My Health Record: Non-Functional Requirements, Cloud-based Solutions, and SDLC Approach

This report covers the non-functional requirements of My Health Record, review of cloud-based solutions, and SDLC approach. The cloud-based solutions that shall be involved in the system shall include PaaS cloud model for system delivery and hybrid cloud model for system deployment.

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My Health Record
Non-Functional Requirements, Cloud-based Solutions, and SDLC
Approach
7/26/2018

My Health Record
Table of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2
Non-Functional Requirements...............................................................................................................2
Usability............................................................................................................................................2
Reliability..........................................................................................................................................2
Performance.......................................................................................................................................2
Supportability....................................................................................................................................3
Review of Cloud-based Solutions..........................................................................................................3
SDLC Approach....................................................................................................................................5
Predictive SDLC................................................................................................................................5
Adaptive SDLC.................................................................................................................................6
Recommendations & Conclusions.....................................................................................................6
References.........................................................................................................................................8
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My Health Record
Introduction
My Health Record is an online secure platform that will provide the summary of the health
information of an individual. The platform is being launched by Commonwealth Government
of Australia. It is a platform that is essential to provide the patients with improved quality of
care and streamlined services. The platform will bring the medical fraternity and the patients
on one platform with ease of accessibility. The report covers the non-functional requirements
of the system, review of cloud-based solutions, and SDLC approach.
Non-Functional Requirements
Usability
My Health Record must be designed in such a manner that it meets the functional aspects and
provides the users with the ease of usage. The system shall be easy to navigate and must have
a simple layout so that the patients as well as the medical professionals may execute the
desired functionality with ease. There shall also be consistency in terms of layout, color
scheme, text size, and likewise across all the screens to provide an enhanced user experience.
The error resolution mechanism must also be integrated in the application (Lauesen &
Younessi, 2016).
Reliability
Health information is extremely critical and sensitive in nature. A system such as My Health
Record cannot afford to provide the users with non-updated information. Therefore, the
system shall ensure that it responds to every user request with updated information to
maintain the reliability of the system (Chung, 2016).
Performance
The patients, doctors, and other users that will access the system would wish to receive the
response in quick turnaround time. The developers must ensure that the response time,
throughput time, and turnaround time for every system function is minimal. There may also
be multiple users that would access the system at the same time. Such occurrences shall not
have any impact on the system performance and load balancing features must be set up
accordingly (Malan & Bredemeyer, 2010).
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My Health Record
Supportability
Technological changes may come up for My Health Record after its deployment. Therefore,
the system must be supportable and scalable to meet the technological and other changes. The
users may also wish to access the system on varied platforms, such as smartphones, tablets,
laptops, or desktop computers. The operating systems may also vary for the users. The
system shall be platform-independent to support the varied access measures (Shaikh &
Misbahuddin, 2016).
Review of Cloud-based Solutions
Cloud-based platforms will be necessary to deploy and deliver the systems to provide
accessibility to all the users. There are primarily three types of cloud delivery models that are
available as SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS on the basis of software, platform, and infrastructure
respectively. After reviewing the properties and requirements of My Health Record, the
platform that will be applicable is Platform as a Service (PaaS) (Pahl, 2015).
Strengths of PaaS Weaknesses of PaaS
Low Initial Investment Cost: All of the
tools and equipment that will be necessary
for designing, developing, and deploying the
system will be handled by the vendor. The
initial investment cost will therefore be low
with the use of this model.
Security Risks: There may be security risks
and attacks that may be given shape by the
attackers using the vulnerabilities in the PaaS
model. The occurrences of data breach may
come up.
Reduced Cost: There are several costs that
are involved in a project, such as
development and deployment of My Health
Record. With the use of PaaS model, many of
costs, such as cost of tools and cost of
maintenance & updating of the tools will be
eliminated. Thus, the overall cost will come
down (Walraven, Truyen & Joosen, 2013).
System Integration: My health Record will
be composed of sub-systems and
components. The integration of varied units
may be troublesome.
Quicker Updates: The sharing and
installation of the updates will be made by
the vendor and the turnaround time will come
Failure of Services: The downtime may
increase in case of a negative impact on any
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My Health Record
down as a result. of the cloud service.
Flexible & Agile System: Two of the
necessary features viz. system agility and
flexibility will be associated with this model.
The changes that may come up during the
advanced project stages or post-deployment
will be easy to install.
Level of Flexibility: IaaS cloud model offers
better flexibility (Singh & Kaur, 2013).
System & Information Reliability: The
cloud vendor will be responsible for ensuring
reliability of the system as well as the
information.
SLA: The terms specified in the agreement
may be compromised.
Automated Scheduling of Data Backups:
The data and information sets will be backed
up as per the automated codes and programs.
Customer Captivity: It may emerge as an
issue for the organization.
Ownership: There may be various risks that
may come up during the development and
deployment of the system. The technical risks
will be easily transferred to the cloud vendor
and the ownership to resolve the risk will be
on the vendor.
Lock-in: Specific environment lock-in may
emerge as an issue.
Resource Allocation: There will be dynamic
approach that will be followed for resource
allocation.
Customer Satisfaction: The frequent
occurrence of security risks and attacks may
lead to deteriorated customer trust and
satisfaction.
The deployment of the system for the end-users will be an essential requirement and the same
will be carried out using cloud deployment model. There are three categories of cloud
deployment models viz. public, private, and hybrid. Each of these models has its own set of
pros and cons.
In case of My Health Record, the system will comprise of critical information and it would be
essential to maintain the privacy of all the information and data sets. Health information is
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My Health Record
required to be complied with defined standards and protocols. Thus, information security and
privacy will be the top priority for this system. After reviewing the requirements of the
system, the cloud deployment model that shall be utilized is hybrid cloud model. It is the
cloud model that is an amalgamation of public and private cloud models comprising of
properties from each of the two models (Jenkins, 2014).
SDLC Approach
Predictive SDLC
Predictive Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) is a set of processes that shall be
followed for development of system and these processes are defined in advance. The
execution of the processes under any of the predictive SDLC approach is linear or sequential
with a fixed order that shall not be altered during the system timeline. There are several pros
of this approach as listed below.
 Impact analysis is easier to be carried out on the basis of the activities executed in the
prior stages.
 Advanced planning is involved and the sequence of steps is known in advance.
 Better standardization
One of the most commonly used and applied predictive SDLC approach is Waterfall model.
It is the model that comprises of the phases as planning, requirements analysis, design &
development, testing, deployment, maintenance, and go-live executed in the same order
(Okoli & Carillo, 2012). Most of the requirements and properties of My Health Record are
illustrated in advance. The use of Waterfall model for this system will provide the resources
with the benefits of clarity in approach and knowledge of the steps to be executed. There may
be a few changes that may come up in terms of the requirements or technology. The
predictive SDLC approach has a few cons that are as listed below.
 Change execution and management will be troublesome.
 System flexibility will be compromised as the sequence of steps cannot be changes.
 Risk management is an issue as the re-work and changes resulting from the
occurrence of a risk will be difficult to handle.
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My Health Record
Adaptive SDLC
Another approach that may be followed for the development of the systems is adaptive
software development lifecycle. It is a value-based approach that does not come with a
defined set of steps or phases. The approach is ad-hoc and the phases and their activities are
determined on the basis of the project requirements. The methodology that is applied may
therefore alter for varied projects.
The most common adaptive SDLC methodology that is currently being used in the business
organizations for system development is agile methodology. As the name suggests, it is an
adaptive methodology that offers enhanced system flexibility. The development work is
executed in sprints (iterations) and each sprint fulfils a sub-set of the overall requirements set.
The final set of objectives is achieved with the execution of these sprints unless the end-goal
is met (Townsend, Mennecke, Ashmore & DeMarie, 2018).
My Health Record is a secure online platform that is provided with a business case along with
a set of requirements. In case of adaptive SDLC, such as agile, there are short-term goals that
are made up. It gets easier to plan and achieve these goals instead of a single long-term
objective. The methodology provides the following set of benefits to the projects.
 Change management is easy and the ability to execute the changes is provided to the
project resources.
 Enhanced customer involvement in all the stages of the project.
 Better scalability and flexibility of the system with enhanced risk management.
Customers are asked for feedback at regular intervals so that they are kept involved and the
changes are highlighted in a timely manner. There are certain pros that are associated with the
adaptive methodology as listed below.
 The resources may face lack of clarity as there is no pre-defined flow or guidelines.
 There is a lack of standardization that is involved.
 System implementation may be an issue.
Recommendations & Conclusions
The pros and cons of predictive SDLC and adaptive SDLC are made in the section above.
Both of the approaches have their own benefits and drawbacks in association with My Health
Record. After analysing the features of both of these approaches and mapping the same with
requirements of My Health Record, it is recommended that adaptive SDLC shall be utilized
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My Health Record
for the system. The decision is taken on the basis of the pros of the adaptive SDLC. System
changes and risks are certain to occur during the project timeline and the probability further
enhances in a system as My Health Record wherein there are multiple technologies involved.
The implementation of adaptive SDLC, such as agile framework will handle such changes
and will allow the system to be scaled up or down. The end-users, such as patients and
medical professionals will also be asked for their feedback so that the final product is usable,
reliable, and offers rich user experience.
My Health Record is a system that is being designed with an aim to improve the quality,
accuracy, and accessibility of the health services. It shall, therefore, focus upon the system
quality by comprising the non-functional requirements as usability, scalability, performance,
and supportability in perspective. The cloud-based solutions that shall be involved in the
system shall include PaaS cloud model for system delivery and hybrid cloud model for
system deployment.
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My Health Record
References
Chung, L. (2016). Non-Functional Requirements. Retrieved 26 July 2018, from
https://www.utdallas.edu/~chung/SYSM6309/NFR-18-4-on-1.pdf
Jenkins, R. (2014). Hybrid Public Private Cloud Computing for the Media Industry. SMPTE
Motion Imaging Journal, 123(3), 56-59. doi: 10.5594/j18398xy
Lauesen, S. & Younessi, H. (2016). Six Styles for Usability Requirements. Retrieved 26 July
2018, from http://www.itu.dk/~slauesen/Papers/SixStyles.pdf
Malan, R. & Bredemeyer, D. (2010). Defining Non-Functional Requirements. Retrieved 26
July 2018, from http://www.bredemeyer.com/pdf_files/NonFunctReq.PDF
Okoli, C., & Carillo, K. (2012). The best of adaptive and predictive methodologies: open
source software development, a balance between agility and discipline. International
Journal Of Information Technology And Management, 11(1/2), 153. doi:
10.1504/ijitm.2012.044071
Pahl, C. (2015). Containerization and the PaaS Cloud. IEEE Cloud Computing, 2(3), 24-31.
doi: 10.1109/mcc.2015.51
Shaikh, A. & Misbahuddin, M. (2016). A system design for a telemedicine health care
system. Retrieved 26 July 2018, from
https://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/2077/10498/1/gupea_2077_10498_1.pdf
Singh, J., & Kaur, H. (2013). Study of Cloud Computing and Survey of PaaS and SaaS
Providers. International Journal Of Applied Research On Information Technology
And Computing, 4(2), 75. doi: 10.5958/j.0975-8089.4.2.007
Townsend, A., Mennecke, B., Ashmore, S., & DeMarie, S. (2018). An exploratory
examination of modes of interaction and work in waterfall and agile teams.
International Journal Of Agile Systems And Management, 11(1), 67. doi:
10.1504/ijasm.2018.10012516
Walraven, S., Truyen, E., & Joosen, W. (2013). Comparing PaaS offerings in light of SaaS
development. Computing, 96(8), 669-724. doi: 10.1007/s00607-013-0346-9
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