Client

CHSI Technologies is the leading developer of cloud-based enterprise practice management systems for small insurance companies, Municipal Pools, and Joint Powers Authorities among others. Their specialties include software services, mobile apps, and big data.

Challenge

CHSI aimed to improve the Reporting and Dashboard sections of their product to optimize their team’s and clients’ interactions with these interfaces. Since there are many different dashboard tools available for companies to choose from, CHSI enlisted Lotus Labs’s help to find the tool that most suitably fit their specific budget and needs. After sorting through many diverse tools through a series of tests and guidelines, Lotus Labs determined the best fit for CHSI and integrated their data into this new interface.
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How We Evaluated Reporting and Dashboard Tools

Oftentimes when client companies transition between software, they have a set of requirements they would like their new software to conform to. However, due to their extensive experience in the industry, the Lotus Labs team was already prepared with a detailed set of guidelines of their own. The team’s familiarity with this line of work allowed them to immediately get started and painlessly move past the first round of testing, which entailed filtering through a wide variety of different tools. Since the Lotus Labs team knew exactly what criteria the new CHSI software had to meet, the team quickly narrowed the search down to two tools: Grapecity and Stimulsoft.    In the final round of testing, Lotus Labs took on a more methodical approach of data integration into each software system. In a three-tiered approach, Lotus Labs first integrated small pieces of sample data, then small pieces of CHSI data, and finally large sets of CHSI data into each tool. By testing each dashboard and reporting tool’s compatibility with different ranges of data, Lotus Labs was able to determine their customizability, useful features, and convenience as pertaining to CHSI needs.

Evaluation Results

Inputting diverse data sets and experimenting with both dashboard and reporting tools allowed Lotus Labs to compare different aspects of each of the tools (A few of the guidelines of comparison are pictured above). What stood out about Stimulsoft’s product included its versatility and capability of creating dashboards for any sphere of business, finance, and sales industry. Additionally, Lotus Labs found the Stimulsoft product to be easily integrable, capable of performing calculations of any complexity, and compatible with the code download option (grant users access to a wider range of features and customizability when operating the dashboard). The Grapecity product had its own share of strengths as well as its software was lightning-fast and allowed for complex code-free reports of all types.

Like all the reporting and dashboard tools that Lotus Labs initially reviewed, both Stimulsoft and Grapecity products were highly capable, and Lotus Labs’ decision came down to which tool was the best fit for CHSI specifically. External parameters such as Stimulsoft’s cheaper price and Grapecity’s impressive brand name and past achievements were also factored into the final decision. Ultimately with more features available and an easier codebase and samples to integrate onto the CHSI application, Stimulsoft was the software Lots Labs decided to move forward with to the last stage.

By choosing to integrate CHSI data into the cheaper reporting and dashboard tool instead of the brand name, Lotus Labs only used 20% of CHSI’s budget and completed their project with CHSI ahead of schedule. While Grapecity may have seemed like the more reliable choice from the onset, Lotus Labs’s diligent product development process revealed the potential of a lesser-known entity and established a precedent that CHSI can follow in the future.

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