Tip 11 in the Interoperability Tip Series
Last week, you learned about doing a gap analysis – mapping differences between the systems you’re interfacing. Today, we’ll cover why you need this artifact.
1. Interface Requirements
No interface matters unless those coding the engine can accurately scope the interfaces they need to build. You need a way to communicate who does what on an interface. Is the vendor changing a field? Is the interface engine handling the field transformation? It’s critical that you pin all this down in an interface gap analysis before interface development begins, or you will be wasting time iterating through multiple changes later in the interface lifecycle.
2. The Timeline
Without a gap analysis that details your requirements, you’ll end up implementing a generic interface that doesn’t address your organization’s unique needs. Your end users will be frustrated that they can’t easily access all the information they need. And you’ll end up wasting time, money, and effort troubleshooting after going live. With a gap analysis, you can avoid extended go-live periods, significant maintenance at increased cost, and unhappy clinician end-users who are unable to access the data they need to deliver appropriate patient care.
3. Predictable Effort
Gap analysis work upfront, before the interface is built, lets you stay on track, reduce defects during the build, and get into production faster.
Downloadable Interface Gap Analysis Template
Looking for more guidelines? Use this sample interface gap analysis template to get started.
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