Development and Release Management

Overview of Release Cycle

The section details the UK Core release cycle and how the various versions are defined.

Overview Of Cycle

The diagram below illustrates how the UK Core Release cycle works and is an abstract view of the way it is released. This is an evolving process, and the diagram only shows one release cycle of a sequence of a repeating process.

Development Cycle

Overview

The UK Core development is driven by requests for change which can come from many sources. The Change control section gives details about how this is managed.

Development Cycle

The development cycle is feed from three main sources:

1. The Clinical and Technical Assurance Process
2. Issues raised by the FHIR Community in Simplifier
3. Issues raised from HL7 UK Ballots

See the Change Control page for full details on the change control process.

Asset Types

The first part of the development cycle is to identify the type of FHIR asset(s) and any dependencies, for example if the change is to create a new profile then there will be a need to identify any related resources required such as extensions, examples, ValueSets guide pages etc. This is required to size of the development so that resources and timescales can be planned. The required changes are then added to a JIRA backlog which is used by the UK Core Development Team to schedule the development work.

Adding to a Implementation Guide

The changes will be added to either:

• The UK Core FHIR Assets in development Implementation Guide
• A UK Core C&TA Release
• A scheduled UK Core Release

Which Implementation Guide the changes appear in depends on many factors for example:

• Which release the issue was raised against
• Which process the issue was raised in (C&TA, HL7 UK Ballot etc)
• The use case that is driving the development

The Simplifier Platform Structure page gives further information about Implementation Guide types.

Internal Review

Once the change has been done the UK Core Development Team will carry out an internal review and rework as necessary until the development is of the quality required. The page on Design Principle gives more information on the principles and design of FHIR assets which are used during internal review.

External Review

There is no external review until the changes are included in a release as part of the C&TA or the Ballot process but as all development is done in the public domain and therefore feedback on any change is always possible via Simplifier.

Change Control

This section details a change control process for use with the UK Core standard. The change control process is part of the overall configuration management.

Change Control Roles

• Requester - Any individual or group/organisation requesting a change to an existing FHIR asset in the UK Core or requesting a new FHIR asset to be added to the UK Core.
• UK Core Development Team - Individuals who are involved in the UK Core FHIR assets development and/or authoring guidance contained in the UK Core Implementation Guide.
• UK FHIR Delivery Senior Leadership Team (SLT) - a group of people from the FHIR community who represent the interests of stakeholders in the UK Core.
• UK FHIR Delivery Senior Leadership Team Technical Subgroup - a group of FHIR/Interoperability and clinical subject matter experts who evaluate UK Core requests for change then triage and route them as appropriate.

Requesting a Change to the UK Core

All requests for a change to the UK Core standard must be made using the create issue option in Simplifier. Requests may be from an individual or group/organisation looking to use the UK Core for an implementation or for an issue reported by a member of the development team. The same approach is used to feedback on issues by participants in the Clinical and Technical Assurance process. For more information on how to request a change see Requests, Issues and Feedback

Issue Triage by UK Core Development Team

Issues will be triaged by the UK Core Development Team and any change other than a minor issue (for example a typo or a bug fix) will be referred to a Senior Technical lead from the SLT Technical Subgroup or discussed at the UK FHIR Delivery Board for further appraisal.

If the issue raised does not have a solution suggested, then the triage will include further analysis to establish a solution which may include several proposed technical options. If the requester has provided a proposed solution, this will need to be validated, which may result in alternative or other solutions being proposed.

The response time for issues to be initially triaged does not have a formal service level agreement in place but should be responded to in a timely manner. This is managed by NHS England as part of its role in the UK Core Development Team using the Interoperability Team's mailbox, which receives auto-notifications from Simplifier on a daily basis. The mailbox is monitored daily by the NHS England Interoperability Team and initial triage will be done within a day or two, except when the issue has been raised as part of the Clinical and Technical Assurance process.

Note: The triage of issues raised as part of Clinical and Technical Assurance process (which has a three-week review period) is done at the end of the Clinical and Technical Assurance process as a batch. This enables more efficient triage of issues and the identification of dependencies and issue duplication.

Triage of Non-Clinical and Technical Assurance process issues

The triage process for issues is not something that is a tightly defined process, but more of a discussion forum of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) where a consensus of agreement is reached about the issue and any proposed solution. The following are examples of criteria or areas that will be discussed:

• Is the reason or use case for the requested change or addition to the UK Core clear enough to triage the issue?
• Is the proposed change suitable for the use case, for example are the profiles that are being requested or requested to be changed the correct profiles for the use case?
• Is the use case already covered by another asset or set of assets?
• Is this a potential breaking or non-breaking change? This is only potential, as what is a breaking on non-breaking change can be very hard to quantify in some cases.
• Does the issue need to be referred to a wider audience or a special resource, for example a Clinical lead?

The Simplifier issue will be updated with any information that will inform the requester of progress, etc.

Triage of Clinical and Technical Assurance process issues

The triage process for issues raised as part of the Clinical and Technical Assurance process is done as a batch process by the UK Core Development team at the end of the process. The issues raised are filtered to remove duplicates or minor issues such as typos or minor technical errors. The remaining issues are taken forward to the Clinical and Technical Assurance follow up meeting for discussion, agreement and resolution.

The Simplifier issue will be updated with any information that will inform the requester of progress etc.

Approval of issue

Once a change request is accepted, the issue is added to the UK Core Backlog. The requester will be notified via Simplifier by update of the issue. The issue will not be closed at this point, only when the development work has been completed.

Rejection of issue

If a request for change is rejected, then the Simplifier issue is updated with all the information required to inform the requester why it was rejected. Further calls or emails may also be used to explain the reason for rejection, if required, depending on the complexity of the issue.

Development Backlog

The UK Core backlog is where all the development work items are recorded and tracked. The work items are maintained using a tool called JIRA. All the work items in JIRA will be traceable back to Simplifier. The development is carried out using an agile type of methodology and managed on a Kanban board. The UK Core backlog is an internal process which only the UK Core Development team have access to, however this information is mirrored in the Simplifier issues for consumption by the FHIR community. The requester will be emailed whenever there is an update to the Simplifier issue.

Current releases

Information on the current releases and the full development of the UK Core can be found within the UK Core Publication (Version) History guide.