Designing Electronic Medical Record System For Eduardo Gomez's Medical Office.

Problem Description

Part 1: Project presentation:

The goal of the project: Provide Planning, Analysis and Design of the information systems application.
What needs to be done: Provide solution to one of the problems described below. You will work in Team of 3-4 students and deliver presentation and presentation material to the class. Each team will select one theme to present. Your deliverable for this part is a PowerPoint presentation in front of the class. We will discuss it in the class in a greater detail.

Theme 1 – Healthcare: Electronic Medical Records.

Medical Office of Eduardo Gomez is seeking help from Informational Systems analyst to design an Electronic medical record system for his small medical practice.

Currently, all patients’ records kept in a hard copy at storage facility. When patient makes an appointment to see Dr. Gomez, Office requests record from a facility. It takes 24 hours to get a physical copy of the record, plus facility charges $15 per record they deliver.  If Dr. Gomez needs record sooner he has to pay a double fee ($30) to bring record from the facility within 1 hour. Dr. Gomez has only one computer in the office which is primarily used for running billing program.  All appointment scheduling is done on paper by two people. Due to handwriting issues sometimes it is not possible to read next patients name and time of appointment.  Therefore in many instances Dr. Gomez doesn’t know who is coming to see him and he has to order delivery of many unnecessary records and pay money for records he doesn’t need in the office. On average Dr. Gomez sees about 30 patients a day, but usually due to difficulty in understanding handwriting he orders 45 records a day. Also, sometimes test results are not added and reviewed on time, since the records is not in office. In result when patients test results are not normal, it takes about 24-48 hours for patient to know about it. Since doctor needs patient record in order to evaluate patient’s health.

Dr. Gomez is planning to open second location, which is going to be far from storage facility.  Storage facility can’t deliver records that far. Therefore Dr. Gomez wants to create information system which will help him facilitate record access and appointment tracking at his two locations.

Systems Analyst needs to deliver plan, analysis and basic design for implementation to solve Dr. Gomez problem.

Part 2

Grading breakdown:`

1. 10 points- Essay organization: Following submittal directions and information organization
2. 90 points– Essay content. How essay relates to class discussions, how information in the essay correlates to the course and researched topic

What needs to be done:

Please select option 1 or option 2. Please write your research essay in your own words, do not copy EAXACT text from the internet. You may make copy only images and illustration. I am encouraging you to use illustrations if you plan to write about option 1.

 For your convenience I’ve provided essays outlines. Please follow ONE of the outlines I’ve provided. If for some reason you’ve decided to use different outline for your essay, please discuss it with me.

Option 1:

We are covering only a few methodologies of developing information systems (Waterfall, Iterative, Prototyping and aspects of Rapid Application Development) in class. In the book you can find description of at least 7 more. Please select 3 developmental methodologies and compare them, at least 2 of them should be the ones we didn’t cover in the class. Please describe and compare selected methodologies. Provide examples in what situations you would use each of the selected methodologies. Although the book gives description for all of them, but you encouraged to search for more information on the internet. Please provide at least 3 sources of information as described in your syllabus and provided in guidance below.

Option 2:

There are many IT projects which fail, please research online the causes of failed IT projects. Do not forget to provide examples of real failed IT projects.  You also may concentrate on only one failed IT project. Please provide at least 3 sources of information as described in your syllabus and provided in guidance below.

Some examples of big IT projects that failed: FBI Project, IRS Project, Denver Airport, etc… ( you can search online to find more)

Whether you chose to write about Option 2 or Option 1, your essays supposed to be related to class discussion and materials as much as possible.

Introduction

The information systems have been very efficient in the field of technology and management. Hence, the Medical office of Eduardo Gomez is also looking to implement an information system for themselves and hence, they are looking to take advice from a system analyst to proceed with the implementation of the information system. The planning, analysis and design for the implementation of the medical system of the organization have been provide in the report.

Planning

It has been given that the organization are looking to implement an electronic medical record system. Hence during the planning for the implementation of the electronic medical record system for the organization the security considerations, the availability and the testing procedures are to be thought of (Benner et al. 2014). The potential risks and the risk mitigation planning should also be done by the organization in this phase. The initial delineation of the system in terms of the confidentiality, availability and integrity should also be jotted down by the planners. All these processes are to be completed in the planning phase of the project implementation.  

Analysis

In the analysis phase of the electronic medical record information system the analysis of the system is done. The functional and the non-functional requirements of the systems are identified and the system security requirement is also identified. The main functional requirement of the system would be to provide the organization with the records of the medicines and the patients’ details (Abrahamsson et al. 2017). The non-functional requirements of the system are that system should be available and the efficiency of the system should be maintained. Additionally, the feasibility study of the system is also done so that the effect of the system on the business of the organization can be measured efficiently. It should be checked weather the system is feasible or not. It can be assumed that this type of system is generally feasible for the society. The economic feasibility of the system should be tested by making the cost benefit analysis of the system. Additionally risks assessments are also done in this phase. The risks are identified and the mitigation policies are formulated during this phase.

Design

The design phase involves the design of the application. The electronic medical record system would be having some use interfaces and methods that are to be used for the implementation of the system for the organization. There would be various methods defined for the implementation of the system and these methods would be collaborated into a single system for the organization (Krahn, Rumpe and Volkel 2014). The designing phase would involve the documentations such as the wireframes for the user interface and the umls for the implementation of the methods and the process of the system.

Grading Breakdown

Conclusion

For conclusion it can be said that the planning, analysis and the designing are important phases for the development of any kind of system at the start of development method. Without these phases the development of the system would not be structured efficiently and also the efficiency of the system would be restricted to a great extent.

System development Methodologies

The system development methodologies are very important for any type of system to be developed (Wasson 2015). It is very important that a methodology is defined at the start of any type of project or system development. Any organization that develops software and systems for internal use or for external sale to outside customers is taking an enormous risk if they don't know what they're doing and are unable to effectively manage the risks associated with that kind of effort. In addition to this there are different types of software development models available for the development of the software. The methodologies that are to be discussed in this essay are the waterfall model, agile model and the prototype model.

Waterfall is very simple to understand and use. In a waterfall model, each phase must be completed before the next phase can start (Steinke, Al-Deen and LaBrie 2017). At the end of each phase, a review takes place to determine if the project is on the right path and whether or not the project should be continued. Here phases do not overlap with each other. This methodology does not overlap, once the project moves down the next stage of the process the project cannot return to the previous stage. This model presents a high level view and suggests to the developer the sequence of events they should expect to encounter. This model is used to prescribe software development activities in variety of contexts (Son and Ryu, 2015). It is the basis for software deliverable. Associated with each activity are milestones and outcomes, for managers to monitor. The waterfall model is a traditional method, sometimes called the classic life cycle, suggests a systematic, sequential approach to software development that begins with customer specification of requirements and progresses through planning, modeling, construction and deployment, culminating in on-going support of the completed software (Grabusts, Borisov and Aleksejeva 2015). In Waterfall model there will be no involvement of customer, only at the beginning of the project the customer is involved. After the whole project is completed the project is given to the customer, until then there will be no involvement of the customer. One of the biggest limitation is it does not reflect the way code is really developed. Problem is well understood but software is developed with great deal of iteration (Spichkova and Campetelli 2014). Often this is a solution to a problem which was not solved earlier and hence software developers shall have extensive experience to develop such application; as neither the user nor the developers are aware of the key factors affecting the desired outcome and the time needed. Hence at times the software development process may remain uncontrolled.

Development Methodologies

The agile model basically combines the iterative and the incremental model. The main task of this model is that it breaks the development process in smaller sub processes and finishes the smaller projects quickly so that the system can complete the development procedure very efficiently (Diaz-Sarachaga 2017). The Agile system development life cycle model begins with initial elicitation of requirements in order to conceptualize the system. Once the system concept is formed, requirements are estimated and prioritized in order to plan the development iterations. Within each iteration, requirements continue to evolve and are used in brief model storming sessions in order to design the functionality required to meet requirements allocated to the iteration. When the system model is developed/modified, the coding is initiated/continued using a test-driven approach. Once the functionality for the iteration is tested successfully, refactoring takes place (Ghobadi 2015). Refactoring is a disciplined technique for altering the structure of an existing code base without altering functionality. When refactoring is completed and functionality is confirmed, the code is deployed internally, completing the iteration. If plans include deploying the code beyond the development iteration, the code is then deployed externally. Eventually, all iterations are completed, resulting in a system with full functionality that is accepted by stakeholders because it meets allocated requirements. There are several methodologies through which we can implement Agile Projects. The agile methods are focused on different aspects of the software development life cycle (Harb, Noteboom and Sarnikar 2015). Some focus on the practices (extreme programming, pair programming), while others focus on managing the software projects (the scrum approach).Agile methodology benefits both the Customer and the Company itself. Client, because they have access to the body of work till it gets delivered. So at the end of the process. They get a customized product completely apt for their work function. Also company, because they overcome various uncertainties about a project which often gets impacted by constraints of time, cost, scope, quality, resources, organizational capabilities, and other limitations that make them difficult to plan, execute, manage, and ultimately succeed. Scrum on the other hand is an adaptive, iterative, fast, flexible, and effective framework designed to deliver significant value quickly and throughout a project (Hadid et al 2015). Scrum ensures transparency in communication and creates an environment of collective accountability and continuous progress. An Agile approach is also well-suited for projects that require an emphasis on creativity and innovation in addition to planning and control. A typical plan-driven approach doesn’t typically provide a good environment for emphasizing too much creativity and innovation and that is very important to be competitive in today’s environment.

Prototyping model is the model of software development life cycle where the Iterative process starts with a simple implementation of the software requirements and iteratively enhances the evolving versions until the full system is implemented (Micouin, Fabre and Pandofli 2016). This model is helpful when end product requirements are not clear, you learn and refine all of that while building and testing prototype. Here, the developer and client interact to establish the requirements of the software. Here, the visible elements of the software, the input and the output are designed. Until the all the user requirements are met, it continues in an iterative manner. Most products go through five to ten prototype iterations before they are ready for production. Some more complex products, like a VR exercise platform that are recently developed, require many more iterations than that. After the prototype is developed, the client evaluates the prototype and provides its recommendations and suggestion to the developer. The final product of the design through this model is a prototype (Muller 2017). The essence of prototyping is a quickly designed and can undergo immediate evaluation. There is a common belief out there that getting to a prototype is easy, and once you have that prototype, you are ready for production. It is easier than ever to produce the physical prototype, but a lot of insight, plus design and engineering knowledge is required to develop the design that leads to the series or prototypes, that ultimately leads to a successful product.

Comparison of the methodologies: The comparison of the software development methodologies is provided below:

With the above discussion in mind it should be considered that the selection of particular methodology for a particular project generally depends on the nature of the project. Many people might argue that Agile is the best methodology for software development and it does have significant advantages in most cases. Both the agile and the waterfall methodologies have depends on the nature of the project (Deghani and Ramsin 2015). Many people might argue that Agile is the best methodology for software development and it does have significant advantages in most cases. Agile/Scrum works best with projects that have high levels of uncertainty and require an adaptive approach. A plan-driven approach works best in situations where the requirements are fairly certain and there is some need for predictability of project costs and schedules. And, of course, that is not meant to imply that there is a binary and mutually-exclusive choice between two extremes. There are many ways to blend an adaptive approach with a plan-driven approach in the right proportions to fit the situation. Additional consideration should be done for the prototype modelling for the situations where developer is unsure of the project. Hence, it can be concluded that the selection of the methodology is done entirely based on the environment of the project.

References

Abrahamsson, P., Salo, O., Ronkainen, J. and Warsta, J., 2017. Agile software development methods: Review and analysis. arXiv preprint arXiv:1709.08439.

Benner, K.M., Feather, M.S., Johnson, W.L. and Zorman, L.A., 2014. Utilizing scenarios in the software development process. Information system development process, 30, pp.117-134.

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Diaz-Sarachaga, J.M., Jato-Espino, D. and Castro-Fresno, D., 2017. Methodology for the development of a new Sustainable Infrastructure Rating System for Developing Countries (SIRSDEC). Environmental Science & Policy, 69, pp.65-72.

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Grabusts, P., Borisov, A. and Aleksejeva, L., 2015. Ontology-based classification system development methodology. Information Technology and Management Science, 18(1), pp.129-134.

Hadid, A., Evans, N., Marcel, S. and Fierrez, J., 2015. Biometrics systems under spoofing attack: an evaluation methodology and lessons learned. IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, 32(5), pp.20-30.

Harb, Y., Noteboom, C. and Sarnikar, S., 2015. Evaluating Project Characteristics for Selecting the Best-fit Agile Software Development Methodology: A Teaching Case. Journal of the Midwest Association for Information Systems, (1), p.33.

Krahn, H., Rumpe, B. and Völkel, S., 2014. Roles in software development using domain specific modeling languages. arXiv preprint arXiv:1409.6618.

Micouin, P., Fabre, L. and Pandolfi, P., 2016, January. Property Model Methodology: A First Assessment in the Avionics Domain. In ERTS 2016 8th European Congress on Embedded Real Time Software and Systems.

Muller, R., 2017. Project governance. Routledge.

Son, K. and Ryu, H., 2015. Integrated system development methodology design and LCC (Life Cycle Cost) data process. Indian Journal of Science and Technology, 8(24), p.1.

Spichkova, M. and Campetelli, A., 2014. Towards system development methodologies: From software to cyber-physical domain. arXiv preprint arXiv:1403.2819.

Steinke, G.H., Al-Deen, M.S. and LaBrie, R.C., 2017. NNOVATING INFORMATION SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT METHODOLOGIES WITH DESIGN THINKING. In Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Applied Innovations in IT (pp. 51-55).

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