Subscribe to d-Wise News! http://www.d-wise.com Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:55:56 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.d-wise.com/images/M_images/joomla_rss.png http://www.d-wise.com Subscribe to d-Wise News! http://www.d-wise.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=148&Itemid=128 Experienced technology leader Bud Whitmeyer named Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development.Bud Whitmeyer, a experience leader in a variety of technology roles, has been named Vice President Strategy and Corporate Development at d-Wise Technologies. Bud has over thirty years experience working in software development environments, including over twenty years experience in software company management either as an employee or board member. He has an in-depth understanding of software company operations and growth characteristics. He was most recently President CEO of NuTech Solutions, Inc., a Charlotte, NC based software company that developed custom solutions centered around predictive analytics, simulation and optimization. Bud's experience in technology includes eleven years at SAS and holding leadership roles at several early stage software companies. Bud also has six years experience as a full-time General Partner with Research Triangle Ventures, a seed/early stage venture capital fund based in Raleigh, NC. Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:00:00 +0100 http://www.d-wise.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=142&Itemid=128 North Carolina Technology Association, a membership association who understands the connections you need to be personally and professionally successful. NCTA is the premier statewide leadership organization that represents the technology industry. Our membership consists of top-tier leaders among technology companies, professional service firms, community organizations, educational institutions and government agencies. NCTA helps its members grow regionally and compete globally by actively connecting business decision makers, educating government officials on issues relevant to the technology industry and providing invaluable educational and executive networking events. NCTA has remained a trusted resource for more than a decade with the access and ability to influence locally and impact globally. Tue, 25 May 2010 18:52:18 +0100 http://www.d-wise.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=141&Itemid=128 The experts at d-Wise Consulting, regulars at PharmaSUG events over the years, will be leading the following venues at the upcoming conference scheduled for this May 23-May 26. Seminar: An Introduction to the SAS Clinical Standards Toolkit - Tim Thompson Tim's seminar will build on SAS's existing documentation for the freely available Clinical Standards Toolkit (CST) by providing installation tips and best practices as he walks participants through a practical use case. If you need help getting the CST to work for you, or simply want to know what the toolkit can and can't do, Tim's seminar will provide the primer. Hands On Workshop: Using JMP to Explore Clinical Data - Elliott FisherThe future of data exploration lies within a maturing crop of tools which allow users to visually interact with data. Elliott will lead participants through a series of exercises using SAS’s JMP desktop application in generating visualizations that can be drilled into and filtered to quickly provide the insight analysts need. Session: A Review of the CDISC/FDA Integrated Data Pilot - Chris DeckerChris will lead a discussion focused on summarizing the feedback, the findings, and the recommendations of the pilot. Session: SDD Unleashed - Extending SAS Drug Development - Stephen BakerIs it possible to initiate custom processes that run in SDD via a SAS desktop program? Yes! The free SDD Remote API provides “hooks” for SAS and Java programmers to programmatically add functionality to SDD. In this session, Stephen will demonstrate the API’s possibilities by showcasing several real-world solutions in which the API was used to extend SDD’s feature set. About d-Wise (http://www.d-wise.com/) d-Wise is a technology consulting company with a focus in Health and Life Sciences. d-Wise specializes in custom solutions using SAS and related technologies. d-Wise has built SAS-based data warehouse and reporting systems for a variety of customers and have experience with both the data and systems related to clinical trials, health insurance, patient care, and genetics. About PharmaSUG (http://www.pharmasug.org/about-pharmasug) PharmaSUG is a forum for the exchange of information and the promotion of new ideas concerning the use of SAS software as it relates to quantitative health sciences including epidemiology, health economics, health management, outcomes research, biostatistics, clinical research and the pharmaceutical industry. Wed, 19 May 2010 19:20:42 +0100 http://www.d-wise.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=140&Itemid=128 One of the main objectives within the CDISC technical roadmap released in 2008 was to conduct pilots to gain a better understanding of the needs of regulators and industry. Based on this objective, a number of pilot projects have either been completed or are ongoing. Chris Decker, Life Sciences Director at d-Wise Technologies, will chair this session that will provide an overview of three ongoing pilots involving collaboration between CDISC and the FDA with the goal of obtaining efficiencies from the use of data standards. Tue, 18 May 2010 19:01:10 +0100 http://www.d-wise.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=139&Itemid=128 Excellus BCBS contracted with SAS partner d-Wise to implement the foundation of this data integration solution. “Both SAS and d-Wise helped us understand what we were tackling. I was pleasantly surprised at just how good d-Wise was in explaining data integration to a group of non-developers. We went from communicating our requirements to having a first pass in the test phase in three to four months. It moved really, really quickly,’’ Randazzo said, adding that he felt d-Wise’s consultant, Chris Olinger, really helped optimize the solution. Since the solution has become fully operational, his team has not needed to call tech support and has been able to maintain and add to MINE on its own. Read the Entire Article Here... (http://www.sas.com/success/excellus.html) Wed, 12 May 2010 18:30:04 +0100 http://www.d-wise.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=135&Itemid=128 Come visit d-Wise Consultants within the SAS Alliance Café.  With decades of experience in SAS technologies we can answer any question and show how to wield a number of different SAS solutions and technologies.  Stop by, drop off your business card, and have a chance to win a brand new Amazon Kindle.  Within the Alliance Café we will be presenting a variety of demonstrations including: “Adding Plug-Ins to Data Integration Studio to Support Clinical Programming” “Capabilities of the Clinical Data Integration Solution” “SAS Drug Development Best Practices” “Data Integration Studio Best Practices” “Assessment of the new SAS Clinical Toolkit” In addition, d-Wise Senior Consultants will present on broad range of topics at SAS Global Forum sessions including: Chris Decker, Life Sciences Director will present “The Past, Present, and Future of Clinical Data Standards”, a review of the history of clinical data standards, SAS' role in delivering technology to support data standards, and the challenges the industry will face in the future. Chris Olinger and David Kratz will present “SAS® Data Integration Studio Tips and Tricks”, a tutorial providing some guidance on using Data Integration Studio to meet business process not defined in the standard out of the box tools available within the soluiton.  In addition, they will provide an overview of the latest version of Data Integration Studio on SAS 9.2. Mon, 29 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0100 http://www.d-wise.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=134&Itemid=128 A quote from Joseph Randazzo, Manager of Actuarial Services at Excellus BlueCross BlueShield: “Both SAS and d-Wise helped us understand what we were tackling. I was pleasantly surprised at just how good d-Wise was in explaining data integration to a group of non-developers. We went from communicating our requirements to having a first pass in the test phase in three to four months. It moved really, really quickly,” Randazzo said, adding that he felt d-Wise’s consultant, Chris Olinger, really helped optimize the solution. Click here to read the full press release from SAS: http://www.sas.com/success/pdf/excellus.pdf (http://www.sas.com/success/pdf/excellus.pdf) Is data integration enabling analytics within your organization? Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:56:19 +0100 http://www.d-wise.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=133&Itemid=128 Today, on the CDISC Blog (http://www.cdisc.org/fda-cber-cder), Dr. Kush, the President of CDISC, put to rest a few years of confusion over the direction of CDISC standards within the FDA. Over the last 3 years, since the release of the PDUFA IT Plan (http://www.fda.gov/ForIndustry/UserFees/PrescriptionDrugUserFee/ucm183308.htm), the industry has been in a state of confusion with no clear understanding of how to move forward with the adoption of CDISC standards.  Messages were being distributed that the FDA was moving to an HL7 xml type message and SAS transport files would disappear by 2013.  This was never more evident at the CDISC interchange last November when every speaker gave an impassioned plea to the FDA panel to give the industry a clear message. Dr. Kush provides a very optimistic outlook by clearly stating the FDA is stating that all data submitted in CDISC standards and SAS transport and define.xml are the standard formats for the foreseeable future.   This is great news for the industry as a whole as we now have a clear understanding of the expectation of our regulatory partners.  This news, combined with the creation of the Computational Sciences division at the FDA (http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/CentersOffices/CDER/WhatWeDo/Initiatives/default.htm#csc) focused on defining and delivering around data standards and technology, provides us with a light at the end of the proverbial tunnel.  The inaugural CDER/CBER Computational Sciences Annual Meeting (http://www.diahome.org/DIAHOME/Education/FindEducationalOffering.aspx?productID=21575&eventType=Meeting) on March 22 is one more step to support a clearer focus. With no intentions of throwing a wet blanket on this wonderful news, challenges still exist.  Companies still struggle with the cost and efficiency of using the CDISC standards.  They struggle with the need to submit data in a standard format vs. the ability to use the standards operationally.  The FDA is working through the challenges of adopting the standards when it doesn’t meet all their needs and doesn’t yet support the nuances of specific therapeutic areas.  These are challenges which are very real and hard to overcome in some cases. However, while these issues still exist, having a clearer direction agreed upon by both CDISC and the FDA, we can move forward as an industry and push through the challenges we all face.  d-Wise is excited about the opportunity to help our customers implement and adopt the CDISC standards.   Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:15:46 +0100 http://www.d-wise.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=131&Itemid=128 SAS Drug Development provides an information repository allowing users across an organization to collate, manage, and analyze their clinical data and other artifacts within a centralized and compliant platform. While SAS Drug Development offers a wealth of functionality it does not necessarily provide answers to every business process. However, SAS Drug Development does provide a very extensible platform allowing for a variety of methods for extending the capabilities of the solution to meet your business needs. This webinar provided an overview of the technical options for extending SAS Drug Development, a summary of case studies where efficiencies were gained, and a demonstration of sample prototypes using the extensibility of the solution. You can access the recorded webinar and associated slides by creating a new account and logging into our site.  Once you register and log in, you can download webinar content from our downloads page. Wed, 27 Jan 2010 05:00:00 +0100 http://www.d-wise.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=130&Itemid=128 Webinar Invitation d-Wise recognizes that companies are faced with larger and larger quantities of data spread across multiple "data silos" and the associated challenge of how to get the most value from their data. This challenge is multiplied as organizations go through mergers and acquisitions and face an increased number of diverse systems containing valuable information. Pharmaceutical companies are beginning to understand that clinical or operational data warehouses help meet the need to look closely at data and metadata as part of the solution, and address a number of challenges. These challenges include the move away from internal standards towards well established external standards, how a standard data model might be extended to meet their requirements, and building views or data marts for consumption of this data. This session will provide the following: A basic understanding of a data warehouse An examination of the variety of standards based options for data warehouses An overview of the general business requirements faced by industry in moving data from silos to a centralized data warehouse Initial assessment of the standards based options with respect to a variety of general business requirements Please join us for this webinar on October 15 from 11am to noon EST. Please go the following link to register for the event. The event is limited to 90 participants so register early. https://www.livemeeting.com/lrs/8001420460/Registration.aspx?pageName=33jmxx2kvmhwff03 Note: the web meeting will use Live Meeting and will prompt you for an installation. You can select the web only option and do not have to install any components. The conference call number is a US toll number. Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:24:51 +0100 http://www.d-wise.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=129&Itemid=128 d-Wise Consultants will be attending the annual PhUSE (www.PhUSE.eu (http://www.phuse.eu/)) conference in Basel, Switzerland from October 19-21. This is the premier conference in Europe for Pharmaceutical Software Users. In addition, d-Wise Consultants will deliver presentations on a variety of topics including: Chris Decker, Life Sciences Director will present “The CDISC/FDA Integrated Data Pilot: A Case Study in implementing CDISC Standards to Support an Integrated Review”. This presentation will provide an update on the Pilot project and a discussion of the lesson learning in implementing the newest CDISC standards and using those standards to integrate data. Stephen Baker, Senior Consultant, will present “Crossing the Chasm: Simplifying Data Management with Perl and Metadata”. This presentation will discuss how Perl was applied to the challenges of supporting data from multiple vendors with unique activities and breaking those activities down into “actions” – and driving those actions with object-oriented metadata, using tools to separate business logic from programming logic, and rapidly building capability through automated processes. Chris Decker will also present “ETL and the Clinical Programmer – They don’t have to be Enemies!” This presentation will discuss the challenges of understanding and implementing a traditional ETL process within the clinical programming environment and provide a case study of implementing an ETL solution. Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:34:00 +0100 http://www.d-wise.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=126&Itemid=128 d-Wise Technologies has been experiencing accelerating growth and has recently relocated to a new location in Westchase Business Park in July of 2009.  This new location is a premier location adjacent to Research Triangle Park in the heart of West Raleigh.  Looking to the future, d-Wise is investing in research and development initiatives to provide the Life Sciences industry with innovative solutions to realize new efficiencies and enhanced capabilities by leveraging standards and metadata.  These R&D initiatives and continued growth in d-Wise professional services were rapidly out-growing the Centennial Campus offices and were the impetus to relocate to new offices that would accomodate the size of the growing d-Wise team. Next time you are in Raleigh, come visit d-Wise in our new offices: 4020 Westchase BlvdSuite 527Raleigh, North Carolina 27607 Thu, 17 Sep 2009 05:00:00 +0100 http://www.d-wise.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=97&Itemid=128 The SAS Clinical Toolkit: An Initial Review Access the Recorded Webinar and slide show. Over the past decade SAS Institute has developed a number of tools and solutions to help manage clinical data standards. Those solutions have had mixed results and have not always provided the capabilities necessary for the industry. The SAS Clinical Toolkit, released this summer, shows promise for delivering a robust SAS based framework for managing standard metadata. It includes the ability to manage a global standard (i.e. SDTM) as well as individual studies. The first release provides the capability to run the standard SDTM and Janus checks as well as create the define.xml. d-Wise has spent time assessing the capabilities of the Toolkit and will provide an overview of functionality, benefits, and limitations of the Toolkit. This session provided: An overview of the goals and functionality within the Toolkit. High level description of the installation and framework. Workflow for defining and working with a study. Demonstration of some of the Toolkit's Capabilities. Initial assessment of the Toolkit's usability - Benefits and Limitations. You can access the recorded webinar and associated slides by creating a new account and logging into our site.  Once you register and log in, you can download webinar content from our downloads page. Sun, 09 Aug 2009 13:20:55 +0100 http://www.d-wise.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=95&Itemid=128 d-Wise is a bronze Sponsor of the PharmaSUG 2009 Conference.  As a leader in software consulting within the Pharmaceutical industry,  d-Wise has participated and presented at PharmaSUG many times over the year.  This year d-Wise president Chris Olinger will be presenting his annual seminar on Advanced Output Delivery System.  In addition, Chris Decker, d-Wise Life Science Director, will present two paper. The first paper will provide an overview of the CDISC/FDA Integrated Data Pilot project included an update on the Pilot and the challenges with implementing the CDISC standards when integrating studies.  The second paper will focus on the use of SAS Data Integration Studio for clinical data transformations and the challenges if using traditional ETL solutions.  Come meet us at PharmaSUG and discuss various topics such as CDISC, data integration and the new solutions being delivered by SAS Institute. Mon, 11 May 2009 13:48:01 +0100 http://www.d-wise.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=91&Itemid=128 Raleigh, NC, USA, March 16, 2009—d-Wise Technologies is pleased to announce that Chris Decker will present a session at the d-Wise Technologies (../) d-Wise is a technology consulting company with a focus in Health and Life Sciences. d-Wise specializes in custom solutions using SAS and related technologies. d-Wise has built SAS-based data warehouse and reporting systems for a variety of customers and have experience with both the data and systems related to clinical trials, health insurance, patient care, and genetics.   Wed, 18 Mar 2009 13:58:00 +0100 http://www.d-wise.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=83&Itemid=128 Representing a unique perspective on the SAS ecosystem and the consulting side of analytics, d-Wise will join an exclusive group of industrial advisors helping to drive the cirriculum of the Master's of Analytics program at NC State. As the premier professional service provider for SAS Health and Life Sciences and SAS Drug Development and with decades of experience delivering SAS solutions and building custom integrations to connect SAS products to enterprise architectures, d-Wise will help the program to better prepare students for the reality of delivering the SAS foundation for the analytical needs of industry. The d-Wise invitation to the industrial advisory board is evidence of d-Wise's commitment to supporting the strategic vision of NC State. d-Wise is co-located with the MSA program in the Venture buildings on Centennial Campus and is working closely with the program to identify candidates for hiring opportunities this year. d-Wise will be launching a new website dedicated to the analytics focus, describing offerings and industrial solutions that will meet unique needs leveraging d-Wise expertise and the expertise of our partners and the MSA program. From market segmentation to manufacturing yield optimization, analytics is constantly opening new doors for increased profitability. Modeling and simulation combined with analytics offers new pathways to increased efficiencies in laboratory optimization and product development - greatly enhancing the innovative capacity of organizations. Coupled with d-Wise expertise in systems integrations, d-Wise will be exposing analytics as a platform that organizations can use to be not only more effective, but more creative. The combination of d-Wise expertise in high performance computing, systems integrations, modeling and simulation, and analytics will be a powerful opportunity for companies in a variety of industries looking for the next competitive advantage. From molecular target modeling, to laboratory optimization, to demand forecasting, to targeted segmentation for marketing and sales - d-Wise offers clients a comprehensive understanding of how to enable their business through analytics, modeling, and simulation. Thu, 26 Feb 2009 21:54:01 +0100 http://www.d-wise.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=81&Itemid=128 Come visit d-Wise Consultants within the SAS Alliance Café.  With decades of experience in SAS technologies we can answer any question and show how to wield a number of different SAS solutions and technologies.  Stop by, drop off your business card, and have a chance to win a brand new GPS.  Within the Alliance Café we will be presenting a variety of demonstrations including: “Adding Plug-Ins to Data Integration Studio to Support Clinical Programming” “Capabilities of the Clinical Data Integration Solution” “Adoption of SAS Drug Development” “Data Integration Studio Best Practices” “Advantages of the new SAS Clinical Toolkit” In addition, d-Wise Senior Consultants will present on broad range of topics at SAS Global Forum sessions including: Chris Decker, Life Sciences Director will sit on a panel to discuss “The Use of Electronic Metadata”.  This panel discussion will focus on using electronic metadata in the clinical trials process, and using the metadata to effectively manage the entire life cycle of a project. Chris Olinger and Stephen Baker will present “Customizing SAS® Data Integration Studio with Plug-Ins to Turn Off Automap” in which provide an overview of how to use the Java API to build a plug-in to turn off the automap functionality, a useful but sometimes very painful piece of functionality. John Leveille and David Kratz will present “Building Analytic Services with SAS® Business Intelligence”.  They will show how one can use SAS® BI Web Services to deploy SAS® Analytics through Web services, including specific steps for developing a SAS® stored process and deploying it as a Web service and scenarios for the deployment of services within a corporate network as well as via an intercompany configuration.   John Leveille will present “Optimizing Product Formulation with JMP® and SAS® Enterprise Miner™” which will illustrate how JMP® and SAS® Enterprise Miner™ software can be used to create a black box model for empirical lab data and help to reduce the cost of trial-and-error product formulation. Mon, 16 Feb 2009 21:54:01 +0100 http://www.d-wise.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=54&Itemid=128 d-Wise will host a CDISC ADaM Implementation Course on January 16, 2009 at their offices on NC State’s Centennial Campus. Susan Kenny, Inspire Pharmaceuticals and Cathy Barrows, GlaxoSmithKline will conduct the training. For more information and to register for the event please go to the CDISC website (http://www.cdisc.org/education/publiccourses.html). Thu, 29 Jan 2009 21:54:02 +0100 http://www.d-wise.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=79&Itemid=128 In October of 2008 d-Wise became a member of CDISC. After years of developing solutions and consulting for CDISC including the SDTM and ODM models, it was the most logical step for d-Wise. Chris Decker, the Life Sciences Director at d-Wise, is the co-leaders of the CDISC/FDA Integrated Data Pilot. Thu, 29 Jan 2009 21:54:01 +0100 http://www.d-wise.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=78&Itemid=128 In September, 2008, d-Wise initiated a R&D group to focus on the development of software products for the Life Sciences industry. d-Wise has focused on consulting since its inception but based on their experience in developing custom solutions for life science companies, they have decided to explore product development in this industry. Currently, they are in the process of exploring multiple potential solutions and are collaborating with vendors and customers to determine the market. Thu, 29 Jan 2009 21:54:00 +0100