Sharing software within Te Whatu Ora effectively

Discussions
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Did you now?!? As the new owners, are you allowed to make CWS open source? That could be a massively helpful resource for the rest of Te Whatu Ora. And others around the world. And it would mean that others would not need to steal your developer…

Ditto for your actual integrations. I’m guessing that there will be quite a desire for being able to easily spin up this type of integration.

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Waikato is able to share source code for use within Te Whatu Ora.
Source code could be shared for commercial use - although commercial use would require negotiation.

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Thanks Paul - that is awesome. We really do need a way to share software easily across the Te Whatu Ora estate now that we are one big happy family. Just ask @Mat and @lance.elder how hard it was to share this stuff between DHBs!!!

Now @jon_herries and @darren.douglass - how can we best share software safely? If we simply just send each other the code via email or Onedrive or similar, we are not going to get very far at all. To unlock the power of collaboration across the sector we probably need one of these approaches:

  1. Make it all Open Source.

    • This would be the simplest, and easiest to administer by far. Multiple platforms could be used as needed. Connecting discussion (e.g. eHealth Forum) and code would be easy.
    • It would allow collaboration across Te Whatu Ora with ease, enable collaboration with software vendors of all sizes, and also allow the untapped group of volunteer health consumers with impressive IT skills to contribute to Aotearoa’s digital health future.
    • It risks the code being taken and commercialised in other settings. There are also possible cybersecurity concerns that make some nervous. These concerns have generally not caused serious issues in other industries.

  2. Make a large private collaborative space for trusted (i.e. Te Whatu Ora) developers

    • The simplest way is to make a private space within one of the collaborative code sites (e.g. github.com). The hard way would be to set up our own.
    • It would allow collaboration, but only amongst those whom are set up and trained to use it. It would need its own bespoke private online community. It would also require a lot of admin and therefore cost.
    • The major risk would be poor engagement and poor collaborative results. If handled well, it could be really good, but it would take some serious investment.
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Hi Nathan

There is a step before sharing code that may be easier.

Would help if we had a forum where we can list what we have, and ask for what we don’t have.

One small example - we have an inhouse built paediatric growth chart application, built to be standalone.

We are looking for a range of apps that do not have high business value, but may have been built at other sites.

Where should I post some of these - or just on the public chat?

Regards

Paul

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We currently use Gitlab - if that is helpful. We should be able to get you access - isn’t cheap but @davidryannz might also be able to help in terms of code to share.

Have created a github site tewhatuora (github.com) - email me or ping the account if you want access.

Jon

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That is an excellent start! Unfortunately it is so private that it is un-pingable. Please add me (nathan-nz is my GitHub ID):

Jon, do you see this being at least partially public in time?

By the way, there are some tight integrations between Discourse and GitHub available as the Discourse team use it for their code repository. If you see a future here I’d be happy to explore that.

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FYI, for RPA:

  1. We have registered a private Te Whatu Ora Blue Prism Digital Exchange - similar to what the NHS has done.
  2. Blue Prism/Jenkins/GitLab integration is on the roadmap.

Notes

  • #1 is a searchable directory suited for business users and Product Owners alike. Unless there are specific objections, ADHB aims to publish all its RPA bots (i.e. BP release packages, VBOs, etc.) here and encourages others to do the same.
  • #2 will support CI/CD.
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Hi All

Interested in Code Sharing and Collaboration?

If you are attending Digital Health Week (December 6th - 8th)? Would be good to meet you there to meet up to discuss sharing code and collaboration.

How we can get sharing, in advance of central coordination of sharing?

Even if you are not attending . . . I’m trying to build an informal list of contacts of people interested.

Regards, Paul

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I’d certainly be interested in getting together next week and having a chat about code sharing in NZ Digital Health (without necessarily waiting for the centre to sort it out)!

collaboration

Is anyone else interested in this? I certainly haven’t seen much evidence of it occurring outside of the internal processes of commercial health software companies - but that could just be my ignorance. And it could unlock some brilliant stuff.

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I would be keen to catch up and join a conversation on this.

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Yes it will be public, but will also have private repo’s.
Will need to have a think about how to add you - as you don’t have a corporate address.

Jon

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Not everyone who messes constructively with code works for a corporate!!! That would exclude at least 1/2 of the possible useful contributions I reckon.

Do you need a DHB / Te Whatu Ora email address or something? Or do we need a separate workflow to specifically allow reasonably trustworthy non-corporates to join? Or will making it ‘public’ fix this problem?

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Meet up at HINZ
I have requested break out rooms at HINZ for the following days / times of the conference:
Tuesday 15:00 - 16:00
Wednesday 15:00 - 16:00
Thursday 13:30 - 14:00 (1/2 hr during lunch)
I will confirm once the conference organisers have confirmed room availability.
Format will be open discussion - you can choose to attend based on when you are attending (and else is occurring on the programme.
Please consider this a networking and name swapping opportunity.

Regards Paul Docherty (Waikato District)

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I think the latter - but need to figure out how to do it (not whether to do it).

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How are you getting on with this plan, Paul?

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No response from conference organisers to confirm rooms

Ideally I want to get confirmation and send out tomorrow at the latest

Regards

Paul

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They are completely snowed under - you might need to go unofficial for now, which can be updated in time.

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Regardless I will update HINZ forum, and send out an email to the nearly 30 names I have gathered outside of the Hinz forum, tomorrow.

Regards

Paul

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Please check noticeboards at the conference for locations, as I have not had confirmation of rooms.
Regards
Paul