CCSS Picked by Hospital Serving Mississippi’s ‘Golden Triangle’

June 7, 2011 Alex Woodie

Mississippi’s OCH Regional Medical Center has picked CCSS to provide IBM i systems management tools, the software company announced last month. The software will be employed in the management of critical information systems used by the hospital, which serves a seven-county area known as Mississippi’s Golden Triangle.

Based in Starkville, the Oktibbeha County Hospital (OCH) Regional Medical Center serves a seven-county area of northeastern Mississippi known as the Golden Triangle. While the area is largely rural, the OCH Medical Center prides itself on being a progressive hospital. For example, many of its 100 staff physicians are board certified, according to the 96-bed hospital’s website. Also, it offers 12 different medical specialties, and uses advanced medical technology, such as MRIs and laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication machines.

Behind the advanced degrees and machines with fancy names is a System i Model 720 that keeps the business side of the hospital running smoothly. The IBM i platform is central to OCH Medical Center’s operations, and runs the computerized physician order entry (CPOE), financials, pharmacy, and laboratory applications used by the hospital’s 400 staff members.

Keeping the System i server running smooth is critical to the hospital’s success, and is the ultimate responsibility of Chamath N. Wijewardane, OCH’s chief information technology officer. Wijewardane says his team looked at several solutions before selecting the CCSS systems management tools, including QSystem Monitor and QMessage Monitor.

Wijewardane and his team of four IT professionals use the CCSS tools to monitor the Model 720 and make sure that any issues–such as a looping job, low DASD, or other error messages–are quickly identified and responded to.

The CCSS tools are an “excellent match for our needs,” Wijewardane says. “QSystem Monitor and QMessage Monitor allow us to not only keep on top of any issues but actually stay one step ahead. I’d say the CCSS solutions are the best I’ve ever seen and I’ve been very impressed with CCSS, not just in terms of the products but also by the level of support offered.”