Overview of CKM Release March 2013
Governance Environment
The March 2013 Release adds a number of significant new features, primarily around governance arrangements
Projects
The most significant new feature is 'Projects'. A Project groups a set of archetypes, templates, termsets together with a project team members, building on the idea of Teams in the previous CKM release, and is the first step in developing a sound approach to the distributed governance of these assets.
Projects are now the key governance unit in CKM. All archetypes, templates and termsets must be owned by a specific Project, and Projects can include archetypes, templates and termsets owned by other Projects as read-only 'references'. This allows a Project member to see all the relevant assets, including those not directly owned by the Project.
The 'Ophthalmology' Project is an example of a typical Project which owns a number of archetypes primarily associated with ophthalmology e.g. Visual Acuity, Pupil examination. It also includes, as a 'reference' the Physical Examination Findings archetype, which is owned by the 'Common resources' project. Each Project has its own home page - http://www.openehr.org/ckm/OKM.html#showProject_1013.8.24 http://www.openehr.org/ckm/OKM.html#showProject_1013.8.24http://www.openehr.org/ckm/OKM.html#showProject_1013.8.24
The Ophthalmology Project Editors have the right to make changes to their 'owned' assets but not to their 'referenced' assets. Any change requests for a referenced asset must be routed through the Project which owns the archetype.
More details on Projects - http://www.openehr.org/wiki/display/healthmod/Project Functions
Incubators
For some time we have recognised that the formal governance arrangements imposed by CKM can be inappropriate for the very early stages of archetype development, and that it would be helpful to have a more lightly governed collaborative area where initial ideas could be worked up, and attract wider grassroots participation.
Incubators fulfil this role, and in most respects are functionally similar to Projects but within a non-governed space. They allow discussion, background resource documentation and the ability to include relevant archetypes, referenced from other Incubators or Projects. Incubators do not have the ability to run formal Reviews or take an archetype through a formal publication process. It is possible to 'upgrade' either an Incubator asset to a Project asset or a full Incubator to a full Project, should the archetypes become mature enough to merit formal review and publication.
The 'Cataract Surgery models' Incubator is an example of a typical Incubator which contains a number of early attempts at modelling detailed eye examination for the purpose of cataract surgery assessment, along with some referenced archetypes such as 'Visual acuity' which are undergoing formal review as part of the Ophthalmology project. This Incubator is bringing together a number of models together which are attempting to model a similar concept but approaching it from a different point of view. The intent is to get the various authors to collaborate on a commonly agreed approach and resulting model.
Each Incubator has its own home page: http://www.openehr.org/ckm/OKM.html#showProject_1013.30
More details on Incubators - http://www.openehr.org/wiki/display/healthmod/Incubator Functions
Sub-domains
Sub-domains are also additional components within the new governance environment and act as simple folders to allow archetypes to be grouped at high-level. The openEHR Foundation CKM has not activated subdomains at this point, until the exact requirement for these in an international space is determined.
Further information on the new CKM Governance environment is at
http://www.openehr.org/wiki/display/healthmod/CKM Governance Environment
Left -Hand Tree View and Search Functionality
The left-hand tree view has been changed to allow views of Projects and Incubators and also to allow a user to select a Preferred View via the 'All Resources' panel.
More details on Search Functionality:
http://www.openehr.org/wiki/display/healthmod/Searching for assets using Incubator functionality
Other Changes in this Release
Full details of other changes and bug-fixes in this Release are available at http://www.openehr.org/wiki/display/healthmod/CKM Release 1.2.0
Next Steps
In the longer-term we hope to open up the Incubator resource to wider groups who wish to facilitate early collaboration, leading to publication of archetypes, but we intend to start slowly so that we can better understand the best way to use this facility, and define the rules of engagement for Incubator developments.
If you have any questions or ideas on the use of Incubator, please contact the current Clinical Knowledge Administrators