PCC Profile Deprecation Process

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Overview

From time to time IHE Profiles (and National Extensions) may need to be deprecated for one reason or another. As there is no formal IHE process for this each domain is free to determine what actions need to be taken in order to deprecate a profile in their domain. PCC will follow general direction and guidance provided by IHE on the Evaluation of Published Profiles in addition to what is stated on this page.

Deprecation is a mechanism used to notify the community of intended removal/deletion/dropping of a Profile, National Extension, or other artifact. In order to deprecate a profile, an assessment must be performed to determine the community impact of the deprecation. If this assessment is not performed then there could be negative impact, causing disruption in interoperability implementations as vendors, policy-makers, and other stakeholders may decide to cease support for a profile based on deprecation status.

Defining Deprecation

Deprecation is a multi-step process. There is first a notification provided to the community to announce the intent of discouragement of use of the Profile. At this point (or shortly thereafter) the profile enters intent to deprecate status. After a period of at least 18 months the Profile is then officially deprecated as indicated by the steps below. This time period may be adjusted based on appropriate rationale. The reason that we choose to execute this in a multi-step, multi-state (i.e., "Intent to Deprecate," "Deprecated") path is to provide transparency to the community. All information gathered as part of the deprecation process will be recorded on one or more wiki pages for maximum transparency and ease of access by the community.

Deprecation is/means:

  • The retiring of an IHE Profile with supporting rationale
  • That IHE will no longer provide updates to or support for the Profile (e.g., CPs will by default not be processed by the committee for Profiles in the intent to deprecate status)
  • Complete when the process outlined on this page is followed

Deprecation is not/does not:

  • Prevent implementers from continuing to use the Profile


Process

Following are a list of questions to ask, and required actions to take.

Checklist for Assignee for Deprecation

  1. Answer the questions found in the Evaluation of Published of Profiles
  2. What is the rationale behind deprecating the Profile?
    • Provide specifics as to the need to remove the Profile from publication and for IHE to no longer provide support
  3. What are the adoption levels of the profile to be deprecated?
    • Review Connectathon Test Results page
    • Review IHE Product Registry database
    • Survey implementers to confirm actual usage in pilot and/or production settings.
    • Work with IHE Regional Deployment Domains
  4. Is the profile being deprecated being replaced by a new profile?
    • If yes, which profile, and what actors, transactions, options, etc. are being used in the new profile?
  5. What dependencies exist for the Profile being deprecated?
    • Are there any required Profile Groupings?
    • Are there any dependencies TO other IHE Profiles?
    • Are there any dependencies FROM other IHE Profiles?
  6. Who needs to be notified about deprecating the profile?
    • Required groups to be notified: development domain (e.g., PCC), Domain Coordination Committee (DCC).
    • Additional groups to be notified: implementers, stakeholders, other IHE Development Domains, IHE Deployment Domains, government organizations
  7. How long does the Profile remain published in intent to deprecate status?
    • The default time period is 18 months
    • If a longer or shorter time period is desired, rationale must be provided

Checklist for Committee Technical Cochair

  1. Ensure the above questions are answered
  2. Update the wiki to reflect status as Deprecated
  3. Coordinated and/or send communications - work with Sponsor if appropriate
  4. Update/remove any OID Registry and Template ID entries
  5. Work with IHE Documentation Specialist (Mary Jungers) for any additional documentation management tasks
    • Remove applicable profiles from ihe.net here
      • Remove the link but keep the name; add a note that the supplements are in intent to deprecate status
    • Update the ihe.net archive page here
    • Remove applicable profiles from the current published folder on the ftp site
    • When applicable, update Appendix A to indicate the deprecated actors
    • When applicable, update Appendix B to indicate the deprecated transactions
    • Update Inventory of Profiles in Google Sheet here
    • Add indicator of date to change status from Intent to Deprecate to Deprecated in the appropriate place

Questions, Discussion, and Next Steps

  1. Where should answers to the above questions be documented? On the wiki? In a Google document? Elsewhere?
    • Create a wiki page to track deprecated Profiles in PCC. This page should link to an additional page with information from the answered questions above for each deprecated Profile.
  2. When Profiles enter Deprecated status (after Intent to Deprecate status is complete) where do those profiles go?
    • This is a conversation that needs to happen through a broader group than PCC, involving DCC and the Documentation Management team
  3. How does IHE Documentation Management desire to show "Intent to Deprecate" vs "Deprecated" status on ihe.net and other relevant locations?

Additional Notes

  • ITI Experience
    • Not everyone using profiles show up to Connectathons, need a good way to ask if there are any users
  • PCC consulted with QRPH on their Profile deprecation experience, and is certainly open to input from other domains that have dealt with deprecation.
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