The Connectathon:IHE’s Conformance Testing Event

Presented by:Mike NusbaumMike GlickmanIHE Connectathon & Interoperability Showcase Planning CommitteesJanuary 12th, 2010

Why are we here?

How can one claim interoperabilityHow can one claim interoperabilitywithout Conformance Testing??!!without Conformance Testing??!!

The “Mike’s”

Objective and Agenda

• What is the Connectathon?• To provide a high-level

understanding of the Connectathon, its processes, and the value within the context of IHE

• To describe what is currently happening on the Connectathon floor• To prepare you for a tour of the Connectathon floor, immediately following

this presentation…

Did you know…• The first Connectathon

– held in 1999 in Chicago– 23 vendors, 47 applications tested, 1 Integration Profile

• Connectathons are held annually in North America, Europe and Asia

Did you know…• The 2010 North American Connectathon boasts:

– 104 vendors and organizations (up from 71 in 2009)– >150 individual systems being tested– 498 engineers working collaboratively to test interoperability– 1000’s of vendor-vendor connections; 10,000’s of transactions– Day 1 (yesterday): 506 tests complete, 314 in the queue. Last year, 1714

tests were completed by end of Day 3.– 498 x 8 hrs/day x 5 days = 19,920 engineer-hours x $100/hr = $2 million of

test effort (not including prep and setup time!!).• 79 vendors to continue on to promote their success at the 2010 Interoperability

Showcase at HIMSS

North American ConnectathonTesting of vendors’

conformance to IHE Integration Profiles

Testing of vendors’ conformance to HITSP Interoperability Specifications

Future:Future:• pan-Canadian HIT standardspan-Canadian HIT standards• FHA Connect specificationsFHA Connect specifications• NIST specificationsNIST specifications• State HIE specificationsState HIE specifications• Regional Extension CentersRegional Extension Centers• Other…Other…

Timely access to Timely access to informationinformationTimely access to Timely access to informationinformation

Easy to integrate Easy to integrate productsproductsEasy to integrate Easy to integrate productsproducts

Products Products with IHEwith IHEProducts Products with IHEwith IHE

IHE IHE DemonstrationsDemonstrationsIHE IHE DemonstrationsDemonstrations

Develop Develop technical technical

specificationsspecifications

Develop Develop technical technical

specificationsspecifications

IHE’s Proven Standards Adoption Process

Document Use Document Use Case Case RequirementsRequirements

Document Use Document Use Case Case RequirementsRequirements

Identify available Identify available standards (standards (e.g. HL7, e.g. HL7, DICOM, IETF, OASIS)DICOM, IETF, OASIS)

Identify available Identify available standards (standards (e.g. HL7, e.g. HL7, DICOM, IETF, OASIS)DICOM, IETF, OASIS)

Testing at Testing at ConnectathonsConnectathonsTesting at Testing at ConnectathonsConnectathons

IHE Testing Process

Users

Sponsors:Project Management Team

Vendors

Sponsors:Exhibits

DevelopTesting Tools

ImplementProfile Actors

In-HouseTesting

Connectathon

Demonstration

DeploySystems

Testing Results

ApprovesTest Logs

IHE Technical Framework (IHE Profile Specifications)

Product +IntegrationStatement

Encouraging Vendors to ImplementIHE Integration Profiles

• Connectathon participation is open to all “software developers”, vendors, open source, providers

• IHE Integration Profiles (Interoperability Specifications) are set before sponsors issue a call for participation, with a “hard” deadline

• Vendors who pass the IHE Connectathon tests are given the opportunity to demonstrate IHE capabilities during major conferences (HIMSS, ACC, RSNA, e-Health, etc.)

• Vendors that implement IHE profiles assume strategic and marketing advantages

What is a Connectathon?• Cross-vendor, live, supervised, structured tests• All participating vendors’ products tested

together in the same place/time• Experts from each vendor available for

immediate problem resolution… fixes are done in minutes, not months!!

• Each vendor tests with multiple trading partners (actual product to actual product)

• Testing of real-world clinical scenarios using IHE Integration Profiles

Connectathon Testing is based on specifications laid out in the Technical Framework

Part 1: Integration Profiles model the business process problem (use case) and its solution.

Part 2: Transactions define how current standards are used to solve the business problem defined in the IntegrationProfiles.

Connectathon: Vendors register to test their product as an actor(s) within an Integration Profile

Connectathon: Managed Process

• Testing Management Tool (Gazelle) – test management, execution, results

• Real-time “dashboard” indicating tests in progress

• Successful results recorded and available using automated tools, and published by IHE sponsors

• Structured testing supervised by Technical Project Management team (4 PM’s and approx 50 Monitors)

“Real-Time” Connectathon Results

•Tool contains Connectathon results from 2001 to present

•Part of the “KUDU” project management tool, developed in part by IHE Europe (moving to Gazelle)

•IHE has launched a new PRODUCT REGISTRY, containing specific vendors’ product implementations of IHE Integration Profiles

Testing ToolsKudu Kudu »» MESA MESA » Gazelle» Gazelle

• Software and documentation distributed to vendors participating in the testing process

• Each test performs functional testing of a single actor, in a specific profile, by simulating remaining actors

• Tests must be successfully completed before the Connectathon

Gazelle Project• Next generation of IHE testing tools• Trialed in Vienna in Apr/09, fully deployed Apr/10• Make Connectathon testing more efficient and thorough• Enable remote online testing to supplement Connectathon (“virtual

Connectathon”)• Development sponsored by IHE North America, IHE Europe and IHE Japan

– Collaborative effort with numerous contributors– Additional partners invited to take part– All work to be released under open source license

• Will enable testing on demand– Acceptance testing by institutions– Internal testing by vendors– Vendor-to-vendor remote testing via the Internet

IHE International Board

IHE Testing and Tools Committee

Testing Management Group:-- MIR-- INRIA

Testing and Tools Committee

Sponsors:-- IHE Europe-- IHE Japan-- IHE North America

Contributors:-- NIST-- INRIA-- Canada Health Infoway-- DVTK-- Tiani-Spirit-- Others

Collaborators:- CCHIT/MITRE- HITSP- Other standards,

certification and health information exchange organizations

Connectathon Scorecard

What happens after the Connectathon?• Successful results (specific by IHE profile/actor) are published by the sponsors

(www.ihe.net)

• Vendors self-certify, by publishing IHE Integration Statements: Precise and explicit public interoperability commitment for a specific commercial product

• Only vendors who are successful are entitled to participate in Interoperability Showcase demonstrations:– HIMSS Annual Conference (Mar 1-3, Atlanta)– Canada e-Health Conference (May 30- June 1, Vancouver)– RSNA Annual Conference (Nov 28 – Dec 3, Chicago)– others…

IHE Integration Statement

The value of using Integration Statements in RFP’s

• Be Brief ?– “The system must support HL7”

• Be Effective ?– “The system must support the following HL7 V2 messages according to the

following 100 pages of specifications”

• Be Both:– “The system must support IHE Patient ID Cross-reference as a Patient Identifier

Source actor”• Integration Statement

– Version 2.1 of the ACME Enterprise HIS supports IHE Patient ID Cross-referencing as Patient Identifier Source actor

Requiring vendors to publish their products’ Requiring vendors to publish their products’ IHE IHE Integration Statements Integration Statements provides a very effective provides a very effective

catalyst in achieving market-driven interoperabilitycatalyst in achieving market-driven interoperability

RFP Language (actual example)

Connectathon Tour• You will be led by “docents”• There will be 4 “stopping points”, illustrating different aspects of the Connectathon

– Vendors describing “what is going on now”– Vendors describing “how are we implementing the HITSP interoperability specifications

using IHE”– Vendors, describing how the infrastructure components are established and managed– Technical Project Managers, describing how the Connectathon is organized and

managed

• Feel free to observe and listen, but respect the effort that is underway and refrain from disrupting the engineers at work!

Experts you will meet…Steve Moore, MIRManaging the Connectathon

Bill Majurski, NISTConnectathon Infrastructure

Kevin O’Donnell, ToshibaThe vendor experience

Lori ForquetBob YenchaHITSP at the Connectathon

Navigating the Connectathon Floor

Key: Technical PM (Steve Moore) HITSP (Bob Yencha) General (Kevin O’Donnell) Infrastructure (Bill Majurski)

Key: Technical PM (Steve Moore) HITSP (Bob Yencha) General (Kevin O’Donnell) Infrastructure (Bill Majurski)

Your docents…• Chris Carr• Lisa Spellman• Mike LaRocca• Glen Marshall

• Special “Quality” tour to launch at 4pm for those interested. See Lori Forquet at station F17.

Thanks for joining us!

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