RIMBAA

Andy HarrisHarbuk Ltd

27 October 2009

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Background

• Self employed from 1993 -2004, prototyping systems for NHS (primarily management data, not clinical)

• first RIMBAA db (in Access) 2003• 2004 – 2009 UK Biobank

– Using Oracle HTB.– Process summary – transform flat data structures into CDA format,

import into HTB. – Very powerful product. Based on Java API and Oracle DB– Enterprise terminology Services very mature– close mapping to HL7 class structure, but no roleLink table ??

• 2009 - Employed myself, Harbuk Ltd• Data Architect for NIHR – existing systems based on classic Logical

Data Model. Problem is that the business model keeps changing…

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My standpoint

• Coming from a data layer perspective

• RIM based data layer will then make message generation 'simpler' in the future, not that I want to go there…

• Need to deliver something fast that is also a good fit for the longer term

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Research Lifecycle

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Integrated NIHR Systems exchange data, provide expert

decision support, toolkits, templates, reminders and

repositories

AnalysisReview

PublicationArchiving

Research Idea Initiation Institutional Sign-Off

Conclusion/Termination

ReportingMonitoring

Data Recording RecruitmentRegistration

Commencement

Scientific ReviewFunding Decision

Regulatory Authorisation

Ethical Review

Legacy Model – Simplified and stereotyped

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BRIDG DAM Model

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RCRIM Outputs – Study Design

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RCRIM Outputs – Study Participation

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My Issues

• Not a fully HL7 domain (yet)• Current HL7 models do not cover our realm• .NET• Status model

– Overloading HL7 Status or 'characteristic/observation'• temporal updates

– Versioning– timestamps and timespans

• class structures - break out or roll up?• localised terminologies• Some datatypes (IVL/GTS, PQ)• Where is Participation.id? (not managedParticipation.id)

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Current wiki Issues

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Object Versioning within RIMBAA

• Maintain history!– How?

• In-table versioning, makes relational model more difficult, as FKs would be linked to ??ID + versionNumber + 'isCurrentVersion'

• ODS/Archive versioning - i.e. most current record in ODS, older versions in archive (mirror + archive fields)

• Current record - SINCE column• Archive Record - FROM, TO columns• Pros and Cons either way.

• Maintain Control Acts!

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Processing Logic in RIMBAA Applications

• data layer should be context driven (though context may be given by content)

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RIM based on interoperability mindset

• CD– What are the 'Management issues' associated

with OIDs?– Storing Code System AND valueset OIDs– If the Terminology service is well grounded,

this is less of an issue IMHO

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RIMBAA Performance

• Yes, querying is complex and relatively slow because of recursion, but that's why there should be a BI stack for heavy report lifting.

• at UK Bionbank, we were 'crosstabbing' 200,000 patients and approx 600 data points from an act table within approx 8 minutes - 120,000,000 data points

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RIMBAA ReferenceApplication

• I would say a running application, not an IDE

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Safe querying of a RIM-based data model

• it depends on the context!, so basically all acts should be made available

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Template Implementation

• I am planning on heavy use of templates, question is more around the detail (e.g. how far from the core classes should you build the templates

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Use of terminology servers in RIMBAA applications

• Absolutely

• we are developing CTSv1

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User Interface for RIMBAA Applications

• integration with templates/LIMs, commonality is one of the key reasons for using RIM

• start with the generic controls, make them work, bolt them together, less generic as you go up the data stack.

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