Actors

IHE Actors are responsible for producing, managing and/or acting on information in the context of an IHE Profile.

• An Actor is defined in terms of its primary responsibility.
• Each IHE Profile assigns specific requirements to specific actors.
• The same Actor might be referenced in multiple Profiles.

For example, the Department System Scheduler/Order Filler is responsible for managing orders performed by a department.

• The Scheduled Workflow Profile places specific requirements on the DSS/Order Filler to support radiology orders, DICOM modality worklists, etc.
• The Lab Scheduled Workflow Profile places specific requirements on it to support lab orders and worklists.

A single system could conceivably claim to support the DSS/Order Filler in both Profiles.

See IHE Profile Design Principles and Conventions for a more more detailed discussion of actor design.

<< I think it would be useful to group the actors here by "flavour" (data creators, displays, archives, workflow managers, etc.) to make it easier to identify "duplication" (two actors with different names, but the same basic role/definition) and avoid it in the future. As we get a good set of actors, we can see if the groupings are obvious.>>

<<Feel free to mess with the text. That's part of the point of this exercise. Try to err on the side of brevity/generality.>>

The core responsibility of current Actors are as follows:

• Acquisition Modality generates data (such as images and measurements) based on sensor readings. E.g. a CT Scanner

• Department_System_Scheduler/Order_Filler manages orders performed by a department. E.g. a RIS (Radiology Information System)

• Evidence Creator creates additional evidence objects (such as processed images and annotations) based on processing other data. E.g. a processing workstation

• Image Archive provides long term storage of imaging-related data. E.g. a PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System)

• Order Placer generates and distributes orders. E.g. a CPOE (Computerized Physician Order Entry)

• Portable Media Creator assembles content and writes it to a physical digital medium. E.g. a CD Burner

• Portable Media Importer imports and reconciles digital content from a physical medium into a local data archive.