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Table of Contents

Introduction

The Projectathon 2023 is another Important step and continues to be the best-practice approach in testing and validation of a specification package, where implementers collaborate to test their solutions using methodology and tools that accelerate interoperability.

The first pan-Canadian Projectathon was held in March 2022 to test and improve the quality of the pan-Canadian Patient Summary Interoperability Specifications (PS-CA Specifications) to ensure they are implementable, testable and meet expectations. Details about this event are available in the pan-Canadian Projectathon Final Report.

The March 2023 Projectathon will be dedicated to supporting Patient Summary implementation projects across Canada.

On October 17th, 2022, the Specifications package was approved by the Interoperability Executive Table to be adopted and used by jurisdictions and vendors for Trial Implementation. 

The Trial Implementation maturity-level designation indicates that a specification is deemed ready for trial implementation in production systems for limited scale projects to meet a health care interoperability need. It has been cycled through public open review periods with jurisdictions and industry partners with all feedback dispositioned, changes incorporated and where appropriate, backlog items identified for a future release. A TI designated specification has been tested and validated, at a Projectathon, where implementers collaborate to test their solutions using methodologies and tools that accelerate interoperability and verify that the specification is deemed ready for trial implementation. Trial implementation is one step closer in the evolution of a final specification, when it is deemed ready for certification.

The Specifications package for the Projectathon 2023 includes the following:

• pan-Canadian Patient Summary Specifications: PS-CA v1.0.0 TI

and two supporting specifications:

• pan-Canadian FHIR Exchange: CA:FeX v1.0.0 TI
• Reference Architecture: RA v0.1.1 DFT

Testing & Tools Overview

Vendors will have an opportunity to test and demonstrate capabilities in two distinct areas of the specification:

1. Document format and content
2. Secure, exchange transactions

1. Document format and content

The PS-CA FHIR Content Data model will be tested using a combination of test data and validation tooling.

• The PS-AB and PS-ON specifications are very closely aligned to the PS-CA and should be supported by minimal configuration of capability in the vendor systems.
• The test cases will highlight where configuration is needed and test that it is applied properly, based on claimed vendor conformance.
• The Projectathon will offer an assessment of the FHIR document against the ON and AB implementation guidance as represented in the PS-ON and PS-AB specifications, in addition to the PS-CA.

2. Secure, exchange transactions

Implementation patterns may differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and information exchange channels may vary in terms of their security footprint.

Therefore, the Projectathon test cases have been organized into two categories:

A. Category 1 - Test cases that test individual actor capabilities in isolation,  e.g., how a system can handle encrypted transactions, how a system can handle a CA:FeX transaction, how a system can handle an OAuth 2 token exchange, etc.

B. Category 2 - Complex test cases that group individual actor capabilities with other relevant actor capabilities to simulate real world scenarios,  e.g., how a patient summary creator system can submit the document to a repository by using an OAuth 2 integration, etc.

Training, Tools & Support Overview

Infoway will provide training webinars to support the use of the tools and integrations with the Gazelle test framework. Once registered, vendors will be provided with early access to the Gazelle platform for self / pre-Projectathon testing. In addition to Gazelle, Infoway will provide a number of testing tools, including Simulators, Emulators and Validators to support the exchange patterns listed in the PS-CA specification. A test package will be provided including scenarios for single tests and group testing, along with data set to support document format and content validation for the PS-CA, PS-ON and PS-AB.

Projectathon Results

Projectathon results will be collected into a report on the individual and group actor transactions that vendor systems have proven capabilities in supporting.

• This feature capability assessment can support jurisdictional integration efforts in assessing vendors conformance to their respective deployment models.
• Results can be analyzed from the relevant actor/transactions that align to local architectures.

Projected Benefit for Vendors

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Participants

Vendors and jurisdictions who plan= to implement the PS-CA Specifications are invited to participate in the Projectathon. In addition, any interested party that has Patient Summaries in their future roadmap are welcome to participate.

Participants of the Projectathon are able to:

• Have the opportunity to be an early adopter and an influencer of the final specification;
• Gain a better understanding of the expected integration patterns for their products;
• Identify dependencies and integration challenges;
• Interact with the jurisdictional teams that will ultimately use their products;
• Ensure quality for the benefit of clinicians and patients;
• Accelerate their readiness for implementation;
• Save time and money through a harmonized pan-Canadian approach;
• Get familiar with the validation/testing processes and tools; and
• Help achieve our collective goals of developing a quality national standard.

Additionally, through participation in the Projectathon, participants were able to prepare for practical applications of the PS-CA Specifications.

Approach

A suite of virtual tools, collectively referred to as Gazelle, will be deployed to support the free, 4-day remote testing event from March 6-9, 2023. Gazelle provides vendors an opportunity to validate the role they will be playing in an ecosystem and ensure they are able to satisfy the interoperability requirements. Furthermore, Gazelle offers several self-serve, self-test and innovation opportunities for jurisdictions and vendors to test their alignment to the represented integration profiles.

The Projectathon event was organized by Infoway with support from a world leader organization in the space - IHE Catalyst.

Preparation and Requirements

In preparation for the Projectathon, Infoway and IHE Catalyst will:

• Host training webinars;
• Develop a FHIR document viewer;
• Deploy an OpenAPI browser for both interface specifications (MHD and CA:FeX);
• Develop clinical scenarios that identified the required test data for the Projectathon;
• Offer helpdesk support prior to and during the Projectathon; and
• Publish a report on learnings after the Projectathon.

Participants are required to:

• Register for the event
• Attend training webinars
• Review training materials
• Complete pre-Projectathon and connectivity testing
• Validate test cases and clinical scenarios
• Integrate to Gazelle platform
• Create test records
• Implement APIs
• Prototype FHIR transactions
• Prototype the PS-CA FHIR document
• Prototype export of FHIR document

Interoperability Specifications

Registration 

Participants are required to register for the Projectathon via the Gazelle test platform. The registration period will be open from October 31 - January 15, 2023. A registration webinar was held on January 20, 2022 at 11AM ET. This webinar included an overview of the:

• Scope of the Projectathon, including profiles and use cases 
• Gazelle tool
• Registration in Gazelle
• How the Projectathon will be organized
• Relevant documentation, including specifications and training materials

Click here to register to Gazelle Test Management. 

Pre-Projectathon Preparations

For successful participation in the Projectathon, pre-Projectathon tests and connectivity tests are important. 

The purpose of the Pre-Projectathon tests are to help vendors: 

• Test their IHE profile implementation in their system using the virtual systems in Gazelle to find and fix issues;

• Improve the quality of their tests prior to the Projectathon; and

• Help familiarize themselves with the Gazelle tool prior to the Projectathon, including how to access and use Gazelle simulators to perform the tests.

The Pre-Projectathon Test period will be open from January 15 - February 28, 2023. A Pre-Projectathon Test webinar was held on February 17, 2022 at 11AM ET. During this webinar, participants were shown how to access and use Gazelle in order to perform the tests.

The profiles that were tested during the Projectathon were: 

As part of the pre-Projectathon testing, participants will be required to conduct connectivity testing. The purpose of a Connectivity Testing period is to check, in advance, whether participants' systems are configured and ready to communicate with other vendor systems during the Projectathon event. A Connectivity Testing webinar was held on March 1, 2022 at 11AM ET. 

Tools

Gazelle Testing Platform

The pan-Canadian Interoperability Gazelle Platform is available at https://pancanadianIO.ca. From the home page, you may access the documentation for various support tools, test tools, and utilities, by clicking on the respective PDF icon.

Testing Tools

To support participants' Pre-Projectathon testing, the following tools were developed: 

• An OpenAPI User Interface for the PS-CA APIs, including the MHD and the CA:FeX options
• A PS-CA FHIR Renderer used to visualize PS-CA FHIR bundles provided as JSON structured data

A review of these tools was presented during the Overview of Tools Webinar on February 25, 2022 at 11AM ET. 

Information Sheets and Videos

Below you will find some information to support registration for the Projectathon: 

• How to create your account
• How to register your system for the Projectathon event

Get Support