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: 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