Northgate

Northgate Information Solutions has recently completed a project with Compsoft’s Microsoft .NET specialists to develop a national web-based solution. Northgate, a market leader in the public sector, provides software applications and outsourcing solutions across public safety, local government, education and human resourcing sectors.

Microsoft’s .NET technology was used by Northgate's internal development team in the construction of this application but, to finish the full scope project on time, Northgate required some additional expertise; Compsoft Consultants were commissioned to deliver this expertise and additional technical development to ensure successful and timely completion.

Client profile:

Northgate Information Solutions is the largest HR and payroll application supplier in the UK. A market leader in software applications and outsourcing solutions to the public safety, local government, education and HR sectors- Northgate and Compsoft share certain commonalities in the development world.

Project requirement:

Northgate was recently contracted by the NHS to build an application for local medical practices that provides comparative information about local commissioning activity and healthcare outcomes for patients. Northgate employed Compsoft’s .NET consultants to deliver the expertise and technical development required to meet the strict deadlines imposed.
There was a need for two applications. The first would monitor performance levels by comparing statistics with practices across the NHS. The second would visually map the referral routes of patients between trusts and practices in order that institutions might observe these interactions in a geographical context.

Solution:

Both applications were required to be web-based and so were designed using the latest Microsoft ASP.NET framework and AJAX technology. Working closely with Northgate’s project manager and lead developer, the Compsoft team carried out the majority of work for the first application on-site. The second project, being a front-end application, did not require any database development and so construction took place off-site at Compsoft. The solution was written in ASP.NET using C#, converting business code into a user-friendly display format.

The first application, NHS Comparators, has been developed to feed existing data from a 10G Oracle NHS database to a website. The aim of the tool is to provide a means for a practitioner to monitor their service delivery (as measured by standard key performance indicators within NHS-related services) against other similar providers within a Healthcare Resource Group at both a local and national level. Using the visual graphs, provided by Dundas (http://www.dundas.com/Products/Chart/NET/Why/index.aspx), service providers can assess their performance to see if and where improvements are required.

Dundas Data Visualization Inc, based in Canada, has developed a means to take data and reproduce it in attractive but highly informative charts. This capability was incorporated into the NHS applications because of the need to create visually informative, user-defined charts quickly from a range of data held and, as a .NET technology, it seamlessly integrated with existing functionality.

The second application, i4Health Online, was developed shortly after as a prototype that would manage secondary data in a different way. The purpose of this solution, also accessible over the internet, is to display patient-referral statistics in the most visually coherent way possible. To achieve this, Google Maps was considered as the best solution to illustrate the mapping of health service providers and, again using a Dundas chart, further information is presented. Once selected, a trust is located on the map and visually linked to other health care providers that patients are referred to. Coded symbols are used to pinpoint GPs that refer more than 50% of their patients to a selected trust. The corresponding bubble chart will provide statistics relating to the percentage of patients that each trust refers elsewhere, and the distance that each institution lies from the trust.

Results:

NHS Comparators is now a valuable tool in supporting practice-based commissioning activity in over 8,500 local practices across the NHS and i4 is now live and in use in one region and due to be launched nationally in the near future. Northgate anticipates great demand for this product in light of the widespread success of NHS Comparators.
Northgate’s Head of Health Solutions, Richard Armstrong, spoke about the project: “Compsoft's skills and expertise ensured delivery of a high quality solution to a very demanding timescale. We have been delighted with the resultant system, which has received very positive feedback across the user community."

Compsoft has recently agreed a contract with Northgate to deliver .NET consultancy over the forthcoming year and is confident that this business relationship will grow from strength to strength. Compsoft is proud of its association with Northgate and looks forward to providing development expertise across new and exciting future projects.

If you are interested in finding out how Compsoft Consultants and development teams can help your business, please email us.