Contents
|
The Hardhats FORUMs
The Hardhats volunteers did not know what to expect from the two FORUM
sessions that were scheduled at the MTA meeting, but we were pleasantly
surprised! We averaged attendance of about thirty people, with attendees
from all over the world. Those who have traveled to Finland or
Egypt know that the trip is long and grueling. We appreciate
their dedication and thank them for helping us to remember that Hardhats
is an international community.
The majority of time in the FORUM sessions was used to get to know each
other, discussing the Hardhats site strengths and weaknesses and soliciting
volunteers to expand our activities. While we certainly gathered many
great ideas from suggestions, fortunately we also picked up many volunteers to help make
them happen. Getting the following initiatives started will take months, so
please be patient and chip in with a helping hand.
Administration and Public Relations
- Advertising: Many pointed out that we need to advertise our
site because the word is spreading too slowly. We mentioned that the
mail-out for the MTA meeting was sent to the names and addresses of people who
have requested the VistA software in the past. It was agreed that more
should be done to spread the word in marketplaces such as HIMSS and HL7. All Hardhats were solicited to
contact everyone they could think of who uses VistA or is a potential
user. Personal invitations have a greater chance
of success.
- Non-Profit Corporation: The local M User Group of Georgia, MGA,
is shutting down and has agreed for its 501c3 non-profit status and
funds to become an organization that will support Hardhats and the freeM
effort. [Talks are underway to work out the details, so this is subject to
change.]
This major step will allow us to solicit donations to our non-profit
organization to help fund our aggressive agenda. It will also
give us the legal and business structure we need to expand our reach through
cooperation with other corporations.
Site Enhancements
- Webmaster: Hardhats will secure the volunteer services of a
webmaster that can take us to the next level. Here are some of the
features the webmaster will implement or oversee.
- Search: Research and implemenet an effective way to search our
growing website.
- Site Map: A map page will provide an overview of the web site
to give visitors a quick tour.
- Optimizing Search Engine Hits: Learn how to prepare the site
for increased hit efficiency from search engines. For instance, meaningful meta-tags and how to define our site to increase
our rating
with search engines.
- Links: Promotion of our efforts to provide cross-linking to get
the word out.
- Promoting the Mailing List: Several at the Hardhats meeting learned
for the first time
that Hardhats has a mailing list. We will be making changes to the web
site that will make this valuable part of our community more obvious.
- Online Mailing List Archives: Mailing list messages often contain
nuggets of information that gets lost in the shuffle. We will move to place
the list archives online so they can be readily mined for tips and ideas.
- Survey Forms: Online surveys with immediate results of the
survey on a reply page built via our dynamic M server.
- Y2K: An area of the site will be added to include Y2K postings
from Thomas Holloway and others. While this might be a short lived area, it
will certainly be popular in the immediate term.
- Strategic Planning for VistA Systems: An area of the site will present information on
migrating user interfaces, database redesign,
package rewrites, how to prepare applications for a detached user interface
(UI), leveraging XML, etc.
- Regular Columns: We are going to strive for regular columns
(perhaps every two months to start) on the following topics. This will
keep us moving along in the technology waters and create a stronger community as we return to the web site on a regular basis. Notices
will be sent out to a Hardhats mailing list to let everyone know when new
articles are published.
- Hardhats News: News that matters for folks both inside and
outside the VA.
Volunteer Contributors: Greg Kreis and others with news
- HTML/Web User Interfacing: How to create an HTML
interface for your Fileman applications.
Volunteer Contributors: Art Smith
- CAIRO Updates: Information on where the CAIRO project is headed
and a source for downloads.
Volunteer Contributors: Randy Cox
- OO & M: Object Oriented principles and how we can apply
them to our M programming.
Volunteer Contributors: Bob Lafond
- Delphi and the Broker: Tutorials and ideas on how to create
applications using Delphi and the VA's RPC Broker.
Volunteer Contributors: Gary Davisson
- Up and Running: Guidance on how to get a VistA system up and
keeping it running.
Volunteer Contributors: Rick Marshall, Marcus Werners and Omar El Hattab
- Internationalization: This session at the MTA meeting revealed the
need for Hardhats around the globe to share ideas on how to Internationalize
VistA.
Volunteer Contributors: George Timson
- Dynamic M Server: Bob Miller, M.D. will work with Hardhats to
establish access to a MUMPS server running PDQWeb and VistA. This
will provide us with the necessary resources to do dynamic web pages, forms,
etc. Some of the things we will be able to accomplish are:
- Membership: A form will be added to Hardhats to permit anyone to
join the new Hardhats membership database. A form will be provided to permit contacting a member with Email without revealing
the member's Email address.
- More Mailing Lists: As the main mailing list volume swells in
activity, we will
subdivide into several lists to allow folks to subscribe to areas of interest.
Experimentation will determine if is preferable to run our lists with
Mailman.
- Software Demos: We may eventually be able to run the RPC Broker server so
that folks can try out Windows and Web user interfaces as well as explore
VistA with Telnet.
- VistA Software Lifecycle: Over many years the VA has developed a mature
lifecycle system for VistA, yet not much is known about it to those of us on
the outside. This new area of the Hardhats site will begin the process of
exposing the systems and tools that keep VistA sites up and running in the
VA. The obvious benefit for your organization is to learn to use these same tools to
support your installations.
These systems include:
- Virgin Installation: The issues of bringing up a brand-new VistA
system and securing access to proprietary databases and software used by
the VA that are not available via FOIA.
- Patching: A guide for understanding the VistA patching process
will explain how they are made and how they should be installed.
- Upgrades: Advice on how to prepare for an upgrade to a new
version of the infrastructure or an application.
- NOIS: A system for reporting problems that are then
tracked and
routed to designated parties for resolution.
- E3R: A system for reporting and tracking requests for
software enhancements.
- Customization: Local sites are permitted to modify some
areas of their VistA installations. This can only be done in a
safe manner by following the rules as handed down by the VA's Data Base
Administrator. These include the Standards And Conventions (SAC),
MOP-UP documents, etc.
- Additional Downloads
- Archives: To assist sites in upgrading to the latest version of
VistA Infrastructure (Fileman, Kernel, etc.) Hardhats will make available
past versions for download. Rick Marshall stressed that Kernel must
be upgraded without skipping version releases and that
it is a good idea to do the same with Fileman.
- CD Online: We will work with Art Smith to put the latest
release of the FOIA CD online.
- Shareware/Freeware: The CAIRO project, based in Indianapolis,
will be providing their GUI Mailman program that provides a Windows
interface to VistA's Mailman. We expect to see other exciting
software releases from CAIRO in the future.
- Member Donations: Ed de Moel and Ellis Baum are starting us out
with the donation of software. Ed's contribution presents FM data
dictionaries through dynamic web pages delivered by
PDQWeb. Ellis will provide a program to create Postscript headers so
VistA output can use some of the untapped features of a Postscript printer.
- More Gems: As new implementations of M are released, it was agreed
that we should create
pre-installed VistA Infrastructures, similar to the Diamond install for Cache.
Efforts are underway to help PattersonGray run VistA on their new M3 MUMPS
implementation.
Services
- Camp Hardhats: We will begin planning a week-long camp in 2000,
perhaps late spring, that will provide guidance and hands-on experience setting up,
configuring and learning VistA's Infrastructure and applications. The intended outcome is the
creation of experienced camp counselors that can assist attendees from
around the world who will be able to install and run their VistA systems
after attending the camp.
- Patch Notification: In preparation for the availability of VistA
patches via the Internet (outside the VA's firewall), a form will permit
Hardhats members to select packages of interest, so they can be notified via
EMail when patches are released.
- Membership Database: Users will be able update their own records in
a Hardhats membership database and contact other members via Email, yet
without seeing the members Email address.
FixIT Debut
Mikko Korpela traveled from Finland to demonstrate the exciting Delphi visual
components that they have developed to make it easy to create a Windows GUI for
VistA applications. The components are compatible with the RPC Broker and appear
to be simpler to use than the VA's Fileman Delphi Components (FMDC). FixIT is a solid
product that has been in production use in Finland for over a year.
The demonstration of FixIT's Delphi Wizard allowed Mikko to create, in a matter of a
few minutes, a functional Windows program that edited a FM file and sub-files. All of
this was done without any Delphi programming. While it is unrealistic to
think that Delphi programming will always be avoided with FixIT, judging from
the 'oohs' and 'ahhs' during the demo, it was clear to many in the room
that it provides a tremendous productivity boost for developers.
FixIT was developed with efforts funded by a Consortium of Finnish companies
that have agreed to release FixIT, without support. An active part of the
Consortium has been Mylab Corporation, whose CEO Mr Esa Soini also attended the
conference. Esa was heading the DoD laboratory system development subproject
while he was an SAIC employee, and worked for the Helsinki University Central
Hospital before that.
Because the team that created FixIT
simply does not have the staffing to support additional FixIT
developers and users, Mikko suggested that Hardhats develop a
'RedHats'-like
support area for FixIT. The color red is already 'taken' and the traditional color for
construction helmets is yellow (at least in the U.S.), so it seems natural
to name the ones who provide support and assistance 'Yellow Hats'.
Details of the release and the download will be posted at the FixIT
web site. In the interim, study the materials at this site to get a better grasp of how FixIT can help you put a GUI face on your VistA applications.
Internationalization
Dr. Omar El Hattab, of the Egyptian National Cancer Institute,
presented a review of the use of VISTA software in his country, beginning at the
Cancer Institute, and now being extended to four other hospitals in the Cairo
area. Five M[UMPS] programmers on site are involved in this effort, including a
former VA employee from the U.S.
Technical focus was on the difficulties of migration to the Arabic language
(which, like Hebrew, is right-to-left). Work is underway to enhance the VISTA
infrastructure so that foreign-language File and Field names will be intrinsic
to the system.
CAIRO Projects
Randy Cox presented a polished demonstration of many software
projects that they are developing. The topics of the greatest interest to
Hardhats were:
- GUI Mailman - This is a Windows GUI face for Mailman. It
has a rich user interface that preserves the power of Mailman threads,
something that is not as easily done with POP3 mail serving. (The version
that will soon be available for download requires Mailman patch 50 to be
installed on the server.)
- VistAtion Extensible Shell - This product brings the spirit of
VistA to the Windows GUI environment. Instead of compiling a static
application, the client-side exe configures itself when you use it, based on the user's
preferences that are stored on the VistA server. This permits the VistA-like
dynamic
assignment of options and permissions.
Thank You
- To the MTA staff that worked diligently for the MUMPS community for so
many years and who provided a home for Hardhats' financials.
- To George Timson for keeping us aware of and on track with the published
Hardhat FORUM agendas.
- To Rick Marshall for taking copious notes in the FORUM sessions.
- To Rick Marshall and George Timson for sessions on FM 22.
- To Intersystems for providing the MTA with screen projectors that we were
able to put to good use.
- To all of the folks who traveled great distances to attend the meeting and
give presentations. We had attendees from Japan, Finland, Canada and
Egypt. (If we overlooked your nation, send
me Email to set the record straight!)
- To Ed de Moel and Ellis Baum for donations of software that we will be posting to the site.
- To Tom Ackerman for working with the MGA Board to secure the 501c3
corporation.
- To Bob Miller, M.D. for the donation of space and processes on a maintained M server
running VistA's Infrastructure and PDQWeb.
- To Mikko Korpela, his staff and the Finnish Consortium that produced
and released FixIT to our community.
- To everyone who attended the sessions, offered suggestions and volunteered
for activities.
Back to the MTA 99 main page...
|
