Vocabulary Quality Assurance Project

Project to clarify expected practices and process for WG when using coded vocabulary

Overview

Scope

Define and communicate consistent set of QA requirements and describe processes that can be used to implement these requirements for decentralized development of terminology artifacts used across all HL7 product families, coupled with a centralized governance structure. These processes would be followed by all HL7 groups, I.E.: all HL7 standards that reference terminology. This project will not include implementation of the processes documented; the deliverable will be a process document to be implemented via a different project.

Need

It has become apparent that the terminology published in HL7 artifacts does not demonstrate the quality and consistency generally required for interoperability among modern HIT systems. In addition, HL7 internal consistency and harmonization has become increasingly difficult due to a lack of standardized quality processes applied to terminology artifacts across the different projects. This problem has resulted in excessive effort and resource use.

Project Risks

1. Difficulty in determining current actual terminology use practices that are critical to individual product family success so that improved proposed processes will not impair continued success
2. Significant terminology quality issues currently exist in existing HL7 standards. Different processes will be required to address existing issues. We expect that process to address existing quality issues will in part be derived from the outcome of this project, but cannot dictate our deliverable that is intended to be implemented in current and future HL7 activities.

Project Processes

This project will use DropBox as a collaborative document sharing process during the formative draft development process. If you are interested in viewing the current draft please attend the meetings. If you are interested in participating in the editing and review of the drafts, please send a request to get access to the dropbox folder to Rob McClure ( rmcclure AT mdpartners.com ).

Draft list of issues for discussion

1. Multi-code system value sets and their use in extensible bindings
2. Use of value sets to control better use of null flavor
3. Value set versioning
4. Use of static binding
5. Clarify use of immutable value set: ActClassProcedure – good example
6. Not just value set – all terminology issues
7. V2 table content issues
8. Incorrect OID identifier and name of object
9. Inconsistency in naming conventions
10. Terminology source of truth for artifacts
11. Terminology in the context of ballot review

Conference Call Schedule and Minutes

Calls occur every-other Tuesday 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm ET beginning May 26, 2015

Call Info: Standard Vocabulary phone line: Phone: +1 770-657-9270, Participant Code: 598745

Webmeeting Info: Please click on the link below to join the Mikogo session https://go.mikogo.com/?sp=&sid=661689818

If the above link does not work, you can follow these steps instead to join a session:

1. Go to http://go.mikogo.com
2. Enter the Session ID: 661689818
3. Enter your name
4. Click "Join Session"

Agenda for next meeting June 9

1. Revisit co-sponsor support
   1. Plan for taking PSS to F&T and then TSC
2. Continued work on starting list of issues

Core Documents

1. Project Scope Statement HERE
2. Draft project goals HERE
3. HL7 Peer-review Process approach HERE

Minutes documents

2015-02-05_Minutes
2015-02-12_Minutes
2015-03-05_Minutes
2015-03-19_Minutes
2015-05-26_TQA_minutes