EXCALIBURDATA DRIVEN PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
Call 877-505-1454Schedule assessment
  1. Home
  2. AskMerlin
The tech stack

AskMerlin Analytics

Seven applications, one platform, one version of the truth. AskMerlin is the technology engine behind every Principle and every Method, because different roles consume data differently.

In one sentence: AskMerlin is Excalibur's healthcare revenue cycle analytics platform: seven applications on one data warehouse that joins EHR, 837 claim, 835 remittance and transaction data into a single version of the truth, refreshed on a 20-minute ETL cycle, drillable to the account.
Seven apps, matched to the role that lives in them

Built for how you actually work.

B41C application emblem

B41C

Before the First Cup

Best for: Leaders who manage by a regimented daily routine and want a fast, holistic picture first thing.

  • Executive Summary with 20+ leading and lagging indicators and a daily eye on the income statement
  • Payer Target Guide with 100+ KPIs
  • Cash Calendar forecasting and a Command and Control operating view
The Grail application emblem

The Grail

Month-end close and A/R valuation

Best for: Finance leaders making GL entries, financial statements and finance committee reports.

  • Account-level A/R valuation: Step Down Erosion, Cliff and Predictive Balance methods
  • Interactive Income Statement: gross revenue, contractuals, doubtful accounts, uncompensated care, net revenue
  • Month-over-month allowance change monitoring
The Lady of the Lake application emblem

The Lady of the Lake

Waterfalls and run-outs

Best for: Analysts studying month-end outcomes through waterfalls and run-outs, not standard aging buckets.

  • Waterfall analysis by discharge, bill or claim, or vendor assignment date
  • Drillable by financial class, service type, location and DRG
  • Levers and Pulleys: how volume and transactions moved the receivable
Gwen application emblem

Gwen

Dispositional workflow and patient engagement

Best for: Teams cycling government, non-government or self-pay balances, denials, bad debt transfer, productivity and QA.

  • Dispositional workflow combining RPA and DispoBot technology
  • Digital patient engagement and speech analytics
  • Wraps around or replaces HIS workqueues, with write-back
Analytics Portal application emblem

Analytics Portal

Ad hoc analysis without limits

Best for: Analysts living in high-volume ad hoc reporting and questions outside the standard reports.

  • Unlimited dimensions: financial class, service type, location, carrier, disposition, status, last touch date
  • Combine transactions, accounts, charges, 837s and 835s
  • Ad hoc report and dashboard design, data sharing and democratization
Wizards application emblem

Wizards

Manage by asking questions

Best for: Leaders who manage by curiosity and ask similar questions on a regular cadence.

  • Built around four questions: How Much, How Fast, What's Left Over, Why
  • Pre-built and click-to-go
  • Answers like POS cash as a percent of self-pay cash, aged cash over 90 and 365, DNFB composition
Scrolls application emblem

Scrolls

Scorecards and Top 10s

Best for: Leaders who manage by scorecards and Top 5s and 10s, viewed side by side.

  • Vendor, payer, staff-level, dispositional and custom scorecards
  • Top 10 series: open denials, inpatient self-pay balances, promise-to-pay accounts
  • Custom lists, built once, refreshed daily
The technology

Not all analytics are built the same.

Most BI tools show you a pretty object and leave you to figure out the why. Most EHR-native reporting cannot join what AskMerlin joins. Five capabilities make the difference.

20 minutes

ETL cycle

versus roughly three hours for other BI platforms, and not natively available in most EHR or HIS tools.

True latitudinal join

One record

Transactions, charges, accounts and third-party data joined together. Most competitors cannot.

24 to 48 hours

Turnaround

to troubleshoot, refine or enhance, versus two-week sprints or months elsewhere.

CapabilityAskMerlinOther BI and analytics toolsEHR and HIS native tools
Drillable everywhereIncludedIncludedNot available
Account-level A/R valuation and reservesIncludedNot availableNot available
Month-end packet prep supportIncludedNot availableNot available
Unlimited dimensions and metricsIncludedIncludedNot available
Multi-system data warehouse capabilityIncludedIncludedNot available

Legend: check = included, dash = not available. Source: Excalibur AskMerlin Analytics product comparison.

From data to decisions

Many systems. One picture.

Epic, Cerner or any host HIS, plus claim scrubbers, 837 claims and 835 remittances arrive in different formats with different keys. AskMerlin's pipeline extracts, transforms and loads them into one record per patient and visit, derives the KPIs, and makes the result available to every application.

  1. Extract. Structured and unstructured data pulled from every source system.
  2. Transform. Patient, visit, claim, payment and notes joined into one meaningful view; fields become KPIs.
  3. Load. Analysis-ready data loaded into the warehouse and served to all seven applications in minutes, not hours.
  4. Act. Visualize, study, act. Exceptions surface; the receivable becomes a narrative.
Answers

Questions about AskMerlin

What is AskMerlin?

AskMerlin is Excalibur's healthcare revenue cycle analytics platform: seven applications on one data warehouse, built to combine EHR, claim (837), remittance (835) and transaction data into a single version of the truth, with a 20-minute ETL cycle and account-level drill-down.

Does AskMerlin replace our EHR reporting?

No. AskMerlin sits alongside Epic, Cerner or any host HIS. It joins data those systems cannot join natively, values the receivable at the account level, and can wrap around existing workqueues with write-back where desired.

Is AskMerlin sold as standalone software?

AskMerlin is delivered as part of Merlin as a Service, with embedded revenue cycle expertise. Excalibur does not sell software with services attached; it sells an outcome that the platform makes visible every month.

How fast can a change be made?

Troubleshooting, refinement or enhancement requests typically turn around in 24 to 48 hours, versus two-week sprints or months with other BI tools.

Next step

See AskMerlin on your own data.

A Readiness Assessment includes a look at what your month-end would show with payer-level targets and account-level valuation in place.