Success Stories

Brigham Young University Case Study

Prior to 1997, the Comprehensive Clinic at Brigham Young University in Provo, UT, collected patient data the old-fashioned way: paper forms, manila folders, and lots of file cabinets. The clinic’s Director of Administrative Services, Mark Lees, PhD, went looking for a Windows-based database collection tool that would not only store information, but also be simple enough for even the most inexperienced end-user to utilize. And, it needed to handle the entire case management spectrum.

A search on the Internet led him to Sequest Technologies’ website, where he read about TIER®, and how easy it was to customize forms and collect and report on client data. After reading about the software, two points sold him on Sequest Technologies’ TIER®: 1) How easy it is to customize screens, and 2) How user-friendly the end product is. After that, other software packages held no interest for Dr. Lees.

An outpatient mental health training and research clinic, the BYU Comprehensive Clinic averages 80 master and doctoral-level students who gain hands-on experience with patients while finishing their degrees. These therapists-in-training don’t have a lot of time for filling out paperwork. TIER® lets end-users (students and their supervisors) enter data, track client or student information, and report on it without hours of paperwork. There’s no need to distribute multiple copies of notes and reports to various members of a patient’s care team. Those involved with a patient’s care can open the documents in TIER®, see the most recently entered information, and print a copy, if needed.

Before going live in February of 1997, Sequest Technologies’ employees worked with Dr. Lees and his staff to help them install the software, set up their databases, and create their screens. Once the basics were ready and the end-users were trained, they began collecting data on TIER®.

Transitioning from paper forms to electronic screens went smoothly according to Dr. Lees. The clinic now tracks student-therapists, supervisors, and client information with a minimum of effort on the end-user’s part. Reporting on collected data is straightforward with Seagate Crystal Reports®. Adding new fields onto an existing screen or entirely new screen is simple enough.

Since the implementation of TIER®, Dr. Lees has had additional training in screen design and Seagate Crystal Report writing from Sequest staff members over the phone, at the Sequest Technologies headquarters, and on campus. He has found the technical support and screen design teams helpful in explaining and implementing the latest TIER® functionality as he incorporates it into BYU’s screens. Along with working directly with Sequest employees, he has found the documentation very useful. These new manuals and how-to documents let him work with TIER® whenever he has the time.

According to Dr. Lees, Sequest Technologies’ TIER® is “the best it has ever been.”

For information on BYU, go to http://cc.byu.edu.