Microsoft Nonprofit United States

Operation Smile

Data Lake / Data Warehouse Modernization · Enterprise Knowledge Search

To serve its global patients, Operation Smile needed better support for translation and localized data input, faster ways to identify and classify cleft conditions, and a replacement for manual data analysis in spreadsheets.

The digitalization of forms and the use of Azure AI have reduced the time required for completing reports from four to five hours to just 15 to 20 minutes.

Reported impact

Business outcome

The digitalization of forms and the use of Azure AI have reduced the time required for completing reports from four to five hours to just 15 to 20 minutes.

  • Customer Experience
  • Productivity Improvement
  • Risk Reduction
  • Scalability

Solution

Operation Smile built its Microsoft solution to improve knowledge retrieval and expert-assistance workflows. To serve its global patients, Operation Smile needed better support for translation and localized data input, faster ways to identify and classify cleft conditions, and a replacement for manual data analysis in spreadsheets. Key components included Microsoft Fabric held and organized governed data, and Microsoft OneLake held and organized governed data. Operational data flows into Microsoft Fabric, where Microsoft Fabric applies transformations and business logic before Microsoft Fabric delivers governed insights to teams across Operation Smile. The stack stayed governed and extensible on Microsoft. The digitalization of forms and the use of Azure AI have reduced the time required for completing reports from four to five hours to just 15 to 20 minutes.

Data flow

Operational data flows into Microsoft Fabric, where Microsoft Fabric applies transformations and business logic before Microsoft Fabric delivers governed insights to teams across Operation Smile.

Solution architecture

4 components · 3 layers
  1. Compute
    • Azure OpenAI Service Runs large language models that generate grounded responses, summaries, and copilots.
  2. Storage
    • Microsoft Fabric Unifies data engineering, analytics, and business-intelligence workloads on one cloud platform.
    • Microsoft OneLake Acts as the shared data lake and central storage layer for analytical assets.
  3. Serving
    • Power Apps Presents low-code business applications that connect frontline staff to operational data.

Architecture clues

  • Microsoft Fabric and OneLake play crucial roles in centralizing data processes and patient record management through a unified Fabric dashboard view.

Evidence from the source

Insights from Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service allow us to deliver more effective care and create a lasting impact in communities," says Sean Riordan, Associate Vice President of Information Technology at Operation Smile.
Insights from Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service allow us to deliver more effective care and create a lasting impact in communities.
Operation Smile chose to work with Azure OpenAI Service, Fabric, and Power Apps, in collaboration with Microsoft and partner Squadra to streamline data input, accelerate patient triage, and replace manual processes.
The digitalization of forms and the use of Azure AI have reduced the time required for completing reports from four to five hours to just 15 to 20 minutes.
To serve its global patients, Operation Smile needed better support for translation and localized data input, faster ways to identify and classify cleft conditions, and a replacement for manual data analysis in spreadsheets.
Transparency Evidence & methodology 85/100 reference value · 89% confidence · 1 source

Review how this reference was scored and trace each normalized claim back to its documented source.

01

Scoring methodology

How scores are calculated

Customer Reference Value measures usefulness as a customer reference. Evidence Confidence measures the quality and traceability of available evidence, not independent verification.

Customer reference value85/100
  • Problem clarity20/20
    Measures whether the customer's operational problem is specific enough to compare.
  • Implementation depth20/25
    Rewards named components, data flow, integrations, and architecture detail.
  • Outcome specificity20/20
    Measures whether the reported benefit is concrete rather than a generic claim.
  • Quantified impact15/25
    1 metric describe measurable impact.
  • Deployment scale10/10
    Rewards evidence of a live or scaled deployment and meaningful integration scope.
Evidence confidence89%
  • Source authority20/25
    The main evidence is an official vendor-published customer story.
  • Claim traceability21/25
    10 of 12 key fields link to a named source.
  • Direct evidence20/20
    5 direct source quotes retained.
  • Date provenance10/10
    The publication date comes from the source page or publisher.
  • Source transparency8/10
    1 source reference document publisher, URL, authority, retrieval, and supported fields.
  • Implementation specificity10/10
    Rewards source-backed components, data flow, quantified impact, and a specific outcome.
02

Traceability

Sources & provenance

Field coverage shows which facts each source supports. Dates are shown only when documented by the source.

  1. Microsoft

    Operation Smile customer story

    First-party
    https://www.microsoft.com/en/customers/story/19752-operation-smile-azure-ai-and-machine-learning
    Source type
    Vendor-published customer story
    Published
    Nov 14, 2024
    Supports
    • Customer
    • Business problem
    • Solution
    • Products
    • Solution components
    • Data flow
    • Integrations
    • technical area
    • use case category
    • Business outcome
    • outcome category
    • Metrics
    • Architecture
    • evidence quotes
    • Publication date

Date evidence

  • Published on source page Nov 14, 2024 · Microsoft · First-party
    Open date source
Not separately sourced Industry, Region, Company size. Treat these normalized attributes as lower-confidence until a dedicated source is added.