Challenge

• Help clients optimize the way they handle complex digital transformation initiatives and case management workflows by providing real-time, actionable insight on demand.

Solution

• Integrate Pentaho solutions into Armedia’s case management solution, Arkcase, enabling business users to visualize and analyze case management data and generate reports in seconds.

Outcome

• Helps the ArkCase platfrom to deliver at least a 40% increase in efficiency.
• Empowers business users to visualize data, supporting smarter informed decision-making.
• Embeds analytics into processes, enabling ArkCase to automate business processes.
• Enables Armedia to develop smart data governance solutions for FOIA, GDPR and CCPA compliance.
• Boosts accessibility: Analytics tools are available in both open source and enterprise editions of ArkCase.

Challenge: Answer Clients’ Calls for Analytics

Armedia is an award-winning, veteran-owned systems integrator specializing in digital transformation, IT modernization and enterprise content management (ECM) solutions. The company is CMMI Level 3 and ISO 9001 certified and provides innovative business process, document, case and record-management solutions, as well as content strategy and regulatory compliance services.

Headquartered in Vienna, Virginia, Armedia serves both public and private-sector organizations, and is a trusted U.S. federal government vendor. Approximately 70% of its revenue comes from U.S. government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Armedia also serves the education, transportation and logistics, manufacturing, retail, finance, healthcare and technology sectors.

As more and more clients look to integrate analytics into their case management operations, we are ideally positioned to support them with Pentaho.

– Ray Azarm, Vice President, Enterprise Practice, Armedia

Vice President, Enterprise Practice at Armedia, Ray Azarm, begins, “Our mission is to help our clients perform at their best. Our case management solutions enable all clients, regardless of size or sector, to optimize their business processes and streamline their workflows to boost efficiency, increase productivity and embrace the digital economy.”

As an independent systems integrator, Armedia works with many different software platforms and vendors to support its clients. “We offer unbiased advice and work closely with clients to understand their needs and ensure we always deliver the right solution for them,” says Azarm.

Armedia frequently recommends its own case management solution, ArkCase, which integrates ECM, business process management (BPM) and customer relationship management (CRM) functionality into a single platform. ArkCase enables organizations of all types and sizes to define, manage, execute and monitor almost any business process. Each case record in platform includes all relevant data and documentation, ensuring that employees have the information they need exactly when they need it. Meanwhile, carefully designed workflows ensure that all cases are correctly handled by following a well-defined set of steps.

To take its solution to the next level, Armedia looked to embed reporting and analytics capabilities into the ArkCase platform. Azarm explains, “ArkCase acts as a central repository for case data, which means that clients are sitting on a gold mine of incredibly valuable information about how their business operates. We wanted to equip clients with the tools to report on, analyze and unlock the value of that data.”

Solution: Embed Self-Service Analytics and Reporting With Pentaho Software

Eager to add reporting and analytics capabilities to the ArkCase platform, Armedia sought an all-in-one solution that would be easy to integrate into its software stack. After evaluating offerings from several vendors, Armedia identified Hitachi Vantara’s Pentaho, a Lumada portfolio product, as the ideal solution.

“What initially attracted us to Pentaho was the fact that there are both community and enterprise versions available,” recalls Azarm. “We are strong believers in open source and offer our own community version of the ArkCase platform alongside the enterprise edition. Since Pentaho is based on open source software, we can uphold our commitment to our community users while also offering enterprise-class services without vendor lock-in.”

He adds, “We were also impressed by the rich feature set in both versions of the Pentaho product. We ran comparisons with other top vendors, and soon concluded that Pentaho was the best-in-class solution for both our open source and enterprise editions.”

Armedia worked closely with Hitachi Vantara to embed Pentaho Business Analytics within the ArkCase solution to support advanced data analytics and reporting. Following a successful trial period and positive feedback from clients, Armedia entered into an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partnership with Hitachi Vantara to resell Pentaho Business Analytics as an integral part of the ArkCase platform.

The company also recently added Pentaho Data Integration to the ArkCase software stack, which serves as the back-end platform for extract, transform and load (ETL) tasks. This enables fast, efficient data ingestion from ArkCase and the client’s other source systems into a central data warehouse for analysis and reporting powered by Pentaho Business Analytics.

“The Pentaho solutions are now a key component of the ArkCase platform, and we have a very close relationship with Hitachi Vantara,” says Azarm. “We are in regular contact with consultants from Hitachi Vantara who provide ongoing support and training services, helping to keep our technical team up to date with the latest and greatest features.”

Outcome: Help Clients To Unlock New Insights

By successfully embedding the Pentaho products into its ArkCase case management platform, Armedia can now provide clients with on-demand data analytics and reporting capabilities.

“ArkCase gathers and integrates data from disparate systems so that all relevant information connected to a case is quickly and easily accessible,” notes Azarm. “Since it acts as a central repository, ArkCase provides a 360-degree view of case data. On top of that, Pentaho Business Analytics delivers a simple self-service interface that enables users to analyze data and create reports quickly and easily.”

Feedback from clients has been excellent, and they are particularly happy with the comprehensive reporting features. The ability to accurately report on a case management program is vital to ArkCase’s success: It gives managers insight into where there is room for improvement, and helps to demonstrate compliance with industry and government regulations and audits.

Armedia has already used the Pentaho products to develop several out-of-the-box ArkCase solutions, each designed to address a specific client need. For example, Armedia offers a dedicated solution to support case management for Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Public Record Requests. Another is designed to help clients handle issues raised by data privacy legislation such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

“Using the ArkCase platform to execute case management operations delivers at least a 40% increase in efficiency versus using disparate systems or manual processes,” says Azarm. “Some clients have reported up to an 80% improvement. The intuitive, drag-and-drop reporting capabilities powered by Pentaho contribute to the very rapid average return on investment.”

He concludes, “As more and more clients look to integrate analytics into their case management operations, we are ideally positioned to support them with Pentaho. We want to help clients take advantage of their data to solve problems faster and make smarter decisions to optimize and accelerate business processes.”