The investment from Digital square will go towards the adoption of flow interoperability (FI) standards, technologies, and effort to endorse the use of FI in projects using Rasello’s added experience of system integration between centralized and dispersed systems. The processes will include requirements and functionality elicitation, installation planning, deployment strategizing, comprehensive documentation, quality assurance, functionality testing, creating necessary means for building capacity among the community, and integration testing between Flow interoperability (FI) and digital communication systems.
With the existing gap where different stakeholder fails to get action driven information from operation systems, Rasello intends to expand the ecosystem of interoperable systems, pilot, and learn from the implementation of the standards for effective digital communication between data collection systems (mmobile application, USSD services, social messaging chatbots) to an information web-based dashboard. Among useful standard of information exchange leveraging open standards with good success is Health Level 7 (HL7) an international standard used in the transfer of health data between software application used by health care providers best used under MLLP. Furthermore, these systems are being used to support disease assessments or surveillance, treatment support, outbreak tracing, and disease management specifically in maternal and child health care, reproductive health care, HIV, TB, and COVID 19.
In Rasello’s work with organizations such as EGPAF, RICE University, Tanzania Ministry of Health, and the University of California Berkeley to independently in organizations listed implement communication platform and forum, digitized data collection tools while leveraging interoperability properties, Rasello has been able to extensively understand the need for connection between digital communication system.
Rasello will work along with consortium team members as will be guided by USAID, to ensure the further success of Flow interoperability with dedicated categories of expertise who will collaboratively work to achieve the project objectives as required. The team includes a multi-disciplinary roster of experts who has a blend of knowledge and experience working for interoperability. The team consists of the technical team, project personal, design team, and Quality Assurance(QA) team. The combined level of experts will bring in their skill set for expanding the ecosystem of interoperable systems. Likewise, they will explore, analyze, and implement the standards to bring value to operating projects
The goal of the project is to expand the ecosystem of flow interoperability layer and accelerate its use to enhance connectivity, reusability, and information accessibility between digital communication systems across the globe, whereby most of the digital communication systems that will gain the support of the FI standards are m-health systems by leveraging open standard tools and technologies.
Rasello’s experience and expertise in using a number of interoperability layers and mediators such as open HIM, open-source standards, digital technologies in data collection, data analysis, application of digital principles of development will help improve Flow Interoperability(FI), contribute to pilot unified information exchange between existing communication systems, ensure achievement of data flow results, and flow content across digital communication systems promptly during low to high information demand periods.
Rasello is open to meaningful collaborations to ensure USAID’s objectives are reached and gaps on interoperability in digital communication systems have been covered, subsequently feeding to the goal of quickly availing information among stakeholders across countries during response times, while utilizing Flow Interoperability (FI) standards.
For the implementation of flow interoperability standards, Rasello will take lead to oversee the overall project-based and development-based work, project management, funds management, coordinate work between consortium members, serving as an intermediary to the stakeholder, and harmonize team activities through frequent virtual discussions together with time-to-time physical team meetup.
Rasello is a global technology company with offices in Zambia, Singapore, Nepal, and Tanzania. Rasello creates Software as a Service (SaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) solutions tailored towards the needs in emerging markets with successes in public authorities, telecommunications, healthcare, insurance, education, and non-profit organizations. Rasello solutions are tailored towards ensuring that workflows are smoothly digitized to support the easy adaption of interventions from community level to country level. Since its establishment in 2011, Rasello has worked with clients in various industries and sectors to provide off-the-shelf solutions, custom platform solutions, or extended solutions using open-source tools and techniques. These solutions range from mobile applications, web applications, targeted messaging across digital communication systems such as USSD, Shortcode, and SMSs.
Rasello will coordinate and lead the consortium dedicating a team of developers with over 10 years experience in software development, project managers with a combined of 8+ years of experience, business analysts with a combined of 6+ years of experience, design team, and quality assurance/ quality control personnel a combined of 10+ years of experience
Background
There is a need for seamless connection between digital communication systems, systems that are for digital data collection, and mobile communication supporting ecosystem for existing flow interoperability and future software platforms. Also, published content from different countries or platforms cannot be shared. FI also facilitates the availability of data that can be explored for research purposes.
Technical Approach
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Rasello will add value to flow interoperability functioning, to be achieved by leveraging our extensive experience using interoperability layer tools such as Open HIM that connects systems from community level to national level.
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Utilize existing pair of standards to enable interoperability between digital communication systems.
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Centralize digital flow interoperability from ad-hoc peer to peer system communication.
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Simplify accessibility of data from community, clinics, and health worker levels.
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Pilot Flow Interoperability to existing data collection and digital communication systems
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Participate and contribute in Flow Interoperability (FI) Community development and consolidation of support tools
Outcomes
The adoption of FI will ensure data accessibility which will enable decision-making and connects all the digital communication systems used in the development and humanitarian response to overcome the mentioned challenge internationally. This will be achieved by maintaining the centralized shared health record following the interoperability architecture based on Health Information Exchange, electronic records, based on international standards, including base standards, profiles, and interoperability specifications (IHE, ISO, HL7 etc) along with flow results and flow content standards. Likewise, the FI would support external system connections such as TS, CR, SHR, HMIS, FR, HWR.
Monitoring and Evaluation Approach
Rasello will use formative, process/implementation, outcome/effectiveness, and impact evaluations to determine whether the program/ project activities have been implemented as intended. After the fruitful results, the scalability of use and adoption of data can be leverage from national to international level.
Deliverables & Schedule:
Rasello will conduct the project following the agile methodology of development, whereas the project, in general, will be guided by a work plan of activities and deliverables. Below is a draft of activities to be executed during the project period.
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ACTIVITY |
DELIVERABLES |
TIMELINE |
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Initiation |
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Kickoff meeting |
Meeting notes |
Month 1 |
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PM Tools setup i.e. JIRA, Confluence |
Month 1 |
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Documentation review |
Month 1 |
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Analysis |
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Assessment of current implemented standards in flow interoperability |
System design document Technical specification report |
Month 1 & 2 |
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Scope and requirement analysis |
Month 2 |
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Conceptualize improved FI design |
Month 2 |
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Integration analysis |
Month 3 |
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System and database design finalization |
Month 3 |
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Development |
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Set up of development tools |
Source code, technical documentation Progress status updates |
Month 3 |
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Sprint based improved FI development |
Month 3- 6 |
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Implementation of Beta Version |
Month 4 |
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Sprint testing |
Month 3- 6 |
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Weekly demo meetings |
Month 3- 6 |
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Testing and Deployment |
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Integration testing |
Test Cases UAT report Providing technical and user support |
Month 5 |
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Overall system testing |
Month 6 |
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User Acceptance testing |
Month 7 |
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Implementation User Acceptance testing feedback |
Month 7 |
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Deployment strategies |
Month 7 |
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Training |
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Capacity building (trainers of trainers, users) |
Training guides |
Month 8 |
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Maintenance and Monitoring |
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Monitoring system efficiency and stability |
User manual, final reports |
Month 8-15 |
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Project Closure and Handover |
Month 15 |
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Monitoring and Evaluation |
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Continous M&E of the implementation |
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Month 8-18 |
Rasello team will manage project risks on an ongoing basis throughout the project. The risk management process will involve foreseeing by evaluation of potential risks at every reporting, ensuring that these potential risks are communicated to key project stakeholders early in the phase. Evaluation of potential risks in the project phase will go hand in hand with aligning the acceptable risk mitigation strategy to either accept, transfer, avoid or reduce, depending on the type of risk.
The Rasello team will manage project risks on an ongoing basis throughout the project. The risk management process will involve foreseeing by evaluation of potential risks at every project phase, ensuring that these potential risks are communicated to key project stakeholders early in the phase. Evaluation of potential risks in the project phase will go hand in hand with aligning the acceptable risk mitigation strategy to either accept, transfer, avoid or reduce, depending on the type of risk i.e. privacy and security, project life cycle, stakeholder.
Comments
Follow-up questions on Rasello FI+ concept note
Hi Rasello team,
Thanks for submitting this concept note, and your interest in the Flow Interoperability initiative. From previous work with mHero and other systems within OpenHIE, we see lots of potential for the Flow standards to effectively connect general-purpose communication systems to digital health tools, including through OpenHIM mediators.
Here are some follow-up questions on the concept note:
Qn 1. What are the specific
Qn 1. What are the specific digital/communication systems that would gain support for the Flow Interoperability (FI) standards
Answer: The system that will gain support for the Flow interoperability(FI) standards will be mhealth.
mhealth systems are patient-level applications that support disease assessments or surveillance, treatment support, outbreak tracing, and disease management.
Qn2 What role do these systems currently play? (For instance: end-user communication, data storage, visualization, sector-specific data processing in digital health, etc.?) Can you describe in more detail how they are being used currently, and the opportunities for change/improvement?
Answer: the systems are being used to support disease assessments or surveillance, treatment support, outbreak tracing, and disease management specifically in maternal and child health care, reproductive health care, HIV, TB, and COVID 19
Qn 3. What are the outcomes that would be enabled or improved through the adoption of FI?
Answer: The adoption of FI will enable data accessibility that will enable decision-making and research purposes.
What is the potential for scale if this is achieved?
Answer: The adoption will increase the scalability of use and adoption of data from the national level to the international level.
Qn5. Rasello proposed leading a consortium team. Do you have suggestions for other partners in this consortium?
Answer: At the moment Rasello does not propose leading a consortium team but we are open to collaborations.