Engagement Period December 2015 – August 2017

The Challenge

Cloud21 data migration expertise was sought by Wye Valley NHS Trust to lead on the migration of patient data from CSC iPM PAS to IMS Maxims.

Having worked with IMS on the Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust deployment of the Open Source Maxims EPR, Cloud21 was ideally placed to apply its experience to the delivery of a robust data migration service to Wye Valley.

Project scope included:

Acute hospital provider data:
• 5 years’ inpatient and outpatient activity history
• All future outpatient activity
• Current inpatients
• Current waiting lists
• Latest RTT pathways.

Community data:

• 5 years’ community activity history
• All future activity for caseloads and contacts

ED activity was excluded from the migration as Symphony was retained as the Trust’s ED system. Cloud21 supported the Trust requirement to convert iPM outpatient Endoscopy waiting lists to inpatient lists before transfer to Maxims.

The project scope was dependent on an upgrade to the Maxims application to accommodate historic and future community health care activity. Data migration requirements and specifications inevitably evolved during the lifetime of the project, necessitating adaptable and responsive migration processes.

Cloud21 deployed its IDS data migration tool and provided its IDS: DW module to the Trust to use for management of new feeds into its Business Intelligence systems. The IDS: DW was utilised to import and merge legacy systems data with the new Maxims feeds, and to validate migrated data during the testing phase of the project. Cloud21 supplied new import routines to merge maternity and legacy theatres data into the IDS: DW, and transferred knowledge to Trust staff, through user guides and hands on training, so that they could take ownership of and develop the IDS: DW to meet their evolving needs.

Finally, the Cloud21 IDS: View was deployed at Wye Valley to deliver an interface for viewing all legacy data from iPM, including data that was out of scope for the migration. Cloud21 worked with the Trust to adapt the module to satisfy local needs.

Problems experienced by other workstreams led to significant delays to the overall duration of the project. Cloud21 retained core team members throughout the project ensuring continuity of service throughout the extended period.

The Approach

Cloud21 provided a highly skilled data migration team with significant Maxims experience. The Cloud21 approach, technical skills and in- depth deployment knowledge delivered a robust end to end migration service, as well as providing key direction and support across the deployment programme. Cloud21 worked closely with the Trust, providing invaluable advice and support in the configuration and validation of the Maxims clinics.

The Cloud21 team worked closely with the IMS data migration team to develop a comprehensive, repeatable process for populating IFF data tables for import to Maxims. The team also worked closely with the Trust Information team to understand and accommodate known issues with the iPM data which could require additional transformation logic to ensure that the source data selected for migration was consistent and accurate.

An iterative approach to data migration was developed with migration scope extended to cover additional areas of activity at each trial load. Community data was tested in the later stages of the project once Maxims had been upgraded to include community activity.

Cloud21 worked closely with the Trust to ensure an accurate transfer of RTT and waiting list data to Maxims. The Trust was supported in identifying referrals erroneously left open following completion of treatment so that they could be validated and updated prior to go-live.

Cloud21 worked collaboratively with the Trust to deliver data warehousing and legacy data solutions that could be maintained by the Trust on completion of the project.

Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) and Data Quality:

The ETL and validation routines being used by the IMS team underwent significant redevelopment during the project in response to changes to the Maxims application and the Cloud21 team worked closely with IMS colleagues to ensure that changes to the IFF specification were incorporated into the transformation routines as repeatable processes. The development of data quality checks was iterative based on the results of each trial load, leading to a comprehensive set of checks which assured the quality and the integrity of the data prior to load.

Trial Load Management:

The transformation and load process was iterative and built up slowly over the course of the project to accommodate anticipated changes to the IFF specifications. The initial trial migration proved the accuracy of patient demographics with subsequent trial migrations including successively more activity data at each trial. In total, 14 iterative trial migrations were carried out during the project.

Once data processes had been fully validated and proved to be repeatable, the trial loads were used to validate the accuracy and completeness of the Trust Maxims build, especially clinic build. Subsequent full, end to end migrations also enabled the Trust Information team to make use of migrated data to feed into their new data warehouse and independently validate the trial migrations.

System Knowledge

The Cloud21 team’s extensive knowledge of the Maxims data model, front end functionality and configuration tools provided the Trust with additional support in the management of system configuration.

In addition, the Cloud21 team worked closely with the test team to support validation of the migrated data and workflow testing.

The Cloud21 team supported two dress rehearsal runs on a 24*7 basis to mirror the cutover, as well as the cutover on Saturday 26th July 2017.

Deployment Expertise:

The remit of the Cloud21 team extended beyond the data migration project to providing guidance and support across the deployment programme, which included:

• Maxims configuration requirements and transfer of configuration data to Maxims.
• Assessment of data quality and identification of configuration gaps.
• Reporting and Information: Data reconciliation and data extraction from IMS Maxims.
• Transformation of Endoscopy waiting lists from outpatient to inpatient lists.

Post Go – LiveSupport

Following the successful migration of over 18 million records to IMS Maxims with an end to end migration time of just 12 hours, the team provided additional support in the weeks following to triage any data migration issues and to provide the Trust with support on other issues as required.

How did our work deliver value to the Client?

The Cloud21 team provided expert knowledge and skills across technical, operational and strategic elements of the deployment programme.

With unrivalled expertise of data migration practices and healthcare system knowledge the team successfully delivered a smooth transition, allowing the Trust to return to business as usual as quickly as possible.

The Trust’s RTT Validation team is now fully utilising IDS: View to continue business as usual validation of their RTT pathways.

Testimonial

“Reflecting on the EPR Programme thus far there have been a few decisions which were unquestionably sound. Partnering with Cloud21 was one of those. The service and counsel we have received, has been first rate. The Cloud21 folk that we have interacted with have been universally constructive and diligent – even in the middle of the night!”