Richard, You make some excellent points. Any long-lived system needs to be re-engineered periodically (continually, if possible) in order to adapt to changing technology and the changing expectations of its users. I would think that much of the re-engineering that you speak of is a necessary part of any manageable comprehensive transition to a newer platform whether it be Java or M2Web or something else.
What are the 30 year old stovepipes? As I understand it, the DHCP kernel was formed only about 20 years ago. What would your standardized, easily query able format look like? What would make it easy? Richard.Sowinski wrote: >A rational "plan A" might have been to re-engineer Vista such that the >clinical packages were lighter, more like front-ends to an underlying >clinical repository, which stored all the results and data for lab tests, >procedures, prescriptions, problem lists, diagnoses, etc. in a standardized, >easily query able format. Instead of in multiple stovepipes, built 30 years >ago. > >The feeding of the CR could have been message-based, making it possible to >substitute >best of breed commercial systems for some of the less popular Vista >packages, if that's >what individual sites wanted to do. > >The new Vista, would also have been much less tightly integrated so that >you don't need the xxx package installed, in order to run Lab, or the >yyy package installed in order to run Scheduling. > >All of this could have been done in M, by re-engineering what is there. > >Don't get me wrong, Vista is a good system, that has been built by many >talented individuals, over many years, and it has served the VA well. > >But, I think it could have been so much better, had sound software >engineering >principles been applied, rather than blaming M for any shortcomings that may >exist. --------------------------------------- Jim Self Systems Architect, Lead Developer VMTH Computer Services, UC Davis (http://www.vmth.ucdavis.edu/us/jaself) ------------------------------------------------------- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595&alloc_id=14396&op=click _______________________________________________ Hardhats-members mailing list Hardhats-members@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members
