Introduction

Usage of open APIs, web services and implementation of secure national architecture, utilizing various healthcare specific standards for integrating Healthcare Information Systems, is building pressure for the interoperability of existing and forthcoming information systems in Finland.

Conformance of an implemented interface needs to be tested against the actual specification. Individual applications and information systems need testing environment for implementation of their interfaces and system integration work. A testing service gives not only feedback for software developers, but also valuable input for the developers of specification. The usage of common testing environment should increase the probability that products are implemented correctly.

The project concentrated on forementioned issues in the field of Healthcare Information System testing. Specification and implementation work of various testing services and reference implementations was carried out alongside the research of Conformance and Interoperability testing methodologies.

Avointa (OpenTE)-project was funded by The Finnish National Technology Agency TEKES, together with a group of software companies and hospital districts in Finland. The work was executed in close collaboration with various other projects and groups.

VTT (Technical Research Centre of Finland)
contact: Vesa.Pakarinen@vtt.fi

University of Kuopio/Centek
Research Units: HIS R&D Unit, Shiftec, Software Engineering
contact: Anne.Eerola@cs.uku.fi, Hannu.Virkanen@uku.fi

Prime Solutions Ltd.,
contact: Jaakko.Vuolasto@primesolutions.fi


The project was scheduled from 09/2004 through 04/2006.

• Toroi T, Mykkänen J, Eerola A. Conformance testing of open interfaces in healthcare applications - Case context management. In: Konstantas D., Bourriéres J.-P., Léonard M., Boudjlida N., eds. Interoperability of Enterprise Software and Applications, p. 433-444. Springer-Verlag, 2006.

• Toroi T, Eerola A. Requirements for the Testable Specifications and Test Case Derivation in Conformance Testing. In: Dasso A, Funes A, eds. Verification, Validation and Testing in Software Engineering. Idea Group Inc. 2006 (Forthcoming)

• Jäntti M, Toroi T, Eerola A. Difficulties in Establishing a Defect Management Process: A Case Study. Springer. 2006 (Forthcoming).

• Toroi T. Improving Software Test Processes (Submitted).

• Toroi T, Eerola A. Software and Conformance Testing in Healthcare Applications - Results of a Survey (Submitted).