IHE Pipeline Impedance Matching
Each Planning Committee should evaluate the flow of profiles through the IHE pipeline; from initial idea to deployed systems having a positive impact on healthcare.
At each stage, a key resource needs to be sufficient to properly accomplish the activity at that stage.
If there is a mismatch in the capacity of adjacent stages in the pipeline, the Planning Committee is responsible for taking action to smooth out the flow, either by "widening" the narrower pipe by increasing the resource, or by throttling back at the prior stage. Otherwise the overloaded activity will be done poorly or work from the prior stage will be set aside/wasted.
Consider the following stages in your domain. In which stages is the activity lagging for lack of input, in which is the activity suffering from overload, in which is the flow well matched to the resources? What is your action plan to fix the balance?
| Ideas important to Users | > | TC Bandwidth | > | Community Bandwidth | > | Test & Tools Bandwidth | > | Implementer Bandwidth | > | Marketer Bandwidth | > | Purchaser Bandwidth | > | User Bandwidth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| to seed the process | to develop high quality specifications | to review PC drafts | to develop test cases and test tools | to prototype & test implementations | to promote products to users | to absorb the new products | to adapt to and make use of the new products |
<Flipping vertical to add more details to each stage...>
| Pipeline Stage | Key Capacity Limit | Flow Metric | Indicator of Overload |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seed the process | Ideas important to Users | # of proposals # of user endorsements of proposals |
|
| V | |||
| Develop high quality specifications | TC Bandwidth | # of supplements | Many subcmtes/working groups Many CPs Many PC comments from Technical Proj Mgrs Lengthening Development Year |
| V | |||
| Review Pub Cmt drafts | Community Bandwidth | # of PC Supplements | Few comments from outside Cmte (Factor out Technical Proj Mgr comments) Few comments on some/all supps |
| V | |||
| Develop test cases and test tools | Test & Tools Team Bandwidth | # test cases | Key details untested Integration problems in field |
| V | |||
| Prototype & test implementations | Implementer Bandwidth | (Connectathon #'s) # Profiles Implemented # Implementations/actor/profile |
Untested Profiles Lightly-tested Profiles Consider percent of potential systems participating |
| V | |||
| Promote products to users | Marketer Bandwidth | (Integration Statement #'s) # Profiles Implemented # Implementations/actor/profile Mention of IHE on vendor Websites (general awareness) Mention of specific IHE profiles on vendors Websites (specific awareness) |
Profile is on few/no Vendor Websites or Mktg materials Sales Force unaware of profile |
| V | |||
| Grasp/Absorb the new products | Purchaser Bandwidth | # RFPs using IHE Profiles Informative articles Hits on IHE Website (general awareness) Hits on Product Registry (specific awareness) |
|
| V | |||
| Adapt to and make use of the new products | User Bandwidth | Number of case study papers Conference sessions (especially initiated by users not directly involved in IHE) Number of site implementing IHE profiles, number of profiles implemented |
|
| V | |||
| Positive Impact on Healthcare | Number of clinical trials and research publications |