HELPFUL HINTS FOR TESTING THE MS4 APPLICATIONS
Siemens MedSeries4® customers will be receiving Release updates and fixes regularly,
that’s the good news! As a former CIO, I have always made it a rule not to be on
the “bleeding edge” of any release. Generally, waiting about two weeks
before installing the latest upgrade will not make any difference. This gives the
anxious customers time to start testing and at least get some of the kinks/“Bugs”
out of the release. I then don’t have to experience the bad news. Siemens
is very good at making corrections to new releases quickly, so a slight delay has always
proved beneficial in the long run.
Some releases are mandated release and must be installed as soon as they are available.
These releases generally contain code table changes that affect billing and must be
kept up to date, DON’T HOLD THESE RELEASES. The documentation will identify these
mandated releases.
I would recommend that you have key users for each application area. These users are
the “key” to thoroughly testing all enhancements or changes to applications before
installing them in a live environment.
If departments don’t have key users already in place, additional training may need to
take place in order for the departments to take ownership of their applications.
This is where Vitalize Consulting Solutions, Inc. comes in. Key user training of
applications is one of the most important elements for a successful MS4 hospital. I have
found if a hospital has buy-in from the user community, and the departments take ownership of
their applications, then testing and implementation to the live environment goes much
smoother and will be much more successful. VCS has the resources and methodology to assist in
not only training the key users but helping to assure a smooth upgrade or implementation.
In reading all of the release documentation, the hospital will become aware of the modules
affected by each release and the specific “SPEC” changes that will apply to their
environment.
MS4 recommends that hospitals set the following priorities:
- Focus on testing hospital-specific issues, policies/procedures, interfaces, and programs and determine how in-depth to go with testing.
- Try using features that are not currently being used and write corresponding policies and procedures accordingly. Use the user documentation provided with the release to review any new features and functions.
- Depending on the hospital environment, additional testing may be required. Some hospitals customize applications and will need to address those changes on an individual basis.
I would suggest the following to complete a successful Release update and fix
implementation:
- Conduct focused portions of unit testing, integration testing, and system testing that are complementary to the hospital’s testing objectives. Assign processes, menus, and output to key users. Assigning key users responsibility is critical for successful testing.
- Have key users conduct end user training on new processes, where applicable.
- Be sure a test environment set up for the interfaces, it should be running while testing the new release.
There are several considerations that must be addressed as a hospital sets up its test
environment.
- Menus
- DFUs and Queries
- Job Descriptions and Data Areas
- Description Keys and Table Files
- Triggers
- Subsystems
- MS4 Report Writer
- Interfaces and Custom Programs
I would be happy to discuss this subject or any other MS4 solutions to your issues.
Please contact Bob Landers, at blanders@getvitalized.com
or Bob Kline the Siemens Practice Director, at bkline@getvitalized.com .