The Department of Health were in urgent need of an applications roadmap and framework. In a short 3 month window, Velrada gathered a variety of information, produced a presentation layer for displaying the complex mapping including: Applications View; Services View; Technology Model; Geographical View; Time Dimension; Projects view.

Project Overview

In 2010, the Department of Health were in urgent need of an applications roadmap and framework to provide some key directions in their portfolio of 600+ applications.

 

Key to this was the need to identify various applications, link these to their clinical services, and therefore help define contractual agreements and boundaries with major capital works and service delivery prime contractors.

In addition, other needs such as defining a portfolio prioritisation of work and applications needed support.  The Department of Health chose Velrada to help them with the development of an Applications Roadmap - and key identification of the existing applications and the existing pathways for consolidation.

 

In a short 3 month window, Velrada gathered a variety of information, produced a presentation layer for displaying the complex mapping including:

• Applications View
• Services View
• Technology Model
• Geographical View
• Time Dimension 
• Projects view

 

This was successfully undertaken, and information and direction provided has now been integrated into their applications strategy, boundary definition documents and for the applications teams' operational requirements.

Client Requirements

There are significant changes within WA Health - from Health Reform, to the introduction of Activity Based Funding, the adoption of an eHealthWA strategy through to new facilities and operational models driven by the clinical services framework roadmap for WA. 

 

With so much change, and key facilities like the $2bn Fiona Stanley hospital being only one component, the direction for developing applications required to support these different clinical services and operations is critical. 

The combination of long term changes in core applications, the constant tensions of infrastructure and application dependencies meant a plan needed to be developed.

 

Velrada were asked to produce a current-state, multi-dimensional view of all active and planned applications in use across WA Health and map for various stakeholder groups.

 

The criticality of this information was vital to:

• The development of new facilities with appropriate technology and applications;
• Understanding projects which have the potential to disrupt applications as a result of changing application hosting sites (e.g. data centre migrations, Central Computer Rooms facility changes etc.)
• Optimising the overall applications portfolio for the Department of Health
• Opportunities for alignment with other key programs of reform and enablement including Portal and Interoperability, PAS, iPM, New Core, Ultra and the Electronic Health Record programs, and
• Supporting the Contractual agreements required between the Department of Health and its major prime contractors involved in capital works planning and development

 

Importantly, this needed to be completed in a short timeframe of 3 months, and covering 600 plus applications.

Our Solution

Using our IP and an experienced team, we were able to develop the consolidated portfolio of applications for WA Health. These included:

• Gathering the information necessary quickly whilst being as accurate as possible in analysis
• Understanding the clinician's and user need for applications - not just the clinical core, but speciality applications in urology, cancer, cardiology for example - and understanding how the business may define their requirement in terms of specific facility requirements
• Understanding how best to construct an application roadmap with a range of different drivers, and priorities - from contracts, through to impact on users, changes to meet Horizon 1 objectives, and needs of facilities for example
• How best to understand the application roadmap in terms of the capability of both WA Health to develop applications internally, but also the role of capabilities in terms of vendors and other suppliers to WA Health
• To understand the challenges of health applications that may not integrate, and how this should be assessed

We utilised a combination of methods below for improving accuracy in information gathering including:

• Desk research and review
• Targeted stakeholder engagement in HIN - with application owners, infrastructure leads, technical and solution architects
• Surveys with the organisation with incentives for completion
• High level contract analysis (if deemed appropriate and within our time-boxed approach)
• Engagement with HCN
• Direct stakeholder engagement with clinicians and administrators - prioritised by key facilities and areas, and if appropriate and agreed a number of regional facilities.

 

We also used a prioritised model of engagement to cover the key applications early - such as the Patient Administration System, Clinical Information System, Radiology and Imaging.  We also focused on key facilities that were likely to give the broadest application coverage first such as Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Fremantle, and RPH.

 

Outcomes

• Enable Department of Health to have a mapped clinical services and applications list
• Providing key business intelligence in the overlap of long term application changes with the business needs of clinical services and needs of new facilities being built
• Deliver the required frameworks and analysis within the timeframes requested developing a framework that can be used for each hospital and new facility change, and the applications that are required to run each facility.
• Implement the applications roadmap into their ongoing operational processes through handover. The applications analysis and recommendations are now being implemented and used in the Department of Health, with the core framework being embedded in ongoing business as usual operations.
• Support the allocation of the $10m+ of funding for applications and prioritisation for the executive.

How can we help you?