I don't think it's a good idea to have a separate organizational role table, and I don't think this proposal has been thought through thoroughly.
I'd like to review some of the discussion that took place last spring around the HR module. At that time, what was on the table was the separation of organizational roles from privileges by breaking the link between users and providers. At that time, I proposed that the distinction be between staff and users, and intended to use the providers table as a staff table. However, this was strongly opposed by Burke and others on the grounds that providers were only those who provided services to patients and that other staff should be excluded. I was told that the use of the providers table for other staff would not be welcome, and the HR module was developed with different core table, staff, linked to person. As I read the wiki page, the proposal addresses several issues: * People are still confusing organizational roles with system privileges. This problem has already been solved by the split between user and provider, an organizational role provider attribute would suffice to handle issues such as the letters going out with the wrong signature. * There are functional distinctions between providers of the same provider type which should be available for selecting pick lists. This can also be addressed by provider attributes or tags/categories. * People are being miscategorized for administrative reporting (doctors/PAs/nurses). During the HR discussion, the point was made repeatedly that administrative reporting was outside the scope of an EMR. To the extent that a provider attribute would not suffice, this should bring the whole issue of the role of OpenMRS in administrative reporting back into play. * People have different organizational roles at different locations. This issue is addressed only in the data model by having a location attribute; it is not addressed in the text. I can imagine the following possible uses: it is intended to be used for location-based data access privileges (reconflating organizational role and user privilege); it is intended to be used for location-based limitations on pick lists; it is intended to make organizational reporting more useful. If it is the third use that is motivating the change, and administrative reporting is on the table, then I would urge people to take a look at the data model for the HR module (hr3.mwb (mysql workbench) on the HR module project page). There, the issue is dealt with more generally (based on multi-country requirements analysis) with the concepts of post and assignment: the post is the official job title and the organizational unit of which the staff is a member, while an assignment is an organizational role; there can be multiple assignments per post, so the same staff can work as a PA at location 1 on Monday and a CHW at location 2 on Tuesday. From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Daniel Kayiwa Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2012 5:22 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [OPENMRS-DEV] Roles and Privileges Sprint Greetings to you all!!! We are soon going to have a sprint on roles and privileges, during which we are thinking of dealing with the following topics: 1) Make it easy for an admin to see what privileges are needed to perform a sequence of actions. 2) Improve the page a user sees when they fail a privilege check. 3) Improve documentation on how to use privileges/roles and avoid pitfalls. 4) Implement Organizational Role as designed in this wiki page: https://wiki.openmrs.org/display/docs/Organizational+Roles Do you feel the above topics address what the community needs, as far as roles and privileges are concerned? Does anyone want a modernized version of the Restrict By Role module? Do you have anything to say about the Organizational Role API design? All questions, comments and suggestions are very welcome!!! Daniel Kayiwa On Behalf of the OpenMRS Community -- The greatest want of the world is the want of men-men who will not be bought or sold, men who in their inmost souls are true and honest, men who do not fear to call sin by its right name, men whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole, men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall. ________________________________ Click here to unsubscribe<mailto:[email protected]?body=SIGNOFF%20openmrs-devel-l> from OpenMRS Developers' mailing list _________________________________________ To unsubscribe from OpenMRS Developers' mailing list, send an e-mail to [email protected] with "SIGNOFF openmrs-devel-l" in the body (not the subject) of your e-mail. [mailto:[email protected]?body=SIGNOFF%20openmrs-devel-l]
