Establish a Support Plan
Component Level Project and Exchange Level Project
Last updated
Component Level Project and Exchange Level Project
Last updated
It should be expected that requirements and requests for OHIE components and data exchanges between them will evolve over time. For this reason support strategies should be developed and should remain in place to triage requests for data, system enhancements, integrations, operations support or general troubleshooting among users. Common types of ongoing support are described below.
Operations support is intended to maintain the logistics and infrastructure required for each of the components. The content owner, infrastructure owner and software owners will need to support the system. This support includes: monitoring error logs, maintaining a server, ensuring security protocols, carry out backups, and software and hardware updates as needed.
Developer support is important to facilitate any future adaptations of the OHIE components and data exchanges. For instance it may be desirable to create a specialized data curation function, additional workflows (data exchanges), or other applications that would work in coordination with the registry or components in a service oriented fashion. Developer support will also include the identification, documentation and resolution of any enhancement requests or software bugs.
Ongoing support will be required to triage requests for integration, issues, and API enhancements to support other systems interested in consuming your selected components’ data. New systems that want to consume an API may also require some technical assistance to create an end node in their application to facilitate integration.
Ongoing support will also require assistance for issues related to data collection, curation, analysis and utilization. There will be ongoing requirements to provide training, troubleshoot issues and respond to data access requests by users. Other aspects of data support include: data collection, entry, permissions, bulk imports, data flows, curation, and data quality.
Help desk support may not be required initially, but as more users and organizations start using the registry or relying on the data exchanges it may become important to identify, document, triage and direct response to types of requests from the varied types of users.
To appropriately provide the support mentioned above, there will need to be training to build the capacity of support personnel to enable them to perform basic administration of OpenHIE components and data exchanges. In addition, there may be changes regarding scope, data and quality improvements as outlined in the support plan.
Post production, it is important to capture lessons learned. One helpful exercise is to have the team make two lists. In the first list, the team should document the aspects of the project that worked well. This will provide insight into processes that can contribute to the success of additional project iterations. In the second list, the team should note the items that could be done differently next time. This exercise is important as the implementation process is meant to be iterative. Once the system is running and stabilized, the iterative development process can begin again with an expanded scope. New interfaces, user stories or workflows may need to be added.
