independently of location. That should also take digital collaboration to a higher level. At the same time, the GGD no longer wants to be responsible for IT systems itself. BPSOLUTIONS answers all these challenges with a cloud platform for data and analytics. A service that gives users more tools for even better data analysis and visualization, wherever they are. This leads, among other things, to better health advice.
The 25 GGDs in our country are best known for the health centers, school doctor and the injection that people get there before they go on a long journey. But they are also real data collectors. Gelderland-Zuid is no exception. Information comes, for example, from general practitioners, hospitals and other GGDs. Data on infectious diseases, sexually transmitted diseases or you name it, is retrieved, stored and analyzed. One of its goals is to educate residents on how to adapt their lifestyle to become healthier and prevent disease.
Due to the corona crisis, the GGD is extra busy collecting data. Think of keeping data on the number of positive people tested. This helps the government to get a good picture of the course of the pandemic and to intervene where necessary.
The requirements of GGD
GGD Gelderland-Zuid has been working with BPSOLUTIONS for some time. For example, BPSOLUTIONS previously supplied software that was used on location for analyzing data and creating reports. It is therefore not surprising that the GGD recently turned to BPSOLUTIONS again, when it was looking for a more efficient way to process the growing amount of data.
“At that time, the GGD had long wanted to work more data-driven. In short, this is a method in which an organization focuses more on facts. So no longer making decisions based on experience and feeling, but on the basis of hard data.”
The GGD no longer wants to manage and maintain IT systems itself, stems from the idea that it primarily wants to be an organization focused on healthcare, a GGD is not an IT organization. IT facilities are therefore purchased as much as possible as a service from partners.
The reason for wanting to grant employees access to data independently of location is, as stated, the trend that they are increasingly working mobile. That fact was immediately seen as a reason to want to make digital collaboration easier. Consider, for example, sharing reports and report layout, so that research results can be discussed with colleagues or reused.
BPSOLUTIONS realises cloud platform with central acces to tools and data
The solution that BPSOLUTIONS realized to meet all these requirements is a digital analytics platform in the cloud, based on Microsoft Azure. The local environment was migrated to the new virtual environment. Users can therefore contact the platform from any location: on the road, in the office or from their home workplace. They gain access securely, through multi-factor authentication (MFA), a method of verifying someone’s identity in at least two ways. This usually involves a combination of a password or pin code with an app on the mobile phone, which asks for a fingerprint, for example.
On the new platform, users will find all the necessary statistical analysis software, supplemented with data science tools. Another advantage of the platform is that it can unlock multiple data sources. This data is then centrally available and secured. Additional functionalities for collaboration have also been added. This allows users to easily share defined reports.
Ready for the future through scalability and security
The solution is future-proof due to its scalability. Additional users, apps and links can be added. Because a GGD works with privacy-sensitive data, security is extra important. The solution meets all the requirements of the AVG / GDPR and is NEN-7510 certified.
Thanks to the collaboration with BPSOLUTIONS, GGD Gelderland-Zuid now has a central solution where all data to be processed is available for analysis. It also offers employees the associated software tools for analysis and reporting. Users always have secure access to this environment, wherever they are. It is also possible to publish reports centrally within the new environment. The fact that the solution can easily be scaled up in numbers of users and new functions (applications) makes it future-proof. In addition, the organization itself no longer has to worry about the infrastructure, because BPSOLUTIONS offers this as a service. All tasks related to technical management and maintenance are taken over by the GGD. So it can mean even more for the health of residents.
The solution
The solution is based on BPSOLUTIONS ‘Managed Public Cloud Services and uses Microsoft Azure, including:
- Access security through multi-factor authentication.
- NEN-7510 certification.
- Toolset for data analysis and publication of research results:
- R / R studio (Open Source) for data science.
- Tableau for visualization.
- IBM SPSS for statistical analysis.
- GIS (Open Source) for geographic information.
Profile GGD Gelderland-Zuid
Municipal Health Service for 14 municipalities in the Gelderland-South region. In Mook en Middelaar (North Limburg region), youth health care is also provided.
- The working area has 536,000 inhabitants.
- The GGD has approximately 400 permanent employees.
- The GGD covers many task areas, such as health monitors, inspection tasks, Safe at Home, Special Care, travelers advice and vaccination, sexual health, child and upbringing, living environment and environment. The health of people is central to the service.
Why BPSOLUTIONS?
BPSOLUTIONS helps organizations to organize their Mission Critical IT in a way that makes the organization smarter and can make progress. We do this by on the one hand ensuring that IT is always up and running and on the other hand, with Data Analytics and AI, we ensure that companies are ready for the future, so that data really works for your company.
In everything we do, we make the world a little smarter.
Want to learn more? Please contact us.