Implementation Packages

This page is related to the AID/EST/Education/Publishing project of the same name.

Project Scope

To define the contents of 'Implementation Packages' for each of the product lines that consist of:

1. HL7 standard publications,
2. software processable expressions thereof that can be used for Education and source code generation, as well as
3. other related implementation tools and toolkits. The package could be made available as a ZIP, or simply be a list of URLs on a webpage, the exact deliverable is to be determined.

Original PSS: File:HL7 AID-Implementation Packages-v0.2.docx

Rationale:

• Newbie implementers need a ‘starter kit’ – not just the standard itself. It lowers the hurdle towards implementation, which is one of the strategic initiatives.
• Education for v2 needs an ‘implementation package’ were all the specs and tooling for v2 are in.

Effectively FHIR is an ‘implementation package’. As an example, the HL7v2 Implementation Package could consist of the HL7v2 spec (in HTML) format, v2 examples, the HAPI/nHAPI toolkits, other relevant (open source) toolkits, the v2 XML schema, the v2 database (with definition of message structures).

Specific goals for this project:

1. Definition of the contents of the Implementation Package for HL7 version 2
2. Definition of the contents of the Implementation Package for CDA

Functional Requirements of an Implementation Package

From a functional perspective, irrespective of the standard for which an implementation package is defined, an implementation package should contain (by inclusion, or by reference):

• Specification:
  • A human readable version of the standard, preferrably in an easily accessible and hyperlinked format.
  • software processable expressions of the standard
    1. Structure definitions in some parsable (platform independent) language (richer than schema), e.g. to serve as the basis for code generation.
    2. Object models, e.g. to be tied to parsers and serialisers; object models represent an additional set of decisions beyond the structured definitions.
  • Multiple instance examples for all of the core structures as defined in the standard.
• Tools:
  • Programming APIs which ease the software implementation process of the standard.
    • Parsers, serialisers, validators (java, C#, some win32 language, javascript)
  • Testing and simulation tools which ease the software development and testing process related to the standard.
• Other
  • Whitepapers or other documentation of implementation best practices of the standard.
  • Examples of (software processable) conformance profiles
  • Examples of (human readable) implementation guides