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Centegra is a comprehensive health-care network comprising three hospitals in Illinois, U.S.A. and some 30 clinics and rehabilitation services.
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The network's main system is Infinium which incorporates payroll, HR and ERP components and runs on an IBM i5 model 520 with V5R3.
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Some 70 employees are linked up to the i5. FTP, Telnet, ODBC and EDI are amongst the application servers used regularly. Web-based applications currently under development are expected to bring the number of users up to around 4,000.
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Third Party Access (TPA) to the central computer is given to selected associated companies, among them, insurance carriers and financial institutions.
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The issue of privacy has long since been high on the list of security requirements, fuelled by the organization's own awareness of the sensitivity of the data in their information systems but also backed up the demands of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, HIPAA. Now, with plans to provide web access to associates, the concern of privacy has become even more acute.
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When considering a software solution to assist in improving the security of their i5, Centegra's IT personnel were interested in a product that was easy to use and had excellent vendor support. Following contact with NASI - North American Systems International, the health network was set up with a trial of Bsafe/Enterprise Security complete with the Field Masking add-on.
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The task of downloading and installing was done without assistance by Centegra's IT Consultant, Lee Williams who described the installation as "Very easy". He continued with implementing Bsafe/Enterprise Security then set to work evaluating the product.
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Lee mostly uses the Application Access Control, Application Audit, graphical Analyzer, System Inquiries, Port Restrictions and Field Masking functions of the product.
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It was the Field Masking capability that particularly caught the attention of Lee and the Centegra Management as it appeared to offer a solution to prevent selected fields from being viewed by certain users while allowing full access to others.
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Several active masked files are in use and under real-time synchronization with their parallel production files. Lee describes the implementation of field masking at Centegra as "Beyond our expectations".
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Lee has found the Bsafe product to be intuitive and easy to use and hasn't even needed the on-line help. He did however take advantage of the various tutorials and user guides provided for customers to download free. When asked if he has directed any questions or requests to Bsafe support, his answer was. "Yes I have. They are great. They are truly professional and very knowledgeable"
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Centegra's IT Consultant claims that use of Bsafe/Enterprise Security has given the hospital a clear return on investment in the saving in development time which would have been needed to develop such functionality in-house and in the numerous auditing tools included in the product.
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"I think the product is great and would recommend it to anyone" concludes Lee Williams, IT Consultant at Centegra Health Network.
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