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[Fwd: CCOW Brief Update]

FYI

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                   CLINICAL CONTEXT OBJECT WORKGROUP
                             Brief Update
                             July 3, 1998



This is one of a series of updates on CCOW that we send from time to
time. As it appears on several list servers, we strive to keep them
brief. See our Web site for more information:
                                   
               http://www.mcis.duke.edu/standards/CCOW/


Version 1.1
-----------

We are finalizing version 1.1 of the standard. Includes not only the
interfaces for Patient Link, but also the special interface between
the Clinical Context Manager and an enterprise Master Patient Index
system. It allows applications on the workstation to tune in on the
same patient, even though they know the patient by different ID
numbers.


USERS REJOICE: User Link is Coming
----------------------------------

Our main work now will provide cooperating applications with the
ability to tune in on changes to the logged-in user, in the same way
as the context manager already tracks the patient. When the user logs
in to one application, the other apps on the workstation will switch
to the new user even though the user name and password may be
different.

The reception from users has been extremely enthusiastic. They seem to
be tired of carrying index cards with multiple user names and
passwords.

This can also be an extremely cost-effective way to introduce advanced
security technologies, such as magnetic or RF card readers, retina
scans, fingerprints, etc. Instead of requiring each vendor to support
the specific hardware and software, there need only be one application
that knows about it. (Indeed, this may be a special application
written solely to support the authentication technology.) Other
applications will be notified when the user changes without having to
be modified to handle the new technology directly.

We viewed our very first prototype at the May meeting in Dallas. See
the Web site for minutes. A much more advanced prototype involving
multiple vendors will be tested during our July meeting in Boston.

Look for User Link in our booth at Windows on Healthcare in October.


Does CCOW Compete with Single-Sign On Vendors?
---------------------------------------------

We get asked this question frequently as we work on this new standard.
Actually, CCOW is complementary to single-sign on offerings. CCOW can
provide a faster and more reliable single-sign. But it is only useful
for the group of applications that are GUI-based and support the
component technologies used to implement CCOW. Most sites, however,
need to include a number of "green screen" applications that cannot
support CCOW. A single-sign on solution that uses its existing
approaches for legacy applications and CCOW for the newer applications
will provide the best of both worlds.

We are pleased to say that one single-sign on vendor, CoreChange, is
participating in the design and will be demonstrating support for CCOW
in our booth in October.


CCOW for the Web
----------------

Numerous vendors and users have expressed special interest in seeing
context sharing for Web applications and for mixtures of Web apps and
"thick client" applications. A white paper on this approach is being
circulated among the CCOW contributors and will be discussed at the
July meeting.


Industry Recognition
--------------------

We were very pleased to see a very favorable report on CCOW from the
Gartner Group. It is predicting aggressive support of CCOW by vendors
of clinical applications and even more aggressive support by vendors
of EMPI systems. Please see their research report "CCOW - A Context
Coordination Standard for Healthcare, SPA-04-0619" for the specifics.


See You in Orlando, if Not Before!
----------------------------------

We invite you to attend our next meeting, July 15-16 at the IDX
offices in Boston. Wednesday afternoon includes a three-hour training
session. We strongly urge newcomers to attend that session before
participating in the technical meetings. You can get more information
on the Web site including IMPORTANT information on how to RSVP.

As with previous meetings this one is free. We thank IDX for providing
the facilities that allows us to offer the meetings free. We also
thank Hewlett-Packard, CSI, and NeoTools for preparing and offering
the training classes without charge.

If you cannot make the meeting, we hope you will stop by our booth at
Windows on Healthcare IV.



Regards,


Wes Rishel
Chair, Clinical Context Object Workgroup
wes@rishel.com

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