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Testing & Discovery

Testing and Discovery, the initial stage in the Measurement and Improvement Initiative, serves to gather preliminary and general information on community alignment with IIS Functional Standards. The Aggregate Analysis Reporting Tool (AART) is used to compile and display measures and test results for this initial stage and all future stages of the initiative.

Testing and Discovery has been under way since mid-2015. The initial content areas of testing all focused on improving interoperability. It is important for the IIS community to ensure that standards exist and are widely implemented to reduce connectivity barriers and facilitate timely data exchange, which will further enhance the ability to monitor and improve vaccine coverage. A key aspect of standards implementation is measurement adoption. An interoperability testing process provides measurable metrics to verify and track success.

The Testing and Discovery process was set up with several outcomes in mind:

  • Testing allows IIS to understand better how their system operates in the context of community-wide standards.
  • Testing provides information to the Standards & Interoperability Steering Committee (SISC), a workgroup of subject matter experts, to understand where there is local variation and where there may be gaps in the current standards.
  • Testing helps identify specific test cases and procedures that would be appropriate for the IIS community.

In addition, the Testing and Discovery process has several major benefits for the community:

  • IIS immediately receive feedback on their systems from an independent, third-party perspective.
  • The IIS can give feedback (both positive and negative) about the testing process. This will help AIRA make improvements to the process immediately.
  • AIRA can collect information on how systems work to determine areas that need further discussion to establish or refine common standards.

In order to participate or to request more information about the Testing and Discovery process, please contact Kristi Siahaya.

Additional Resources

Interoperability Testing Project Webinar and Q&A Session

NIST 2015 Edition Meaningful Use Test Tools

Immunization Information System (IIS) Measurement and Improvement: Testing and Discovery, Assessment and Validation Overview