Chapter 10

	Capstone Case: New Century Health Clinic

Description:

New Century Wellness Group offers a holistic approach to healthcare with an emphasis on preventive medicine as well as traditional medical care. In your role as an IT consultant, you will help New Century develop a new information system.

Background

The New Century partners accepted your interface, output, input, and data designs and your recommendation to install a server and desktop computer clients on a local area network. At this point, you review your notes and plan the architecture for the New Century system.

New Century Wellness Group has four primary care physicians, one nurse practitioner (NP), four physical therapists, one registered nutritionist, eight nurses, and eight support staff. Each of the physicians, NP, therapists, nutritionist and support staff has their own workstations. The nurses work from one of three nurse stations that should have at least three computers at each station. Each nurse station will have a high-volume network laser printer and a scanner attached to one workstation. The checkin/checkout area will have an impact printer for multipart forms and a network laser printer. The network will include an online backup service, Internet access via a cable connection with a local cable company.

The partners want you to ensure the physical network is scalable, and able to handle the electronic medical record phase after the business support system is implemented. The electronic medical record phase will require a computer or thin client to be installed in each exam room and procedure room. They will also use portable computers and tablets to access patient information as the providers move from room to room around the clinic.

The hardware requirements are only part of the final installation plan which you must develop. You should start by reviewing the DFDs and object-oriented diagrams that you prepared in the systems analysis phase, and the ERDs and table designs that you created in the systems design phase. Then, review the system architecture checklist at the beginning of this chapter. With this information, you should be able to prepare a system design specification.

Tasks

1. Draw a simple floor plan for New Century Wellness group and include the placement of all network nodes including the placement of a server, and network equipment. How many ports will your switch need to accommodate?

2. Given this information, what physical and logical topologies would you recommend for New Century? Explain your answer.

3. What would be the benefits of using a wireless network? Are there any drawbacks?

4. Using the information you just prepared, as well as other information you developed for in previous chapters, prepare a system design specification that includes sections on the management summary, system components, system environment, implementation requirements, and time and cost estimates.

Solution :

Tasks

1. Draw a simple floor plan for New Century Wellness group and include the placement of all network nodes including the placement of a server, and network equipment. How many ports will your switch need to accommodate?

Answers will vary. Students should include a computer terminal at each staffing position and printers in each area. Each wireless node will require a switch port as well. 18 people have dedicated computers and the nurse stations have a total of 9 for a grand total of 27 desktop computers. There are a total of 5 network printers. Students should notice that the local scanners do not have network connections. Each wireless access point also will require a network port. When the electronic medical record phase is added in the future, more capacity will be needed to accommodate new workstations or thin clients in each patient exam and procedure room.

2. Given this information, what physical and logical topologies would you recommend for New Century? Explain your answer.

Answers will vary. Most students will choose a star topology but they should be able to explain that understand the advantages and disadvantages of their chosen topology.

3. What would be the benefits of using a wireless network? Are there any drawbacks?

The benefits of a WLAN include flexibility, mobility, freedom, increased productivity, and potential cost savings of no-cable installation. Possible drawbacks include security concerns and interference issues. Knowledgeable students may also point out the lower bandwidth that is offered in current wireless 802.11 implementations. A WLAN will give the healthcare providers the ability to walk around the clinic with network connected portable computers and tablets.

4. Using the information you just prepared, as well as other information you developed for in previous chapters, prepare a system design specification that includes sections on the management summary, system components, system environment, implementation requirements, and time and cost estimates.

Students should be able to develop a system design specification that describes an overall plan for the hardware and software that will be required to support New Centurys operations as described in this case study.

A typical system design specification would include the following sections:

• Management Summary. The management summary provides a brief overview of the project for company managers and executives. It outlines the development efforts to date, provides a current status report, summarizes current project costs and costs for the remaining phases, reviews the overall benefits of the new system, presents the systems development phase schedule, and highlights any issues that management will need to address.
• System Components. This section contains the complete design for the new system, including the user interface, outputs, inputs, files, databases, and network specifications. You should include source documents, report and screen layouts, DFDs, and all other relevant documentation. You also should include the requirements for all support processing, such as backup and recovery, startup processing, and file retention. If the purchase of a software package is part of the strategy, you must include any interface information required between the package and the system you are developing. If you use a CASE design tool, you can print design diagrams and most other documentation directly from the tool.
• System Environment. This section describes the constraints, or conditions, affecting the system, including any requirements that involve operations, hardware, systems software, or security. Examples of operational constraints include transaction volumes that must be supported, data storage requirements, processing schedules, reporting deadlines, and online response times.
• Implementation Requirements. In this section, you specify startup processing, initial data entry or acquisition, user training requirements, and software test plans.
• Time and Cost Estimates. This section provides detailed schedules, cost estimates, and staffing requirements for the systems development phase and revised projections for the remainder of the SDLC. You also present total costs-to-date for the project and compare those costs with your prior estimates.
• Appendices. Supplemental material can be included in appendices at the end of the system design specification. In this section, you might include copies of documents from the first three phases if they would provide a helpful reference for readers.