enicq 5 External Data Interface User s Guide

enicq 5 External Data Interface User s Guide Overview This document provides assistance to the enicq user in setting up and operating the Electronic Data Interface. Please note that while easy to operate, the Electronic Data Interface is a complex topic and many additional pieces of documentation may apply depending on what you are trying to accomplish. Additional Resources There are several different reasons you may need to use the Electronic Data Interface (EDI) in the enicq application: You may be setting up an ongoing interface with a vendor-provided Electronic Health Record (EHR) system. You may be a developer writing an in-house interface with your hospital s existing systems. You may need to use the feature to restore center data that was saved to file from enicq. In the first case of setting up an ongoing interface with a vendor provided EHR system, you will want to consult with your EHR software vendor for instructions prior to configuring in enicq. In the second case of developing an in-house interface to your hospital s existing EHR system, please refer to the full documentation contained in the enicq 5 Electronic Data Interface Developer s Guide. In the third case of restoring center data generated by enicq, you will want to review our documentation on Moving the enicq Database. The last two documents are available here: www.enicq.vtoxford.org 1

Core Concepts Data interfaces can be powerful time-saving tools, but they aren t smart enough to guess our intentions. Understanding some basic concepts about the interface can hopefully prevent more serious problems down the road when you configure and operate the interface. There are two sides to the interface. You will have to configure and operate the interface in both enicq and whatever source application your data is coming from. Vermont Oxford Network can assist with configuring and operating on the enicq side but only your EHR system vendor or in-house technical staff can assist with configuring or operating on the source application side. Your data passes through multiple stages in the interface. You should understand which steps that you take as the user will cause new or updated data to move to the next stage in the interface. This document will help clarify the steps and stages. These stages include: o Your source application (your EHR system or other database) o A text file created by your source application (maybe, this depends on your EHR system.) o The interface buffer (the External data tables in the enicq database) o The live enicq tables (the Infant data tables in the enicq database) The interface creates new records in enicq but it can also update existing records. When you import data, the incoming data for a given record will always replace the existing record s data, even if the incoming data item is blank. For example: o If the record for Baby A is imported into enicq with a blank BDEFECT field and an entry is later made to BDEFECT in enicq. o re-importing the Baby A record with its blank BDEFECT field will erase the value in BDEFECT that had been entered in enicq. Options and Differences Before using or configuring the Electronic Data Interface, there are a few questions that you will need to have answered. If you are unsure of the answers to these questions, please consult with your technical team or your EHR system vendor to reach consensus on how you intend to use the interface. Because these questions are unique to your center s EHR system and business practices, the Vermont Oxford Network cannot answer these questions for you. 1. Will your source application write directly to the External tables in the enicq database, or will it output your data to a text file? 2. If your source application outputs to a text file, do you know the location of the text file? 2

3. Will you be able to find it easily, move or store it safely, and identify when the file was created? 4. Will your source application be assigning Vermont Oxford Network ID numbers to the records or will it rely on enicq to assign ID numbers? 5. Which data items will you consistently bring over through the interface and which data items will you enter only in enicq? 6. Do you intend to only use the interface to CREATE new records in enicq or do you intend to use the interface to both create and update records in enicq? 7. If you only intend to use the interface to create records, do you understand how to prevent updated records from outputting from your source application? 8. Are there some records that will only be created in enicq (such as Delivery Room Deaths?) 9. Do all your participating staff know the answers to the above questions and how they will impact use of the interface? If you are unsure of the answers to any of the above questions, please take some time to review with your team or your EHR system vendor to establish consensus on how you intend to use the interface. Configuring the Electronic Data Interface Under Tools, select Centers and with the appropriate Center selected click Edit. 3

On the new window, click on the Interface tab and make sure every item you wish to get imported into enicq 5 is selected otherwise no data will be entered for that field. If you want the file you are about to upload to populate all the fields with data, select Check All at the top. If there are items you do not want to be populated by EDI, leave them unselected. For example, if you regularly enter one or more data items only in enicq and never import those items from your source system, those items should be left unchecked on the Interface tab. If you are finding there is a field that consistently is not being populated when you are uploading data with EDI, check here to make sure that the field is selected. If it is selected here, the next step would be to check the file itself to make sure the header of the column is correct (if you are importing a CSV file) or that the tag is correct (if you are importing an XML file.) Using the Electronic Data Interface In order to proceed with using the Electronic Data Interface, you must first know if your source system will write data directly to the enicq database or if it will output the data to a text file that you will then import. Please consult with your software vendor or developer if you do not know the answer to this question. If your source system writes directly to the enicq database, run the export in your source system and skip ahead to the section Preview and Import the Data on page 6. If your source system outputs the data to a text file, run the export in your source system and continue with the next section Get Data from a Text File. 4

Get Data from a Text File First, output your data from your source system to a text file, consulting that vendor or developer s documentation if necessary. Please be sure to save the text file to a location that you will be able to navigate to later and make a note of the file name. Next, click on Tools and select External Data Interface. To begin uploading your file, click the Get Data button. On the Select a File to Convert window select the correct file type, browse for the file you wish to upload, select it and click Open. 5

Preview and Import the Data On the Tools External Data Interface window you should now see a message explaining that there is data in the interface available for preview or import. At this point you can click Preview to see the data before importing it into enicq 5. 6

If everything looks correct, click Import Data. The file will be imported and checked for errors. If something is incorrect, you can click Clear Data and start the process over again. If everything is imported correctly you will receive a message similar to this: If any errors occurred during import, they will be listed in the panel below. The final section of this document addresses some of the more common error messages that are possible. Click close to exit the External Data Interface. The newly imported or updated records can now be viewed directly in the Patient Log. Problems Using the Electronic Data Interface The Electronic Data Interface applies many different levels of assessment and error reporting. Some messages may occur when using the Get Data button, others after clicking the Import Data button. Some problems with the Electronic Data Interface can be corrected by the user alone. For example, if the Electronic Data Interface hasn t been set up correctly or if steps have been performed out of order the user can correct these problems by referring to documentation and 7

trying again. Other issues will require the assistance of your source system s vendor or developer to fully identify and correct. For example, if your source system fails to create files in the correct format you may need to have a developer or other expert rework the source system so that it can consistently create usable data files. Problems with Key Fields Problems with Medical Record Numbers and Center Numbers will be identified when using the Get Data button to retrieve data from a text file. The Medical Record Number (MRN) and Center Number (HOSPNO) are primary key fields in the External Data Interface. This means they cannot be blank and must form a unique pair. If any record is missing the MRN you will receive this error message: If the MRN is missing for even a single record the entire file will fail the Get Data action. Similarly, the center number field (HOSPNO) must also have a value in each record in order for the file to be read successfully. If any records in the file are missing a center number, the following message will appear: Like Medical Record Number, the HOSPNO field cannot be blank. Its value must match the number of the currently selected center in order for the file to be read into the interface. If any record has a center number that does not match the currently selected center, the following message will appear: 8

In addition to not being blank, the Medical Record Number must also be unique. If a duplicate Medical Record Number is found in the file, or if another unidentified anomaly is present, the following message will appear: To correct any of the above problems you will need to edit the source system or the file itself to fix any missing or incorrect Medical Record Numbers or Center Numbers before enicq 5 will accept this file. Please consult your source system s vendor or developer for assistance in preventing this problem again in the future. Problems with Malformed Files Formatting problems with data files will also be identified during the Get Data action. In some cases, a data file may have a serious problem that prevents it from being read by the External Data Interface at all. A message like this one may appear: 9

A problem as serious as the one above cannot be solved by a user and should be forwarded to your source system s vendor or developer. The first step in working on such a problem will be to refer to the file formats detailed in the External Data Interface Developer s Guide. Other file format problems may arise from bad data in the file, such as special characters that prevent the file from being read by the interface: In the above example, double quotes in one of the memo fields caused the file to be misread. Double quotes have been identified as a character that cannot be used in CSV formatted files. We recommend using single quotes instead. In some cases it is possible to find the exact location of the characters causing problems and correct a file manually. In other cases, this is too difficult and it is better to forward the problem to your source system s vendor or developer. 10

Troubleshooting a malformed CSV file requires a certain level of technical skill and a fair amount of time. The following tips may help you get started: You will need to be able to view the file in both a spreadsheet application (such as Microsoft Excel) and a plain text editor (such as Notepad) in order to see both the column layout and the actual characters (commas and line returns.) Both views of the data are required to find problems. The record number, field, and position numbers listed in the heading of the error message are not exact locations. Because the file is malformed in some way, it is impossible to precisely identify the location. Often the numbers given are close to the source of the problem. Examine the row identified and several rows preceding and following the row identified. The most common fields that experience problem data are the non-numeric fields, such as text, memo or date fields. Text based fields may have trouble with special characters such as double quotes. Date fields may cause trouble if they contain a malformed date value (an entry that can t be evaluated as an actual date.) Problems that cannot be identified visually can usually be found with a binary search pattern. To attempt a binary search, make a copy of your file, delete half the records from it, then see if it can be read by the Get Data action. Continue to divide in half the records that fail import and eventually you will have a small enough remaining set to find the problem. This is a simple work-around but very time consuming to carry out. Ideally, when a malformed file problem occurs you will fix not just the current file but also the problem in your source system that caused the file format issue in the first place. If formatting issues persist, please consult with your source system s vendor or developer to correct the issue. Note: Some error messages from the Electronic Data Interface may include actual data, some of which may be Protected Health Information (PHI). Do not send screenshots of messages containing PHI to the Vermont Oxford Network. Do not send copies of data files that contain PHI to the Vermont Oxford Network. Problems on Importing Data Additional errors may be identified during an Import Data action. These errors typically do not block the import of the data, but they may cause one or more of the records you are importing to be skipped. Reasons for skipping a record include the following: The record would update an existing record that is currently locked (due to archiving or other reason.) The record has a primary key mismatch which was not identified earlier in the import. 11

The record contains ID numbers outside of the center s certification range. The record is for a birth year that is not supported by the enicq application (a future date, for example.) The record is missing Core record elements (the data listed on the Patient Information Form), either originally or due to removal of bad data during import. These errors will appear in a listing on the main External Data Interface window like this: Import skip messages should be reviewed to determine the reason for the skip and whether any further action is required. This will depend entirely on your activity with your data, whether the skip makes sense and can be ignored or whether the skip is a problem that needs to be corrected in your source system or in enicq. Please research the history and current state of the records in question to make your decision. If you have an extensive list of skip messages, it is possible to copy and paste them out to a separate document for later follow up. 12

Problems with Missing or Overwritten Data Sometimes following a data import, there are unexpected changes to data items in a record or expected changes to data items do not happen. The most common explanation for and solution to issues like this is to re-visit the External Data Interface configuration under the Tools Centers Interface tab. Comparing the current configuration of the interface to the results of your data import usually explains the problem, allowing correction to the interface set-up if necessary. A few common scenarios are described below: Problem #1: Data manually entered in enicq for a specific data item is now blank or different following an External Data Interface import. Explanation: The interface has been configured to import this data item and it will overwrite any values manually entered in enicq when the record is re-imported or updated through the interface. This update will revert the data item to whatever value is coming in from the source system, even if that value has been left blank. Solution: This problem can be corrected by un-checking the data item in question under the Tools Centers Interface tab. Only do this if you do not intend to ever import the data item from your source system. If you intend to sometimes import the data item s value from your source system, a better solution might be to change your business process so that you enter or correct this data item in the source system, then re-import the record in enicq. Problem #2: Data entered in the source system for a specific data item is failing to update the record in enicq following an External Data Interface import, leaving the data item blank. Explanation: The interface has been configured to NOT import this data item. Solution: Check the box for that item under the Tools Centers Interface tab. Configuring the External Data Interface should be done in consultation with other members of your data entry team so that all team members are in agreement on which items will be imported and which items will be entered in enicq. 13