On Tue, 24 Jun 2003, Karsten Hilbert wrote:

> > I would appreciate thoughts on which existing
> > form-db-process frameworks

Heitzso,

  Please clarify what you mean by "form-db-process"?

  I am guessing that it means: create forms, store data in database,
generate output or store transformed data depending on rules and data.

  The OIO system supports
   1) form: creation of web-forms via web-browser interface (or XML),
   2) db: data storage in relational database (tested on PostgreSQL and
Oracle - Oracle compatibility is newly contributed by Dennis Halladay at
Somalogic),
   3) process: customizable workflow via web-browser interface (workflows
module) or scripting language (code in Python, SQL, Perl, etc).

> > are ready for
> > production use at this point in time?

  Portions of the OIO system (http://www.txoutcome.org) have been in
production use since 2000.  The workflows module is quite new (in
production for about 6 months but not in stable release yet :-). The
branch_on_condition action for workflows was just introduced last week. I
just received a patch from Manoj for specifying custom forms layout via
XSL.
  So, at this point in time, you can decide to be conservative and use
only features that have been in production use for a long time (OIO-0.9.9
is the stable release). Or, you can try some of the newer features and
help us test our software :-). Either way, you will probably still find
bugs - which I will be happy to fix when you find them.

> > Subject: question re current EHR/data submit software
>                                    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> That, however, makes me point you towards OIO.

  You might also want to look at Dave Forslund's OpenEMed
(http://www.openemed.org/), especially if you like Java and need HL7 and
CORBA. OIO is not built with Java (OIO uses Zope) and we have not done any
work towards HL7 or CORBA inter-operations - but we like to have HL7 and
CORBA too if you want to help make those modules :-).

  I am sure we can build forms in OpenEMed (and even TORCH, OSCAR, TkFp)
but I am not sure how easy it is to do so. TORCH also uses Zope (like OIO)
but does not use relational database. TORCH has a custom template system
that is almost like a "form". The output from a TORCH template is a tagged
document which is quite close to what a form produces. OSCAR uses Java
(like OpenEMed) and has a nice scheduling interface (but no HL7 and no
CORBA).

  One difference between OIO and the other systems is that the OIO
emphasizes "forms". Other systems also use forms but do not provide a
forms-management layer. OIO's forms-layer is analogous to OpenEHR/GEHR's
archetypes-layer. OIO's forms authoring and management tools have been in
production use since 2000 at multiple sites and found to be quite usable
even by non-programer. In contrast, we are all still waiting to see the
release of software that implements OpenEHR/GEHR's nice design.
Information about OpenEHR/GEHR's experience in actual data management has
also not been available. Once OpenEHR/GEHR is released, it will probably
look and work very much like OIO. If it is successful, we will modify OIO
to interoperate with it by building conversion module to translate OIO
forms into OpenEHR archetypes and archetypes into OIO forms.

  Please feel free to ask if you have any questions.

Best regards,

Andrew
---
Andrew P. Ho, M.D.
OIO: Open Infrastructure for Outcomes
www.TxOutcome.Org

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