Post on 18-Nov-2014
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© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
When to Consider Semantic Technology for
Your Enterprise
Michael Delaney, Senior Consulting Software Engineer
David Read, CTO
Semantic Technology and Business Conference
New York, NY, US
October 2, 2013
Who are Dave and Mike?
• Architecture
• Security
• Innovation
• Solution engineering
• Integration
• ETL
David Read Michael Delaney
© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
Who is Blue Slate?
3
About
Driven by a total commitment to customers, company,
colleagues and community
30+ consultants – operations, strategy, technology and
industry experts
Founded in 2000, headquartered in Albany, NY
Clients
Industry Leaders seeking to drive value for
shareholders and end customers
Include ten Blues organizations and four commercial
payers
Innovators looking to grow beyond their core markets
© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
What is Semantic Technology?
Semantics
≡ meaning
Semantic Technology
≡ machine-readable meaning
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© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
What Makes Up Semantic Technology (in this talk)?
• Standards → RDF/RDFS/OWL/SPARQL
• Definitions → Ontologies
• Storage → Triple Stores
• Inferencing → Reasoners
• Data Access → SPARQL
• APIs → Jena, Sesame
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© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
Semantic Technology is a Team Player in an Architecture
• Integrates
• Federates
• Adapts
• Extends
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© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
What Is Different About Semantic Technology?
• Structure is (mostly) logical not physical
– Triple
– Directed Graph
• Federation is assumed
– SPARQL
• Web is the natural platform
– URI
– HTTP
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Subject
Predicate
Object
© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
Directed Graph Example
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David
bioFatherOf
Sarah
Lisa
bioMotherOf
fullSiblingOf
Michael
SarahB
friendOf
friendOf
Carl
spouseOf
Blue Slate
Solutions
employeeOf
favoriteSport
Bowling
bioFatherOf fullSiblingOf
© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
The Physical Structure is Flexible by Design
• Triples are an extreme form of normalization
• Any data can be related without the need for
foreign keys
• Relationships can be added or removed as
they are found, explored, accepted or
discredited
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Lisa
bioMotherOf
Michael
friendOf
Carl
favoriteSport
Bowling
© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
The Logical Structure is Built to Relate and Define
• Directed graph relates
data
• RDF, RDFS and OWL
define data
• Reasoners build models
on the fly
• Relationships are
flexible: – Groups can use different
relationship rules
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© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
Storage
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Relational Efficient Use of Space
NoSQL Document Stores
(Key-Value Pairs)
Semantic Single, standardized schema
(the triple)
© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
Relationships
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Relational
Relationships convey
meaning through table names
or data values
NoSQL No
Semantic Relationships convey
meaning in their definition
© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
Query Language
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Relational Standardized Language
(ISO: SQL)
NoSQL No Language Standardization
Semantic Standardized Language
(SPARQL)
© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
Schema Maintenance
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Relational Rigid Schema
NoSQL Data is unstructured
Semantic Relationships convey
meaning in their definition
© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
Maturity
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Relational Well established
(30+ years old)
NoSQL Coming Along
(10+ years old)
Semantic Relatively Young
(5+ years old)
© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
Indexing
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Relational Indexing can be complicated,
but is vital to scalability
NoSQL Indexing can be complicated,
but is vital to scalability
Semantic Indexing can be automatic
© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
Optional Relationships
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Relational
Optional relationships can be
difficult
(NULL’s or Dummy Values)
NoSQL None
Semantic
All relationships are optional
by default, but can be
enforced if needed
© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
Ecosystem
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Relational Very rich development
ecosystem, solid tooling
NoSQL Rich development
ecosystem, limited tooling
Semantic Immature ecosystem,
nascent tools
© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
Ontology
OWL
Semantic Technology: Cool Solution Looking for a Problem?
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Triple
Graph SPARQL
Reasoner
Triple Store
RDF Turtle Object
Predicate
Subject
© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
Where is Semantic Technology Today?
• Maturing standards and practices
• Expanding ecosystem
• Big and small players
• Diverse offerings
– Products and services
• Real-world usage
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© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
Consider Relational Database Adoption
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1 2 3 4 5 7
1. Edgar Codd begins relational data research
2. Codd publishes, “Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks”
3. Oracle v2 released (marketing gimmick, no v1)
4. DB2 announced
5. Sybase released
6. DB2 released
7. Sybase forked to MS SQL Server
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© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
Data and Analytic Diversity Continue to Expand
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• Evolving Interactions
• Data Diversity
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Where has it been deployed successfully?
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• BBC
– World Cup
– Olympics
• data.gov
• Facebook’s Graph Search
• Best Buy Product Catalog
• Cleveland Clinic
• Amazon
• …
© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
How Does Semantic Technology Benefit an Enterprise?
Integrates diverse
data sources
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© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
How Does Semantic Technology Benefit an Enterprise?
Provides consistent meaning
across systems
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© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
How Does Semantic Technology Benefit an Enterprise?
Federates and integrates
in real-time
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© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
How Does Semantic Technology Benefit an Enterprise?
Supports multiple logical models
without ETL and warehouses
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© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
How Does Semantic Technology Benefit an Enterprise?
Extends data and relationships
without refactoring databases
32
© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
How Does Semantic Technology Benefit an Enterprise?
Augments Analytics
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© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
Volume, Velocity, Variability, Variety
• Triple stores do well with volume and velocity
– Commercial products scale to billions of triples
• Directed graphs simplify variability
– Nodes and vertices can come and go
• URIs support variety
– Addressable ≡ accessible
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© Blue Slate Solutions 2013 35
When?
Recognizing good opportunities for
introducing semantic technology
© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
When should you consider Semantic Technology?
37
Evolving
Data
Structures
© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
When should you consider Semantic Technology?
38
Rule-based
data
interactions
© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
When should you consider Semantic Technology?
41
Augmenting
Current
Systems
© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
When Won’t Introducing Semantics Make a Splash?
• Common and well-defined systems
– Claims Processing
– Order Entry
– ERP
– Payroll
– CRM
43
© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
Semantic Technology is Not “The” Answer
Not a dessert topping, engine
lubricant, elixir-of-life, hand
soap and
cloud solution
all-in-one!
44
© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
When is Semantic Technology a bad fit?
Problems that have already
been solved/abstracted
47
© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
Case Study: Client
• Medicare Administrative Contractor
• Struggling with key metrics
• Competitive landscape (15 10 ~7)
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© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
Case Study: Challenge
• Poor medical review focus
– Only denying ~30% of reviewed claims
• Slow reaction to review
outcomes
• High repeat defects from
providers
• Struggling to implement
meaningful analytics
51
© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
Case Study: Root Causes
• Manual “copying”
between systems
• Lack of agility
around review
checklists
• Review details not
captured
• Providers mystified
regarding denial reasons
• Multiple systems with parts of the story
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© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
Case Study: Semantic Focus
• Agile checklist support
• Flexible data classifications for denials
• Immediate aggregation and feedback of reviews
• Legacy integration
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• Detailed association
of denials and
provider education
• Integration of claim
data and reviews for
analytics
© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
• Details support
targeted data mining
• Ontology easily
updated to address
identified risks
• Semantic reasoner
leverages rules
discovered through
analytics
• Flexible classifications provide agility dealing with
changing healthcare payer issues (errors, fraud,
abuse, waste…)
Case Study: Outcomes
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© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
Case Study: Results (Just Published)
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Activity Established
Goal Current Results
Probe (Hypothesis) Research Duration
250% Improvement
370% Improvement
Last Claim Reviewed to Date of Notification
240% Improvement
2070%
Improvement (months to days)
Probe Edits Above 35% Charge Denial Rate
62% 100%
After 9 months of production experience…
© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
How do I start?
Assign an Owner
58
Pick a Project
Iterate over Technology
© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
Assign an Owner
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• Point person
• Responsible and accountable
• “Gets” the big
picture value
proposition
• Educator
• Evangelist
© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
Pick a project
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• Aligned with semantic technology value proposition
• Creative team
• Education investment
• Agile process
• Visible
• Schedule
flexibility
(phases)
© Blue Slate Solutions 2013
Questions + Contact Info
62
Thank you for attending our session.
Feel free to contact us if you have
questions:
Michael.Delaney@blueslate.net
David.Read@blueslate.net
www.blueslate.net