Class III development moratorium

[fred trotter]

Hi,
           I have a copy of a memo that I would like the Vista community to verify is legit before I start 'complaining' about this. If this is legit then I will be 'complaining' very very loudly indeed, but I wanted to make sure this is for real and system wide in the VA before moving forward. If you are a VA employee and do not want to go on-record about this, please email me privately from a non-va address and just let me know that you know the letter is valid.

The key phrase below that concerns me is:

No new or modified Class III software and no further modifications to Class I
   software will be installed in the production environment unless: (essentially it is not Class III software)

Essentially this fully halts the compromise that has been made to allow local hospitals to continue to develop and deploy locally using Class III software as the mechanism. It fully destroys the collaborative model that created VistA in the first place.

In times past, useful software features developed at one hospital could be moved to another. The only existing mechanism for the collaboration today -was- the Class III development space. This essentially means that the VA has fully moved to monolithic centralized software control and design which will stop dead more than 30 years of software evolution. In the height of arrogance, this letter also presumes to label this centralization as 'establish and evolve the following programs'. It is exactly not evolution.

From Evolutionary Dynamics: Exploring the Equations of Life by Martin A. Nowak
http://www.ped.fas.harvard.edu/people/faculty/

The main ingredients of evolutionary dynamics are reproduction, mutation,
selection, random drift, and spatial movement. Always keep in mind that
the population is the fundamental basis of any evolution. Individuals, genes,
or ideas can change over time, but only populations evolve.


-FT

--
Fred Trotter
http://www.fredtrotter.com


Department of
                                                                        Memorandum
Veterans Affairs
Date: May 26, 2009
From: Executive Director, OI&T Field Operations & Development (005OP1)
Thru: Deputy CIO, OI&T Enterprise Operations and Field Development (005OP)
Subj: Integrity of the VA Enterprise/Class III Software (WebCIMS #429478)
To:       VA OI&T Field Operations and Developmental Staff
1. The quality of many of the services we provide to our veterans depends directly on
     the availability of IT services; anything that compromises that availability reduces our
     effectiveness.
2. Recently, outages have occurred that are directly traceable to the deployment of
     Class III software 1 . While such software is developed to address specific needs
     identified at the local, network or regional level and represents an attempt to improve
     service, the unregulated deployment of software presents an unacceptable risk.
3. The management of Class III software is a complicated challenge where innovation
     must be balanced with the need to protect the integrity of the enterprise and the
     security of the information it stores. As such, cross-functional groups have been
     assigned to establish and evolve the following programs. Updates on the progress
     of these programs will be issued via the IT Field Operations Newsletter
     http://vaww.itfo.portal.va.gov and follow-on policy actions.
          a. A Field Development process will ensure field-developed solutions to address
               local requirements meet national standards and are adequately documented,
               reviewed, and tested prior to deployment;
          b. The existing Class III to Class I process expedites conversion of Class III
               software to centrally managed software;
          c. The Innovation Program will provide a safe, supported environment where
               new concepts can be developed/refined/tested;
1
  Class III software is defined on the IT Field Operations portal:
http://vaww.itfo.portal.va.gov/resources/Knowledge%20Library/Class%201-3%20Definitions.doc
        d. The implementation of Configuration Management, Change Management and
           Release Management Programs will ensure that standardized processes are
           employed to manage changes to the production environment.
4. In cooperation with VHA, a series of surveys is under way to identify existing Class
   III software deployed on the VA production system. Each Facility CIO will coordinate
   with the Facility Director to ensure full response to these surveys; data to be
   collected includes the following:
        a. Identification of the software, including modified routines, files, GUIs or other
           components required to run this software (descriptive name/nomenclature);
        b. Purpose of the software;
        c. Date deployed;
        d. Any approvals obtained prior to deploying the software; and
        e. Impact if the software is removed from the system.
5. No new or modified Class III software and no further modifications to Class I
   software will be installed in the production environment unless:
        a. The software completes the established Class III to Class I process; or
        b. The software completes the approved IT Field Development Process; or
        c. The software is included in the list of exemptions approved by the VA IT
           Executive Change Control Board.
6. No software will be removed from the production system without the agreement of
   the affected Administration (VHA, VBA, NCA) and OI&T. Discussions are under way
   to establish a process to support these Class III programs until such time as they are
   not needed anymore, are converted into Class I programs, or are specifically
   exempted from the Class III to Class I program. Class III programs that continue to
   reside in the production environment will be fully documented and brought into
   compliance with established programming standards.
7. Nationally approved and released patches/updates are not affected by this
   memorandum.
8. Each Facility CIO will coordinate with the Facility Director to ensure that personnel
   under their cognizance observe the above requirements effective the date of this
   memo.
9. Questions related to topics addressed in this memorandum should be directed to
   Kathryn Daly at Kathry...@va.gov.
  Ray Sullivan

[Walkup, John H. (KCVA)]

It is authentic.

 

John H. Walkup

---

[r...@rcresearch.us]

John and Fred;

This is one reason that we started WorldVistA, to help to re-create
that community that once resided inside the VA, on the outside of the
VA so that such innovations could flourish and survive. The VA needs
to be shown what they are missing. The involvement of the people at
the point of care or the pure application area needs this influx of
creativity in order for the hospitals to continue to thrive. The
sterile confines of the play-grounds they have replaced the folks in
the field with are pathetic and anemic compared to the growth and
expansion of the power of the folks who have to live with these
solutions. This is very different from the traditional development
process.

C U in Bethesda; Chris R

[jdilorenzo]

Yup... It's real. It's been very difficult to get locally developed
software implemented at the facilities (including the test systems.)
The VA has been moving in this direction for the past couple of years
now; this just cements it with policy.

-John Di Lorenzo

> >      http://vaww.itfo.portal.va.govand follow-on policy actions.

> >    Kathryn Daly at Kathryn.D...@va.gov.
> >   Ray Sullivan

[George Timson]

Just a reminder:
The Google Group called "Vista" is the place for this kind of non-
technical discussion about VA policy.

Hardhats is for technical discussions. We want to make sure that
Hardhats is not "politicized", which might cause VA employees (whose
help we so desperately need!) to avoid us.

[Robert J. Porcelli, Ph.D.]

I agree with George on each point. But if you search Google Groups for
Vista, you will get a return of 1800+ groups. Is there a more
streamlined way to access this particular "Vista" group?

By the way, when I was at the Northport, NY VA we could not install
any Class III software for years, and I retired in 2005. Oops, sorry!

[Ben Mehling]

On Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 1:52 PM, Robert J. Porcelli,
Ph.D.<robert....@medsphere.com> wrote:
>
> I agree with George on each point. But if you search Google Groups for
> Vista, you will get a return of 1800+ groups. Is there a more
> streamlined way to access this particular "Vista" group?

The list George references is a bit difficult to find thanks to our
friends in Redmond. Here it is:

http://groups.google.com/group/VistA

- Ben

[Nancy Anthracite]

How can we spread the word that open source innovations are appreciated "out
here"?

--
Nancy Anthracite

[Robert J. Porcelli, Ph.D.]

Nancy:

I think the IT reorganization ball that is rolling down the VA hill is
going to be very hard to stop. It may well be that we need to stand
aside, let the inevitable happen, and be there as an organized and
cohesive "outside" VistA community to help in the recovery. As the
VistA community, as a whole, gains strength, focus, and can contribute
to the improvement of the code, we stand a better chance to ensure
that VistA takes its rightful place in the HIT community.

> Nancy Anthracite- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[I, Valdes]

As perhaps it always has been, the burden of further development and
innovation seems to more than ever squarely fall on this community. --
IV

On Jun 15, 1:29 pm, "Robert J. Porcelli, Ph.D."

[Lars Nooden]

I, Valdes wrote:
> As perhaps it always has been, the burden of further development and
> innovation seems to more than ever squarely fall on this community. --

Is there a roadmap or wish list published to help newbies get up to speed?

Regards,
-Lars

[David Whitten]

There have been several roadmaps and wishlists presented at VistA Community Meetings (VCM) over the years, as well as on VistA Community Calls on Fridays.  They have rarely been published, primarily as there have been many people who want the end result, however the ones who want them are not the ones who are willing to volunteer to publish them, and when the ones who want them know enough to publish them, they are busy and convince themselves that they don't have the time to put together a list and publish it. Some things that almost always show up on the lists are more GUI interfaces and "Practice Management" which has an amorphous meaning including for some people, 1) Billing 2) Scheduling 3) Administrative Support 4) Interfacing to other systems 5) Appropriate CPT/Billing Coding 6) HL7 links 7) Registration of new patients 8) Lab Interfacing 9) Pharmacy Interfacing 10) Consults processing 11) CCR/CCD processing 12) Fill in the Blank

I would encourage you (Lars) and any  other readers to volunteer to help create the things that you notice are lacking.  Be sure to discuss them on Hardhats, as sometimes there are "solutions" that are used by others which may not be the ones you would originally think of, but which solve the problem in a fashion that is good enough to help meet your needs.

There are both for-profits and not-for-profits who work with VistA who want to advance the efforts of this group.

Best Regards,
David