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CompUtopia Applies Technical Expertise to Complete Complex
Network and Client/Server Project for Medical Associates of RI
When Medical Associates of RI, Inc. decided to move its physicians' practice to all electronic-based medical records,
Director of Finance Norman Chartier knew it would be a complex project. The first phase required installing a new local area network
and wireless network for Medical Associates and ensuring it connected seamlessly with the vast network of Lifespan, which owns most
of the hospitals in Rhode Island. The team needed to install networks at offices in Bristol and Barrington, Rhode Island, connecting the
two via a COX cable connection so they could share resources.
The new network was critical to support a new line of business applications that would allow doctors to have patients' records instantly
available electronically, communicate more quickly among various medical providers, and improve productivity in every area from billing
to patient care. Once the infrastructure was in place, Medical Associates then needed to install the new client application on approximately
75 desktop and tablet PCs - with a deadline of only two days.
Through a series of referrals and a competitive bidding process, Chartier ended up selecting CompUtopia of Rhode Island to take
on the difficult task of moving the server applications to new systems, and then installing the software on the PCs - within a timeframe
of only two days. Having had previous experience with CompUtopia at another company, Chartier was confident that CompUtopia was up to the task.
"What impressed us most about CompUtopia was that they were much more professional than the other vendors we considered.
They would back up all of their claims with documentation, they responded back to us immediately on any changes we needed to make,
and they were already familiar with the documentation on the hardware, software and all the network pieces we needed," he explained.
"It was also a plus that CompUtopia already had been dealing extensively in the medical field - especially with Lifespan - so they knew
how to work with Lifespan's network infrastructure, firewalls, etc."
Previously, Medical Associates of RI had a mix of vendors providing its network, servers and software. As a first phase of the project,
CompUtopia helped the company move to new Cisco local-area and wireless networks and Windows software. CompUtopia then had
to install three new servers and to migrate Medical Associates' legacy accounting server and transcription server (which held all the patient records
and medical files) to the new domain. CompUtopia also worked with the application software provider to install the new client software on the PCs.
Chartier said what impressed him most about CompUtopia was that its engineers were "so technically astute." This became especially apparent
when the team started installing the new application software on the desktop and tablet PCs.
"We quickly realized the install process was long and complicated, taking 20 minutes or more in some cases," recalled Raymond Jacome,
the senior systems engineer for CompUtopia, who led the project. "We figured it would take three days minimal to install it this way,
with no guarantees the installations would be uniform."
Jacome knew there had to be a faster, better solution. "So I went home and wrote a script to automate the whole install processes
that we were doing manually," he explained.
Applying expertise he had developed through similar projects in the past, Jacome wrote a batch file that would do all the steps necessary
to complete the installation process, and then spent about an hour working any bugs out of the program.
The result? "What had been a 20 minute install was reduced to 4 or 5 minutes. When we started, if you just did the math,
it would have taken a week to get all the software installed on the PCS. Instead, we finished it all in a day and a half. We even had time left over
to work on some other minor issues he had going on at the time."
Jacome commented.
"What Ray did was a huge timesaver, and it's still paying benefits for us today," Chartier commented. "I'm shocked that this was not a standard
procedure for the software provider."
From Jacome's perspective, however, the biggest challenge was moving software and data from the older systems to the new servers.
"To me, that was the most difficult part, because you are working with older hardware and you never know what you are going to find."
However, the team was able to complete the migration in about three weeks total time, spread out over about one and a half months.
"The total downtime was only about one to two hours for some users, and the other users had no downtime at all," Jacome said.
Chartier said CompUtopia's staff was the best he had ever worked with in his 20-plus year career. "It's very difficult when you need to integrate
all these pieces, working with older hardware as well as with Lifespan's network. There's no way to know ahead of time exactly what you're going to run into.
We had to have someone who was an excellent troubleshooter, and that's exactly what Ray was," he added.
Chartier said other engineers on the job were also highly qualified, including engineer Marc Carpenter, a networking expert who had installed a wireless
network in the Persian Gulf and had an amazing amount of knowledge about wireless networking technology.
"When you're working with a vendor to successfully complete a complex project like this, what it comes down to is the one-to-one interpersonal
communications that you have with the people doing the work," Chartier explained. "And CompUtopia's people are really top-notch."
If any of the users have problems with their PCs, they have two easy options for getting fast technical support. They can take advantage of the
on-site service that CompUtopia provides, Chartier said, "or some people just drop off their tablet on their way home from work and CompUtopia
gets it back to them right away with the problem fixed."
In summary, Chartier said, the project was a huge success. "There were no delays, and honestly I was very surprised by that. It was pleasure
doing business with them, and they've continued to work hand-in-hand with us on any minor issues that have cropped up."
Fortunately, there have been few issues to address. Since the new system was installed several months ago, "it's been running great!" Chartier concluded.
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