Complete a business analysis and departmental workflow review for the hospital environment

Review specifications and analyze gaps between application data support and the specifications

Define each clinical application's data requirements, including the healthcare standards utilized (e.g., HL7, X12, XML, DICOM, etc.)

Identify the unique characteristics of the HL7 versions used by your interface partners (e.g., labs, clinics, imaging centers, hospitals, etc.)

Accommodate the 'custom' HL7 definitions by defining the parsing rules needed for each partner (e.g., Z segments)

Translate the interface messages between HL7 versions

Build the communications level connections for the data exchanges

Collect message samples for interface unit testing

Check the sample messages for validation and conformance to the selected version of the HL7 or other standards and required customizations made before implementing

Unit test message translations

Test the protocol connection to ensure the messages can be delivered effectively

Send defined messages to the destination application to ensure acknowledgement processing

Execute a system test of the interface

Document the interfaces that have been built and tested

Backup production environment

Port the testing environment including all pieces of the configuration to production

Test production setup and configuration without impacting production environments

Start connections for productive use

Establish a method and procedure for archiving interface messages for long term review and research

Set baseline message volume flow expectations to implement benchmark metrics

Create an alerting profile for proactive notification of severe interface events

Understand high availability requirements and develop appropriate approach