Methodology
The Institute has developed a cost-effective and rational approach to developing requirements for effective health information systems. Through this methodology, we seek to support public health agencies in developing information systems that meet their agencies’ daily operational needs and provide interconnectivity with other public health agencies and the healthcare system. To promote improved interoperability, public health agencies are collaborating to conceive of and develop information system requirements that are based on common business processes, promoting the development of integrated and interoperable information systems.
Our Collaborative Requirements Development Methodology (CRDM) brings partners together to:
- Analyze their business processes by collaboratively thinking through the tasks they perform to meet specific public health objectives;
- Redesign business processes by rethinking the tasks to increase effectiveness and efficiency; and
- Define system requirements by articulating what the information system must do to support those tasks.
As a collaborative process, this approach produces a set of information system requirements that are common to all, but can be tailored to meet individual agency needs. With defined business processes and requirements available, it is unnecessary for each public health department to reinvent the wheel when defining its information system needs. As a result, public health agencies and their partners are able to make informed “buy or build” decisions about their information systems, to ensure the systems’ interoperability with other health departments and federal agencies and to conform to national standards. To better understand our approach, watch an animated walkthrough of the methodology.
