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Back to the Future

Last week I revisited a client in the healthcare sector. A client where I delivered a project for a Central Laboratory Information System back in ‘97. I was the Information Analyst and later Project Manager.

Back in the nineties I loved this project. The previous system was over 20 years old and the plan was to rebuild this with minor modifications in Oracle’s (then) latest technology: Developer/2000 and Designer/2000 (we started with the 1.0 version). After an initial pilot we decided a complete functional redesign would be the best approach. So that is what we did: with a full user complement in a room with a whiteboard, we started sketching the foundations for the future. I had the privilege of facilitating this design, followed by the overall projectmanagement of ICT team and Client Team of the build and implementation phases. Of course all data of the 20 year old predecessor had to me converted as well!! (On data conversion I’ll probably blog some more in the future ). The project had its ups and downs, but we delivered. On time. On budget. With a little bit more aftercare than I anticipated, but still. A project I am proud of. Later, we added the bespoke Laboratory Informations Management System (bridging the tests in the Lab to the central system) with equal success.

As I said: I revisited the client last week. It was great to hear that the system was still fully functional and in use. By pretty much the same people that helped design and test it, by the way. The envisioned flexibility of new tests, intelligence in interpreting results and scheduling new tests, reporting the results with added conclusions, … It all worked! And it still did!

We strolled down memory lane together for a while, before discussing the latest BPEL trends in ICT. When I explained how how easy it is to set up your Business Processes as your Guide through the different laboratories, each with their own internal processes and expertise, their conclusion was that this was exactly what we had done with the intelligent follow-up testing we designed, back then.

BPEL with Designer/2000. Just design it right!

One Response

  1. Edwin April 25, 2007