Sentry Data Systems Implements Actifio

Sentry Data Systems, Inc. in automated pharmacy procurement, utilization management, and 340B compliance, and its Agilum division, selected Actifio, Inc. to provide near-immediate virtual database access to use existing data for in-depth analytics and what-if Covid-19 testing.

Sentry provides healthcare organizations with data for healthcare analytics. For its Agilum division, speed and flexibility became more urgent with the onset of Covid-19. It needed a solution that could handle massive databases and accelerate the process of providing data and analytics to its hundreds of clients.

Kim Jacques, CIO, Sentry, said: “We need to get data into the hands of our clients – fast. We’re working closely with the federal government on real-time Covid-19 data, telling them which drugs are working, which drugs are not working, with the length of hospital stays and mortality rates. Thanks to Actifio, we are able to get the data into the government’s hands immediately to inform their decisions, leading to the development of more effective treatments.” 

Working with Actifio to architect and implement a solution that incorporates existing Exadata infrastructure with Pure Storage and Oracle Data Guard to create virtual database copies, Sentry can provide its clients access to individual test data sandboxes in less than 30mn – reduced from the week-long waits imposed by the incumbent system.

“As digital transformation pushes more data use cases, we have opened the door to provide data for purposes beyond our traditional business model,” said Jacques. “Support for Covid-19 research and analytics is certainly the most satisfying example of how we can make a difference.“

Speed and storage challenges were already central to Sentry’s search for a new database management solution, but the advent of Covid-19 added a new dimension to the value of its data, especially in terms of speed. The objective was to separate customer analytics from the production database, provide sandbox access, and do so quickly. In addition to maintaining compliance with government drug regulations, pandemic drug efficacy became a new dimension of Sentry’s work. With Actifio, the firm is able to create virtual database copies that can be shared rapidly.

Actifio assists Sentry and its Agilum division by creating virtual database copies to be captured and shared rapidly. Data and analytics around Covid-19 patient care are made available to the federal government and other researchers. The rapid data access has proven to be helpful in the search for treatments.