Plan & Design a Small System
Electronic Healthcare
Data System
For an urgent care facility
jvcapm
9/22/2013
Plan & Design a Small System
Healthcare is a very complex, highly dynamic and interactive environment that rely on many resources
to deliver care in an effort to meeting the health needs of people. Urgent care facilities primary function
is to treat injuries or illnesses that require immediate care, but are not life threatening or serious
enough for a patient to visit a traditional hospital emergency room. (Wikipedia, 2013)
Therefore, a well-tested methodology for an interactive software development and implementation
process like the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is the best suited approach for successfully
building an IT infrastructure. For the purposes of this case study, I will be examining how to implement
using the SDLC to facilitate and help coordinate a new data system to support an urgent care facility.
The data system chosen for this case study is CureMD SMART Cloud. “Scalable for all practice sizes,
SMART Cloud provides a limitless environment to perform every day clinical, administrative and financial
functions without the cost and hassle of in-house technology.” (CureMD, 2011)
SDLC is unique in capturing constantly changing system requirements through obtaining feedback from
system users and integrating technical aspects into various phases so that both the business and user
needs are met. Since a data system has already been selected, the SDLC model of choice is the Waterfall
development. The Waterfall model consists of ten phases. “A timeline can be established with specific
deadlines for each phase, and a software solution can precede through the development process much
like a product on an assembly line.” (University of Maryland University College) The purpose of this
study is to use a Waterfall SDLC Model for the successful implementation of a health care data system,
CureMD SMART Cloud, by incorporating the following systematic approach in the appropriate stages of
a SDLC.
The ten steps of a Waterfall SDLC Model are:
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Initiation
System Concept Development
Planning
Requirements
Design
Development
Integration and Testing
Implementation
Operations and Maintenance
Disposition
Initiation
Analysis of the business need: First step, the project initiation phase, a problem must be
identified.
Plan & Design a Small System
Identify why CureMD SMART Cloud application is necessary and what are the benefits by
implementing.
System Concept Development
Begins once the software CureMD SMART Cloud has been approved as the IT technology solution. The
focus of this stage is divided into two segments: evaluating feasibility of alternative software solutions,
and clearly defining the scope of the project.
Definition of project scope
Evaluation of technical alternatives
Planning
Identify and define goals
Future course of action
Strong and visible leadership (PMP)
Requirements
User needs and cognitive aspects
Infrastructure and system requirements
Development of planned test scripts/scenarios
Design/Development/Integration & Testing
Understanding purpose and system interactions
Establishing communication pathways between systems
Assess security risks
Customization
User interface
System functionality tested
Plan & Design a Small System
Implementation
System Deployment
Training and support
Operations & Maintenance
Establishing oversight committees, contingency planning, and drafting non-compliance policies
Monitoring of system performance
Continue support through end user training and documentation
Disposition
Notice to user community
Shutting down the system
Archiving data and system components
Plan & Design a Small System
Works Cited
CureMD. (2011, October). SMART Cloud - The Fastest Growing Electronic Medical Records (EMR)
Sortware. Retrieved September 2013, from CureMD Healthcare:
http://www.curemd.com/news2011Oct.htm
University of Maryland University College. (n.d.). UMUC - IFSM201. Retrieved August 2013, from
IFSM201: Concepts and Applications of Information Technology:
http://tychousa10.umuc.edu/cgibin/id/CDI/index.pl?class=1209:IFSM310Z:VIEW&module=2&default=M2-Module_2/S1Overview.html
Wikipedia. (2013, September 19). Health care. Retrieved 2013, from Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care