Then the user could drill down into each pharmacy's records to find out which drugs were ordered most often and which recipients received them. This feature is unusual because it lets the user define the information subject to drilling and the hierarchy that the drill follows. In the example, the drilling hierarchy was county to pharmacy to drug to recipient. The user could change the hierarchy, drilling directly from county to drug to determine what drugs are used most often countywide. DSS also lets users drill up and across.
Users thus have unprecedented capabilities to capture, analyze, and express data.
After completing a two-day training course, most users are able to generate their own queries with little or no assistance. The backlog of requests for ad hoc reports has been eliminated. Programmers' time now can be concentrated on maintaining MMIS and identifying and implementing other data processing innovations.