CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT

QAD Inc.
Racing with the wind

The winds of change blow constantly in manufacturing. Staying up with them takes constant management of the business rules used by the applications that guide production activities to ensure supply meets demand in ever-changing sales cycles.

A leading provider of enterprise applications for global manufacturers, QAD Inc. (www.qad.com) has adopted ILOG JRules to streamline and simplify business rule management with MFG/PRO, the company's flagship enterprise resource planning product suite. By using ILOG's top Business Rule Management System, MFG/PRO customers will gain a flexible, reusable business rule-based foundation that lets them more easily customize business processes to meet specific needs and market demands.

"By combining ILOG JRules with our flagship product MFG/PRO, QAD's customers will be able to react more quickly and efficiently to changes in the marketplace," says Paul Knopf, director of product architecture at QAD. "By empowering business analysts within our customers to take direct control of policies and business rules, businesses will be able to better tailor the workflow of their manufacturing systems."

ILOG JRules will give MFG/PRO customers direct control over the business rules deployed throughout their systems. They will more easily create and amend business rules to address changing business requirements to boost productivity and reduce costs. ILOG JRules will also work with MFG/PRO and related modules to provide faster, more effective demand forecasting and inventory management.

Vision Service Plan
Sight for eyes
Vision Service Plan (VSP: www.vsp.com) keeps up with changing business conditions and exceeds customer expectations by using a claims processing system based on the ILOG JRules Business Rule Management System (BRMS).

Recognized for its innovative use of technology, VSP serves more than 36 million members throughout the United States. One in eight people in the States relies on VSP for vision care coverage. The insurer receives approximately 1 million claims each month, and most are submitted via the Internet. That's a lot of business, and VSP depends on ILOG JRules to handle it. Embedded in VSP's custom system, the BRMS validates each claim using hundreds of constantly changing decision factors, including the nature of the claim, the type of policy, and regulations that vary from state to state.

"ILOG's BRMS provides the level of flexibility we need in order to quickly address changing business conditions and continue delivering the most effective service," says Kyle Kelt, director of information technology architecture at VSP.

ILOG JRules uniquely meets VSP's requirement that the business rules for processing claims be centrally stored and managed. This allows new policies to be implemented in one location and used across the enterprise, ensuring uniform application of the rules. This results in consistent, error-free clearing of claims. VSP also selected ILOG JRules for its scalability and ease of integration with the company's existing IT architecture, which includes IBM WebSphere® and proven legacy systems.

District of Columbia
Online healthcare service arrives
A Washington, D.C., first: Residents of the District of Columbia can now go online to determine their qualification for different healthcare programs.

Under its Human Services Modernization Program, the District's Office of the Chief Technology Officer (www.octo.dc.gov) has upgraded and expanded its IT systems. This sweeping initiative includes a Web-based service that assists District residents and health and human services professionals in determining eligibility for federally funded Medicaid or D.C.'s HealthCare Alliance.

Called "Interview for Benefits," the service is fully automated by ILOG JRules. The Business Rule Management System (BRMS) allows nontechnical staff to capture the complex eligibility criteria for the healthcare programs using business rules written with a natural language.

The new service is expected to improve medical care and significantly reduce costs for the District by accurately directing users to the right healthcare program. This is a significant improvement over the previous service, a manual system susceptible to human error. ILOG JRules is ideally suited for creating and maintaining a unified platform across social services, simplifying and accelerating the maintenance of business rules.