IHE domains previously only operated with a single point in time for new work items each year. This lead to the perception that IHE is not responsive, and places strains on our committees, contractors, and communities. Due to this, the Quality, Research and Public Health Committee has moved to a continuous development cycle. The three 4-day face-to-face working meetings in the first half of the calendar year, plus two 2-day selection meetings in the last calendar quarter, are replaced by four 4-day working meetings evenly spaced through the year. A portion of each meeting is devoted to planning tasks such as review and prioritizing of proposals, and the rest of the meeting would operate similar to our current technical meetings, except each work item could be in a different phase (volume 1 prep, public comment prep, TI prep).

Governance

This is a specialization of the IHE Process. All the normal governance is expected, the difference is in 'when'.

As each proposal comes in, it is evaluated for suitability, and then placed in priority order in the backlog. When a current work item completes, room frees up in the schedule. The planning committee shall evaluate QRPH's capacity to take on new work items in the development process.

It is expected that each work item will move to the next phase at each face to face meeting (thus completing in a year once work starts). Larger or smaller work items could move faster or slower, as determined by the planning committee.

There is no need to change from a single annual TF publication, although that could be discussed. Supplements would be published through the year as they are ready.

Connectathon requirements would reflect the published documents as of a particular date, e.g. 4 months before the event.

Background

Derived Rules

Work products must be submitted two weeks prior to Face-to-face meeting or they may not be scheduled during that face-to-face.
Detailed profile proposals must be submitted two weeks prior to Face-to-face meeting or they may not be scheduled during that face-to-face.
Approved Projects must progress. Any project that does not make progress for two face-to-face meetings in a row will not be approved for the next meeting by the planning committee.
For a work item to be available for a Connectathon, it must be approved by the technical committee during the Face to Face at-least four months prior to Connectathon. This allows for the time necessary for publication.
Projects will not be voted to move forward unless they have met the milestone requirements. This means a vote will not be entertained "pending additional editing."
If it is determined that the scope of a project must change, that scope change shall be reviewed and approved by the planning committee.

General schedule

The committees meet quarterly. Under the annual schedule the fall meetings are two short two-day meetings. Under Continuous development governance these two meetings will be merged into one fall meeting.

On a quarterly basis

Two weeks prior to the face-to-face meeting

Deadline for approved projects to submit their current phase text so that the co-chairs can plan the agenda. Anything submitted later than this may need to be delayed to the next quarterly meeting. Having work items ready two weeks prior to the meeting enables the community to review so that the focus on the meeting is on producing quality, not reviewing brand new text. Having work items available enables co-chairs to develop a reasonable agenda.

The Planning Committee will accept detailed profile proposals and any updates to backlog items.
The Technical Committee will accept work products meeting the planned scope of ongoing projects.

Face-to-face meeting

Four time slots each day of the face-to-face will be scheduled for specific project tasks. The co-chairs are enabled to give more than one time slot to a work item. The face-to-face meeting should be focused on review of submitted text, and less on developing new text. Any project that has not completed their text prior to the deadline may not be allowed to present and develop during that face-to-face meeting.

All technical and planning responsibilities must be completed within the scheduled face-to-face, so the co-chairs must be careful to define agenda and stick to that agenda.

Part one of face-to-face meeting

Technical Committee

Review any Volume 1 development projects, approve as appropriate to technical solution development (Volume 2/3)
Review any Technical Solution (Volume 2/3) projects, approval as appropriate to public comment
- Standards Selection Process
Review any Public Comment resolution projects, approval as appropriate for Trial Implementation
- Public Comment Process
Review any Connectathon test plans and tools for how well they test expected requirements of the profiles
Review any Change Proposals for ballot or integration
- Change Proposal Process

Part two of face-to-face meeting

Planning Committee

Review of Trial Implementation for promotion to Final Text
- Final Text Process
Review of project that have stalled -- more than two quarters of no progress --
- Cancel with option to that project to promote as new work item
Review of potential profiles to retire or deprecate
- Retirement Process
Re-evaluate current working items for projected publication (Trial Implementation) and make visible
Capacity assessment for following quarterly phase and Review new work items for approval as new capacity and expertise allow.

Planning Committee Responsibilities

The planning committee is still responsible for incoming new work items, prioritization of work items, capacity planning, and approval of final publication.

With the annual schedule, the planning responsibility was at the beginning of the year's planning. Concluding with the selection of new work items that are developed during the rest of the year. With continuous development governance, this will take place at the end of each quarterly meeting in preparation for the next quarterly meeting. The planning and technical committees will consider current load, and then select new work items to be picked up.

Thus the planning committee must keep a backlog of potential new work items. The planning committee must maintain this backlog prior to each quarterly meeting. This maintenance is the same maintenance as is expected prior to the Fall meeting under the annual schedule. New work items must still meet the same criteria as today.

Call for Profile Proposals

Dashboard

Need to maintain a visible dashboard that shows progress of current work (predicted schedule, project health), and backlog of potential future work.

QRPH Continuous Development Cycle

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