a supplier view of testing integration with national systems conan ask jean-philippe lemoussu

A Supplier View of Testing Integration with National Systems

Conan AskJean-Philippe Lemoussu

© Cerner Corporation All Rights Reserved 2

Agenda

What are the objectives from a supplier perspective?Challenges of end-to-end work-flow testingExperiences from testing Cerner Millennium integration with PDS and C&BHow could the testing experience be improved/made more efficient?


Objectives

Integration Testing: testing a complete system in conjunction with national applications. LSP Contract Schedule 4.2 – Integration Testing

Testing of end to end processes supported by the System functionality using real systems, including systems of the Integrated Service Providers, and involving all interfaces.

Identify defects that are not easily identified during pre-integrated testing phases. Prove end-to-end workflowsGain “Authority to Proceed” certificate as part of movement towards live service.


National Systems tested

Spine ServicesSpine Directory of Services (SDS)

The SDS will be the definitive source of information on the following:

Organisations, their Sites and Departments NHS Staff and Other Relevant Person Records Services

Personal Demographic Service (PDS) - HL7 v3The central source for patient demographic information, such as NHS number, names, addresses and date of birth

Single Sign On (SSO)Uses NHS CRS Smartcards to help control who accesses the NHS CRS and what level of access that they can have

Choose and Book (CAB) - HL7 v3A national electronic referral service which gives patients a choice of place, date and time for their first outpatient appointment in a hospital or clinic. Patients can choose their hospital or clinic, and then book their appointment to see a specialist.

LegacyNHS Numbers for Babies (NN4B)NSTS


National Integration Service (NIC) Processes

Development Workstream

Module/Unit Testing

Technical Integration

Testing

Deploy to integration

Testing Environment

ITB Testing

System Testing

Ready for Operations

Model Community

Deployment Testing

Live


Testing phases

System TestingMessages generated against harnesses for PDS, CAB and SSOThe harnesses are applications that attempt to mimic the functionality of the Spine servicesPDS outbound messages validated using the Outbound Message Validation (OMVT) toolMessages and OMVT reports sent to the NIC for further validation

Deployment into Integration TestingAll Connectivity routes tested

ITB Pipe cleaningEach message type tested

Formal Integration TestingEnd to end workflows testedFunctional and non-functional tests performed


Architectural design

Cerner Millennium

Ebxml messaging application

SpineTransactionMessaging

ServiceWebservice messaging application SynchronousSynchronous

Asynchronous

Asynchronous

Interface/Middleware

layer

Interface/Middleware

layer

HL7 V3N3 Network

SDS synchronization

appLDAP queries

LDAP queries

Application & database

layer

Application & database

layer

PDS

CAB

SDS

UserUser

Local supplierCerner Millennium

Local supplierCerner Millennium National ServicesNational Services

Interactions with the NASP use HL7 V3 message processingEbXML mode (asynchronous)Webservice mode (synchronous)

SDS information is persisted via LDAP synchronization


Supplier Infrastructure


Messaging considerations

Messages are triggered either from a user action or from a system processThe mapping between the database and the HL7 message is done by Millennium interface engineAll traffic transmitted across the N3 is encrypted using SSL

HTTPS for HL7 messaging LDAPS for LDAP queries

Every inbound/outbound message is archived for tracking and review purposes during testingCerner implements a set of interactions as defined in NPfIT MIM (currently v3.1.09 for CAB and v3.1.10 for PDS). Higher versions of the MIM are supported in later releases.


PDS Messages TestedOUTBOUND from Cerner Millennium

Advanced Trace QUPA_IN020000UK14Simple Trace QUPA_IN010000UK13Retrieval QUPA_IN040000UK14NHS Number Allocation PRPA_IN040000UK15General Update PRPA_IN110000UK15Death Update PRPA_IN100000UK14NHS Confirmation QUPA_IN060000UK13Consent Update PRPA_IN120000UK14

INBOUND to Cerner MillenniumSimple/Advanced Trace Query SuccessfulQUPA_IN030000UK15Retrieval Query Successful QUPA_IN050000UK16NHS Number Allocation Completed PRPA_IN060000UK14General/Death/Consent Update SuccessfulPRPA_IN150000UK14NHS Number Confirmed QUPA_IN070000UK16Query Act Failed QUPA_IN010000UK14


Choose and Book Messages TestedOUTBOUND from Cerner Millennium

Notify Slot Cancel PRSC_IN100000UK06Notify Appt DNA PRSC_IN110000UK08Notify Appt Cancel PRSC_IN130000UK07Respond Available Slots PRSC_IN090000UK09Confirm Appointment PRSC_IN050000UK06Reject Appointment PRSC_IN060000UK06Confirm Appt Cancellation PRSC_IN140000UK06Reject Appt Cancellation PRSC_IN150000UK06Application Ack MCCI_IN010000UK13

INBOUND to Cerner MillenniumRequest Available Slots PRSC_IN080000UK07Request Appt Confirmation PRSC_IN040000UK08Request Appt Cancellation PRSC_IN070000UK08


Challenges of End to End Testing

TechnicalComplex infrastructure – many potential failure pointsComplex dependencies e.g. must have SSO working before PDS can be testedDevelopment work carried out against harnesses – not perfect representation of Spine servicesInterpretation of specificationsDifficult to test component failure, latency, volume and performance.

ProceduralCo-ordination between different workgroups involvedLimited previous experience with the functionality. Internal support organisation not familiar with issues. No established troubleshooting guidesWriting test cases when some parts of design unclear.Writing test cases when requirements come from many different sources – only limited information in Bundle Map RequirementsMaking sure all configuration changes are properly documented and carried across into subsequent phases


NIC Assistance

Review of Test plans and SpecificationsEndpoint/Service registrationTest Data load into PDSTest readiness reviewsOn site and remote adviceHelpdeskDaily update callsReview of Test Report


Experiences from testing Millennium integration with PDS and C&B

Majority of NIC Helpdesk calls dealt with efficientlyMost issues internal to solution and local infrastructureRelatively low number of issues caused by problems with sandpit/NIC

Data: e.g. NHS Allocation loaded with invalid NHS numberBackward compatibility issues with PDS response codesUnscheduled downtime3rd Party components – No clear release mechanism for Sun/Citrix SSO components

Sandpit availability goodRoadmap for upgrades and scheduled downtime given in advanceSome flexibility dates for downtime

Low number of C&B related issues.Relative maturity of solutionBenefit of experience from Cerner C&B team


Possible Improvements

Have a ‘technically conformant’ interface available during suppliers Module/Unit testing Closer involvement of design architects/software engineers in testingTesting conditions that need to be satisfied defined in design documentationIndependent tool for viewing and modifying entries on the PDSOnline issue logging and trackingWebsite showing real time spine service status


Questions

Conan Ask

[email protected]

07903303182

a supplier view of testing integration with national systems conan ask jean-philippe lemoussu

Documents