Interface - Facility list sync (Direct connectors)
Goals/Scope
Note: This solution is an alternative option to using global standards in Interface - Facility Lists using Global Standards w/ mCSD. It creates atleast 3 connectors to 3 specific systems: EPICOR 9, MACS, mSupply as well as DHIS2. It would require new connectors for each new IT system used in country that needed to agree on Locations.
For facility lists in OpenLMIS to be updated in line with updates to facility lists in the ERP (and other systems) so that there are not problems importing orders from OpenLMIS to the ERP and to facilitate future interoperability between OpenLMIS and the ERP. If a country has a facility registry, that would be another potential implementation. There are issues around who is the source for the facility lists, if the ERP then the ERP would be the appropriate system for the interface.
Status in eLMIS: Not in eLMIS currently.
Status in OpenLMIS: Not in OpenLMIS currently
Priority: High priority for Tanzania especially for MSD
Background
Configuration of facilities and facility requisition groups
Facility meta-data is entered in parallel into eLMIS and into the ERP.
When a facility is registered, it is give:n a facility type (dispensary, health centre, hospital, etc.), it is assigned one or more programs (ILS, ARV&OI, TB&L, Lab), the district where it is located is recorded, and it is assigned to a “facility requisition group” (FRG).
An FRG in Tanzania can either be a specified district group for lower level facilities or a specified zonal group for hospitals. For example the FRGs are lower level facilities in district A, lower level facilities in district B, hospitals in zone X, hospitals in zone Y etc.
There is a national health facility registry (HFR) in Tanzania, however it is currently not interoperable with MSD ERP. Even when the ERP starts drawing its facility list from the health facility registry (HFR), there may be some human steps involved in verifying the facility by MSD. Once it goes “live” in the ERP, it should also go live in OpenLMIS so that the facility lists are always in sync.
See also sections of the document “System requirements specifications for eLMIS interface with mSupply” which discuss import of facility lists. (see open questions)
Side Note:
Assumptions
In the past, Tanzania used to divide the groups up more, in order to allow for different schedules for lower level facilities in the same district, but now Tanzania follows a system where all lower level facilities in a district operate on the same ordering schedule.
User Stories
Josh: This feature should be addressed by this epic in JIRA: OLMIS-3385 - Getting issue details... STATUS .
| # | Title | User Story | Label | Importance | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Facility list update from ERP | As an administrator I want facility lists in OpenLMIS to be updated in line with updates to facility lists in the MSD ERP so that there are not errors during other OpenLMIS-MSD ERP data exchanges. | MSD ERP | Must have | Per Tanzania gap analysis document: This will involve an automated import into OpenLMIS, followed by an OpenLMIS administrator manually going through the changes and adding any additional information/configuration which is not available in the ERP." |
| 2 | Facility list update review | As an administrator I want to be able to manually review facility list changes and add additional information or configurations which are not available in the MSD ERP. | MSD ERP | Must have | |
| DHIS2 | |||||
Diagrams
Dependencies
| Description | Link |
|---|---|
Open Questions
Below is a list of questions to be addressed as a result of this requirements document:
| # | Question | Outcome | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Should facility list updates always go through a manual validation and update process? | ||
| 2 | Need for adding in "System requirements specifications for eLMIS interface with mSupply" on import of facility lists. |
Out of Scope
Gap Estimation Notes 4/12/2018
- Mary Jo: Is there a ETL tool we can give to a country so they have a strategy?
- Josh: Yes, I think we can give a recommendation about how this would work with legacy systems.
- Mary Jo: "We know your Epicor does not do this yet; it would cost $X to make the final sync; but we have the ETL tool.
- If we do epic
OLMIS-3385
-
Getting issue details...
STATUS
as suggested, does that work in practical terms for the gap countries?
- Mary Jo: We could recommend the ETL tool.
- Mary Jo: Maybe core OpenLMIS just does the standard. But as implementers, we know we need to provide a solution or recommendation for country implementations.
- Josh: If we just do the standard, it gives us the broadest reach.
- Matt: We just do the standard now, and country implementations will need to address their interoperability during the implementation.
- Craig: What if we also include a "mapping" inside our product that can map from other lists to our master list?
- Josh: That goes against OpenHIE recommendations.
- If we make this harder for country implementations, will country stakeholders be disappointed that we did not close the gap entirely?
- Ashraf: Should we be able to explain, "if you cannot use mCSD/FHIR yet, then here is how you are going to be able to use OpenLMIS."
- Josh: No, we are better just staying with the standards. Funders do not want to keep re-inventing the wheel because of master list sync issues.
- Elias: Is this gap the gap between current state and global best practice state? Or is this the gap with TZ and ZM?What ERPs are in use?
- MACS (Zambia), Epicor (Tanzania), mSupply (Zanzibar)
- We will need to create 3 ERP Connectors to connect between our mCSD/FHIR standard and these country-specific ERP setups.
- Note: The countries are working on OpenHIE interoperability.
- This could change with Josh visit to TZ.
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