According to IEEE interoperability is defined as:
'The ability of two or more systems or components to exchange information and use the information that has been exchanged.'
(Source: IEEE Standard Computer Dictionary: a compilation of IEEE Standard Computer Glossaries, 1990.)
Interoperability can ambiguously be understood in different ways depending on the specification under consideration:
- Technical or Functional interoperability = the ability for two systems to exchange information (message).
If the specification is of an artifact (e.g. a business document, a process definition, a policy contract, a Vitalink medication scheme), then interoperability is understood as the ability to process this artifact with consistent results, using different platforms or processors. In such a case, interoperability is often described as portability from the artifact perspective (the artifact is portable across platforms), while the platforms or processors are qualified as interoperable. - Semantic or Non-Functional interoperability = the ability of those systems to understand and use the information (meaning) held in the message.
If the specification is about a communication protocol (e.g. a transfer protocol, an interface like the eHealth Hub webservices) and about the behaviour of processors of this protocol, then interoperability is understood as the ability of two implementations of this specification – i.e. processors of this protocol - to communicate properly. In the case of an interface, ability of a user entity to communicate with an implementation (or processor) of the interface.
Given interoperability in general and interoperability in compliance with Vitalink, please find useful guidelines below:
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Vitalink Cookbooks
Specific helpful documentation exists for the implementation of Vitalink services into your applications. For more specific information we refer to the Vitalink documentation available on a dedicated Confluence site for this purpose.
Responsibility
Be aware that it is not always clear which aspects of interoperability fall under the specification writer's responsibility, and which fall under the implementation developers responsibility. Too often interoperability problems arise when each party is over-reliant on the other party to ensure interoperability.
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Requirements
This paragraph should be moved to the requirements documentation.
Interop1 - Transparency in sharing of locally edited data
Verify that it is visible for the user which locally edited data will be shared.
This includes explicitly visualising any removal of central data.
Interop2 - Transparency in sharing from central data
Verify that it is visible for the user which displayed data comes from the shared central source.
This includes explicitly visualising any removal of local data.
Interop3 - Exhaustive data mapping
Verify that all the data from the central source is visible for the user.
Interop4 - Erroneous data mapping
Verify that the user is consulted when incoming data from the central source can not be processed. If possible, the user interaction can't solve this immediately,
Interop5 - Input validation
Verify that the validation of user input is also applied for incoming data from the central source. If the validation fails, the data should be handled as erroneous data.
Interop6 - Transformation design
Verify that your transformation of central data is well-designed and documented. The design includes the restrictions the central data should apply to to be able to serve as input for the transformation.
All data that is not suitable for the transformation should be handled as erroneous data.
Interop7 - Server processing
Verify that the processing of erroneous data on a server (where there is no immediate user interaction) is logged, monitored and eventually presented to the user.
Interop8 - Logging
Verify that enough information about manipulation of central and local data is logged to enable later analysis of possible problems.
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