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Spector 360 Proves Good Medicine for
GI Associates & Endoscopy Center

The Setting

Located in Jackson, Mississippi, GI Associates and Endoscopy Center is the largest gastroenterology group in the state and one of the largest in the southeast, with 15 doctors on staff and nearly 200 employees.

IT Manager Don Deas oversees a four-office network of approximately 150 workstations running mostly Windows XP, and about 28 servers running Server 2000 and 2003.

The Challenge

Deas said both he and management "knew there were issues" when it came to employee PC and Internet activity.

"We knew we had folks doing what they shouldn’t be," said Deas. "Some of it was apparent. There were pictures on desktops … people closing windows and Internet Explorer when managers walked by. We knew there were incidents but we couldn’t prove it … we had hints, but we were not sure it was a major problem."

In addition to suspected frivolous and inappropriate employee activities, because of its healthcare industry status, GI Associates also is concerned with HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) requirements.

"Because of HIPAA we need email archiving," said Deas. "Patient privacy has to be protected … but you need to be able to track to protect."

Workplace productivity also was a concern.

"If work flow is up, we bring in temps," said Deas. "Record-keeping is a major task. When I started here three years ago, there were eight people in medical records, and now we have 18. We needed a way to track workload."

Search for a Solution

Deas said that prior to implementing employee monitoring, he had been "looking around."

"I had been talking about monitoring, but it was the company CEO who actually made it happen," said Deas. "Both of us believed we needed something to confirm our suspicions, and when she was referred to SpectorSoft during an online roundtable discussion, she suggested I take a look. I did, and we made a purchase six hours later."

Deas said GI Associates had not used monitoring software prior to the acquisition, and that his sole personal monitoring experience was limited to "packet sniffing."

"Spector 360 was the first integrated package I’ve used," said Deas. "I’ve been accustomed to combining data myself. I can’t count how many times I’ve had to crank 25,000 lines of a report into an Excel spreadsheet. But Spector 360 looked excellent … Spector 360 looked like it would do it for me … like I wouldn’t have to manually prepare reports ever again."

Discoveries

"We’ve often had employees claim they were too busy to take on work," said Deas. "And when medical chart work was done via hard copy, there was no real way to accurately assess the workload."

Now, because all medical charts are PC-based and Spector 360 has been implemented, insight has increased dramatically.

"With Spector 360’s User Activity report, it’s real clear who is busy and who is not," said Deas. "Using that feature, it’s easy to see that inactivity is inactivity."

• Deas said the company has uncovered inappropriate workplace behavior serious enough to warrant dismissal.
  
  "We’ve fired people based on SpectorSoft data," said Deas. "Specifically, we found one person running their own business on our time and our computer system.
  
  "We also found one woman constantly chatting with her boyfriend. First, chat programs are not allowed, so downloading a chat program violates company policy. Then, there’s the time-wasting. After management reviewed the Spector 360 data, she was handed a detailed report and told to knock it off. She’s been an exemplary employee ever since … a great example of using Spector 360 to DIAGNOSE and SOLVE!"
• Deas described one discovery that underscored Spector 360’s powerful capabilities while also illuminating the curious nature of human behavior.
  
  "The Human Resources manager came to me one day and asked me if we were having email problems," said Deas. "It seems one employee denied receiving an email that contained the Human Resources manager’s plea to sign an important insurance form. Not only had the employee denied receiving the initial email, but also a subsequent forward of that email."
  
  According to Deas, the employee was in danger of losing insurance coverage, so failing to respond to the email seemed contrary to the individual’s best interests.
  
  "Using Spector 360’s screen snapshots feature, I saw that the employee RECEIVED and OPENED the first email within 10 minutes of it being sent," said Deas. "Spector 360’s snapshots are hard to refute. I honestly have no idea why the employee would deny receiving the email."
• "With Spector 360, I find everything I look for, and some things I don’t look for," said Deas.

Awareness

"After you’ve had a few folks written up, the word gets out," said Deas. "Our employees think I know everything. They think I can track things NOBODY can."

Working with Employees

Deas said the company has a clear Acceptable Use Policy contained in its Employee Handbook.

"Company policy states we CAN and WILL monitor PC and Internet activity," said Deas. "In addition, when we started monitoring, an email was sent out and we posted the information on the company bulletin board."

• "We’ve told folks that we have no problem with checking the weather or the news for a few minutes here and there," said Deas. "But surfing the Internet for 45 minutes every day before you do any work … not that. For the most part, since we began monitoring using Spector 360, folks just don’t go there anymore."

Spector 360: The Software of Choice

"Compared to the medical software we use for electronic record-keeping, Spector 360 is a steal," said Deas. "When I saw the pricing for Spector 360 my first reaction was ‘go for it.’

"Spector 360 is so feature-rich … such an abundance of features and gems … it’s hard to learn them all. But you quickly learn the ones you need … the ones that work for you.

"What I now love most about Spector 360 I didn’t even grasp at the beginning. For example, I didn’t immediately notice the Timesheet function. But now, I really value the ability to note Activity/Inactivity … it’s awesome!"

• "I love the Spector 360 dashboard … it’s easy to use … very management friendly," said Deas. "The boss can use it with no problem at all … I don’t have to generate reports."
  
• "The CEO uses Quick View the most," said Deas. "Quick View’s biggest plus is that it helps you pick out things that need to be checked on … it helps you point out things you don’t even realize. For example, we don’t have chat in-house, so if you go to Quick View and check "Who Is Chatting the Most" and somebody shows up on the chart, THAT’s a problem!"
  
  In similar fashion, Deas said the Top 10 web sites the company uses for standard business practice are clearly understood.
  
  "If anything else shows up on the Top 10 web sites … if anything else creeps in … you better check it," said Deas. "It’s an indicator of problems nobody knows about yet."
  
• Deas said he finds Spector 360’s ready-to-use Quick View reports all he needs. "The range of out-of-the-box reports is fantastic," said Deas. "I haven’t had the need to make a custom report."
  
• "Because our work load is so variable, it’s hard to measure productivity, but we absolutely believe Spector 360 has helped in that regard," said Deas. "For one thing, we are certain they’re not fooling around online."
  
• "I definitely feel Spector 360 has restored order," said Deas. "Now that we’ve been using it for a while, I don’t even have to check it as much as I once did because EVERYONE KNOWS WE CAN! It’s the fear factor, and I don’t think that’s a harsh term … you’re not trying to sell this to the employees, you’re selling to management."
  
• Deas described the SpectorSoft sales experience as "pleasant and easy." He appreciated the availability of a fully functional 5-user evaluation, but was so quickly convinced of Spector 360’s capabilities, he respectfully declined.
  
• Deas said the Spector 360 installation is simple … and he ought to know. "I’ve installed it five times because we keep moving it," said Deas.
  
  "The information we obtain using Spector 360 is so valuable, we now have a full-scale server dedicated to Spector 360, and I expect the program to stay there for a while."
  
• Deas said he has required SpectorSoft Tech Support on just two occasions, and that the assistance provided was exactly what he required.
  
  "The information I received from Tech Support also was on the SpectorSoft Knowledge Base," said Deas. "Support and online documentation is excellent."
  
• "I’m very happy with Spector 360," said Deas. "By my recommendations alone SpectorSoft should have made several sales already. I not only reference it to folks, but I remote them in so they can see it in action for themselves."

"Spector 360 is easily worth every penny," said Deas. "Spector 360 is worth more than we were charged. Thanks to Spector 360, we don’t have to hire temps so our regular employees have more time to play solitaire!"

 

For more information about GI Associates and Endoscopy Center, please visit www.msgastrodocs.com.

For more information about Spector 360, please visit www.spector360.com … or for more information about SpectorSoft and its other dependable, full-featured PC and Internet Activity Monitoring Software products, please visit www.spectorsoft.com.