Conmergence

Eclipse Open Source Software and OMG Open Specifications Symposium, Wednesday, June 25, 2008

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Eclipse and OMG have jointly organized a one-day symposium to promote and build on the partnership between Eclipse's open source software and OMG's open specifications. The symposium is organized as a series of presentation sessions and discussions on corresponding OMG specifications and Eclipse projects. In each case the purpose will be to discuss the alignment between current specification and implemented software, and identify areas where the cooperation could be further improved in the future.

This symposium is a unique opportunity to participate in shaping the joint future of the Eclipse Open Source community and the OMG Open Specifications community. Please join us for a day of stimulating technical planning and discussion.

AGENDA
09:00-09:45	Introduction & Symposium Overview Kenn Hussey, Program Manager, EA/Studio, Embarcadero Technologies, Inc. Co-chair, Eclipse/OMG Symposia Program Committee
09:45-10:45	Session 1: MetaObject Facility (MOF) Presentations by: Hajo Eichler, Senior Architect, ikv++ technologies ag Pete Rivett, CTO, Adaptive Discussion
10:45-11:00	Morning Refreshments
11:00-12:00	Session 2: UML & Profiles Presentations by: James Bruck, Software Developer, IBM Dave Carlson, Architect, David Carlson & Associates, Inc. Discussion
12:00-14:00	Lunch & OMG Plenary Presentations
14:00-15:00	Session 3: Queries/Views/Transformations (QVT) Presentations by: Victor Roldan Betancort, Researcher, Open Canarias S.L. Eduardo Victor Sánchez Rebull, Telecommunications Engineer, Open Canarias S.L. Discussion
15:00-15:30	Session 4: Object Constraint Language (OCL) Presentation by: Christian W. Damus, Software Developer, IBM Discussion
15:30-15:45	Afternoon Refreshments
15:45-16:45	Session 5: Ontology Definition Metamodel (ODM) Presentations by: Elisa Kendall, CEO, Sandpiper Software Francisco Jose Marquina Muñoz, Software Engineer, Push the Button Discussion
16:45-17:00	Wrap-up / Next Steps Ed Merks, Senior Technical Staff Member, IBM Toronto Software Lab Eclipse Modeling Project Lead

IBM Opens New 3D Virtual Healthcare Island on Second Life

Interactive environment displays IBM’s vision for consumer-driven healthcare

ORLANDO, FL - 24 Feb 2008: IBM (NYSE: IBM) debuted at HIMSS®08 its newest island in Second Life: IBM Virtual Healthcare Island.  The island is a unique, three-dimensional representation of the challenges facing today’s healthcare industry and the role information technology will play in transforming global healthcare-delivery to meet patient needs. 

The island supports the strategic healthcare vision that IBM released in October 2006, entitled, Healthcare 2015: Win-Win or Lose-Lose, A Portrait and a Path to Successful Transformation.  The paper paints a picture of a Healthcare Industry in crisis – of health systems in the United States and many other countries that will become unsustainable by the year 2015.  To avoid “lose-lose” scenarios in which global healthcare systems “hit the wall” and require immediate and forced restructuring, IBM calls for what it defines as a “win-win” option: new levels of accountability, tough decisions, hard work and focus on the consumer.

The IBM Virtual Healthcare Island is designed with a futuristic atmosphere and provides visitors with an interactive demonstration of IBM’s open-standards-based Health Information Exchange (HIE) architecture.  Working with project leads in the U.S., the island was designed and built by an all-IBM-India team.

Starting from the patient’s home, they create their own Personal Health Records (PHRs) in a secure and private environment and watch as it is incorporated into an array of Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems that can be used at various medical facilities.  As they move from one island station to the next, they experience how the development of a totally integrated and interoperable longitudinal Electronic Health Record (EHR) is used within a highly secured network that allows access only by patient-authorized providers and family members.

Patient avatars arrive and are welcomed at the Central Park and then visit a Central Information Hub, where IBM’s view of the healthcare industry and the power of information technology to transform it are presented.  An amphitheater on the Hub’s second floor provides an area that can support virtual meetings, complete with a large video screen and accompanying slide presentation on IBM’s HIE architecture and the positive impact that this technology can have in the transformation of the Healthcare Industry.

Visitors can then walk, fly or use transporters to visit the various island stations:

• The Patient’s Home:  In the secure environment of a private home, patient avatars can initiate a PHR and populate it with their personal health characteristics and clinical history, accessed and downloaded from physician EMR data.  They can also establish privacy and security preferences as well as health directives.  The ground floor demonstrates secure messaging with providers and activates the initial PHR.  Using a transporter to move upstairs, patients use home health devices to take weight, blood pressure and blood sugar readings in the privacy of a bedroom, further incorporating this information into the PHR, which is shown on presentation screens. 
• The Laboratory: This stop offers laboratory and radiology suites to help avatars extend their understanding of the benefits of  HIE.  Here, patients can check in at a Patient Kiosk and have blood work and radiology tests performed. The use of EHRs – revealing only appropriate portions of the PHRs -- shows how consumers can also benefit through cost and time savings.
• The Clinic: Patient avatars transport or walk from the Lab to the Clinic, where a welcome from their primary-care physician awaits.  A combination of scripting and information screens supports simulation of a patient exam, after which an electronic prescription is generated, and the continued development of the EHR is explained on nearby screens. 
• The Pharmacy: Here, avatars can check in at a Patient Kiosk that simulates the verifying of drug information.  They then receive their prescriptions and update their PHRs/EHRs with new medication data.  The HIE architecture demonstrates how use of PHR/EHR technology can prevent consumers from purchasing medications that are contra-indicated given the medicines they presently require, as well as alerting them about potential drug-to-drug interactions.  The PHR/EHR is again updated.
• The Hospital: In this futuristic, three story structure, avatars arrive for a scheduled visit with a specialist.  Physicians’ offices, patient rooms and exam rooms are all simulated here. 
• The Emergency Room: Avatars can chose to experience a virtual emergency by “touching” a specially scripted control.  This engages a medical episode and a ride on a fast gurney directly into the private and secure emergency treatment area, where a special screen is programmed to reveal the full incorporation of the PHR to ensure proper treatment.

“We are pleased to offer our IBM Virtual Health Island as a tool for our healthcare customers and our worldwide sales force.  The island allows each healthcare stakeholder to envision how the total system can be affected by intercession at each juncture of the healthcare delivery process,” said Dan Pelino, General Manager, IBM Global Healthcare & Life Sciences Industry.  “We believe that the use of our new virtual world provides an important, next-generation Internet-based resource to show how standards; business planning; the use of a secured, extensible and expandable architecture; HIE interoperability; and data use for healthcare analytics, quality, wellness and disease management are all helping to transform our industry. “

IBM’s Healthcare & Life Sciences (HCLS) Industry will continue to develop the new island in months to come.  The island can perform as a virtually “always on” demonstration tool for IBM’s sales personnel.  A video version of the island is also under production.

IBM believes in the significant promise of virtual-worlds technologies far beyond today's usage: the next evolutionary phase of the Internet. IBM is helping clients and partners to conduct business inside virtual worlds and to connect the virtual world with the real world through a richer, more immersive Web environment. 

Second Life is a 3D online world created by Linden Lab, a company founded in 1999 by Philip Rosedale, to create a revolutionary new form of shared 3D experience.  Last October, IBM and Linden Lab announced their intent to jointly develop new technologies and methodologies based on open standards that will help advance the future of 3D virtual worlds.

OASIS Members Demonstrate Interoperability of XACML Access Control Standard in HITSP Health Care Scenario

San Francisco, CA, USA; 7 April 2008 — At the RSA Conference today, members of the OASIS open standards consortium, in cooperation with the Health Information Technologies Standards Panel (HITSP), demonstrated interoperability of the eXtensible Access Control Markup Language (XACML) version 2.0. Simulating a real world scenario provided by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the demo showed how XACML ensures successful authorization decision requests and the exchange of authorization policies.

"XACML is widely regarded as the standard for solving complex access control problems in the enterprise," noted James Bryce Clark, director of standards development at OASIS. "Today's demo shows that XACML can play a key role in health care. By successfully enforcing fine-grained access control decisions to protected health information, XACML meets HITSP's requirements for security and privacy."

"We're pleased to work with OASIS on addressing the very sensitive issues related to the access of patient information," said John (Mike) Davis, standards architect with the VHA Office of Information in the Department of Veterans Affairs, and a member of the HITSP Security, Privacy and Infrastructure Technical Committee. "XACML helps ensure that patients, physicians, hospitals, public health agencies and other authorized users share critical information appropriately and securely."

Intalio|On Demand Launched, First Ever Open Source BPM Suite as Service

<ed.note>Ismael Chang Ghalimi, CEO, passed this PR piece to me:</ed.note>

Lowers Barriers to Adoption for BPM Projects

PALO ALTO, Calif. — April 1, 2008 — Intalio, Inc., the leading Open Source BPMS company, today announced Intalio|On Demand, the first open source Business Process Management System delivered as a service. Intalio|On Demand is available by signing up at www.intalio.com/on-demand. The subscription for the service starts at $1,500 for each dedicated server, and includes bandwidth, licenses, maintenance, and support. Users can receive a free 5-day evaluation.

The convenience of being able to instantly deploy a BPM project lowers the bar for adoption. Business users and IT analysts can get a project up and running much quicker and without the administrative concerns associated with managing the required servers. Intalio|On Demand essentially replicates the Intalio|BPMS On Premise version and includes the connectors for Salesforce.com as well as enterprise applications such as Oracle E-Business Suite and SAP.

"Intalio|On Demand BPM is a fully functional, scalable, secure, and flexible enterprise ready BPM solution which will revolutionize BPM adaptability across not only large but also small and medium business spectrum," stated Srikanth Kollu, global practice head–BPM/SOA at JASS & Associates Inc. “After building some prototypes with Intalio|On Demand I was convinced that this approach was the best. We have decided to go with Intalio.” JASS & Associates develops and implements end-to-end IT solutions for clients, ranging from Fortune 500 companies to start-ups, from diverse industry segments.

Running dedicated servers on top of Amazon Web Services (AWS) ensures that Intalio|On Demand retains the highest level of security, reliability and availability possible. "The Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud is a perfect fit for porting on-premise software to a ‘software as a service’ model", says Senior Amazon Web Services Evangelist, Jeff Barr. "Amazon EC2 allows companies like Intalio to develop new distribution channels with minimal expenditure."

Using rPath as the software appliance on top of AWS increases application scalability to ensure that there is always capacity for whatever user demand is generated. Intalio|BPMS, in both On Demand and On Premise versions, supports over 100,000 different process models deployed on a single server, with over 100 million process instances running concurrently. A single server can also accommodate thousands of concurrent users. This means that Intalio|BPMS has more than two orders of magnitude greater capacity than any other BPM solution available today.

According to Forrester analyst Ray Wang in the August 2007 report titled Competition Intensifies For The SMB ERP Customer, “SaaS deployment options finally put business users in the driver's seat in software decision-making. With rapid deployment of a solution, enterprises can realize benefits in days, not weeks. Additionally, software pricing by cost/user/month enables business users to consider licenses as an operation expense instead of a capital expense. No longer do business users have to seek board approval for capital expenses or assess IT capacity. However, Forrester recommends that business units and IT teams coordinate on issues such as integration requirements, process flows, and long-term support.”*

For more information on Intalio, please visit www.intalio.com or subscribe to the RSS feed at http://www.intalio.com/blog.

Recent News

Intalio Announces Support for BPMN 1.1
http://www.intalio.com/news/intalio-announces-support-for-bpmn-11/

Informatica Signs OEM Agreement with Intalio;
http://www.intalio.com/news/informatica-signs-oem-agreement-with-intalio/

Intalio and Alfresco Integrate BPM Suite with Enterprise Content Management; http://www.intalio.com/news/intalio-and-alfresco-integrate-bpm-suite-with-enterprise-content-management/

Intalio Launches Worldwide Partner Program; http://www.intalio.com/news/intalio-launches-worldwide-partner-program/

About Intalio, Inc.

Intalio is the leading vendor of Open Source BPM and SOA software. The Intalio Business Process Platform™ empowers organizations of all sizes to develop process-driven applications faster, better, and cheaper. Founded in July 1999, Intalio is a privately-held, venture-backed company located in Palo Alto, California. For more information on Intalio, please call 650-596-1800 or visit www.intalio.com.

The Intalio Business Process Platform is a trademark of Intalio, Inc. All other names, brands or products may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Thomas Erl Sends a Pointer to the Public SOA Design Patterns Review

<ed.note>Thomas writes:

Just wanted to let you know that a galley of the new soa design patterns book is being sent out to you. The design patterns are also published at www.soapatterns.org as part of an public, industry-wide review. Please refer any of your colleagues to this site that may also be interested in participating.

Best,

Thomas

Ed. - There is much more content at the site but I provide a snippet below:</ed.note>

From the site:

NOTE: The following content is part of an industry-wide SOA design patterns review that is being carried out until January 31, 2008. This content is still subject to change and is scheduled to be finalized by March, 2008.

The Public SOA Design Patterns Review

This site is currently dedicated to a public review of 60 design patterns from the upcoming book "SOA Design Patterns" by Thomas Erl.

The author is collecting feedback, opions, contributions, and validation from professionals and practioners from around the world in order to finalize the manuscript for a scheduled publication in March, 2008.

SOAPatterns.org will subsequently remain a community resource site, containing revised, concise descriptions of all SOA design patterns and allowing for new design patterns to be published and reviewed on an on-going basis.

U.S. Department of Labor Dictionary of Occupational Titles Call for Participation

We are writing to request your assistance with an important program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) known as the Occupational Information Network (O*NET). The USDOL is gathering occupational information in an effort to better define worker and work characteristics such as knowledge, skills, abilities, activities, and work context for nearly 900 occupational categories in the U.S. economy. As the data is collected and published, it will be used by millions of employers, workers, educators, and students (http://online.onetcenter.org). Much of the information already is in use by agencies and organizations across the nation (http://www.doleta.gov/programs/onet/oina.cfm).

The O*NET program is seeking experts in the occupations of Bioinformatics Scientist, Bioinformatics Technician, and Biostatistician.  The last complete update of the Dictionary of Occupational Titles was conducted by USDOL in the late 1970s. Basic criteria includes that data be provided by individuals who have performed the occupation for at least one year, have a five or more years of experience in the notedoccupation, andhave performed in that same arena duringthe past six months. This can bepracticing, consulting, teaching, instructing, supervising, etc. A short description of the occupation currently being updated is listed below. Please use the description, not the title, to decide if you may be a good match:

Bioinformatics Scientists:  Conduct research using bioinformatics theory and methods in areas such as pharmaceuticals, medical technology, biotechnology, computational biology, proteomics, computer information science, biology and medical informatics. May design databases and develop algorithms for processing and analyzing genomic information, or other biological information.

Bioinformatics Technicians:  Apply principles and methods of bioinformatics to assist scientists in areas such as pharmaceuticals, medical technology, biotechnology, computational biology, proteomics, computer information science, biology and medical informatics. Apply bioinformatics tools to visualize, analyze, manipulate or interpret molecular data. May build and maintain databases for processing and analyzing genomic or other biological information.

Biostatisticians:  Develop and apply biostatistical theory and methods to the study of life sciences.

The Bioinformatics Organization, Inc. is asking for volunteers from our membership to assist in the collection of information about these occupations.  Please be assured that your decision regarding participation in O*NET will not impact your standing as a member of the Bioinformatics Organization, Inc..

RTI International (RTI), a nonprofit research firm, is assisting USDOL with the O*NET data collection effort.  Please send an e-mail indicating your interest to participate, including your experience, title, last name, first name, address 1, address 2, City, State, ZIP code, day time Phone number, and Bioinformatics Scientist, Bioinformatics Technician, and Biostatistician area of specialty to Ron Wandscher, Business Liaison, at rwandscher@onet.rti.org.  You can also call 877-233-7348 ext. 108.

By participating, you will contribute to a key resource providing our nation with continuously updated occupational information.  Thank you in advance for your time and effort.

Blogs a Radical Tool for Disability Community

<ed.note>A decade or so after the interweb becomes popular with the public it is discovered by "Big Advocacy". Let's see how long before they "discover" other centralizing data tools like community enabling content management, wikis and standardized financial metadata, taxonomies, etc. ( vs. "recommendations and principles" ) for NGO/NPO data interoperability purposes... A boy can dream. Of course, that's not to say that the corporate world "gets" this "meaningful data over a distributed, digital enterprise" approach, either. You oughtta ask yourself: "If it is true that 96% of firms fail within ten years, what are the 4 percent doing differently?"</ed.note>

Geolocking vs Wikis [ was Hobbs on Wharton on Wikis ]

<ed.note>Wharton@Work discovers blogs.   

Here's the Businessweek Wiki article du jour. Here are some thoughts on the opposing force -- geolocking jobs. Also see here.

Public Squares vs. Walled Gardens was one of the dichotomies mentioned in the Knowledge@Wharton piece. I argue the really significant question is -- is the wiki geolocked?:

Bill: The TN difficulty is the workplace which follows Wharton on wikis and Asinines ( the forgotten Greek philosopher ) on allocation -- workforce, that is. Making people commute in to access the wiki is missing the point. Here's hoping folks will allocate 20$ and buy themselves a clue!</ed.note>

devLink Technical Conference, October 12 - 13 in Nashville, TN

The devLink Technical Conference takes pleasure in announcing devLink 2007.  The second annual devLink event will be held October 12 - 13 in Nashville, TN.  We have assembled another all star cast of industry experts to provide the technical content you need to know.  Going beyond .NET, SQL Server and Web, devLink 2007 will add Java, Project Management/Analysis and Architecture/Design tracks.  We want your entire application lifecycle team to get quality content to make your team work better.  Take a look at just a few of our featured speakers.

Rocky Lhotka

Billy Hollis

Kevin Kline

Ted Neward

Kathleen Dollard

Rob Howard

Most major conferences with this level of speakers and content will cost you well over $1000, not including travel, lodging and meals.  Well put your credit card back where it belongs because devLink brings you all this for $50.  This is not a joke and we didn't forget a zero.  We are here to provide a major conference experience without the price tag.  Our generous sponsors help make this event possible by providing funds and resources.  Please take a moment to visit our site and tell our sponsors how much you appreciate their support.

Early Bird Promotion

As a special incentive, the first 200 people to obtain their conference pass will be eligible to win an invitation to the devLink V.I.P. dinner.  The V.I.P. dinner is an exclusive event for speakers, staff and a few lucky attendees.  This is a unique opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the top speakers in the industry.

Don't miss this outstanding learning opportunity.
Seating is limited so get your pass today and spread the word.

Get My Pass

Rachel Crutchley Surveys on Corporate Blogging Practices

I am trying to establish the effect of blogging on company's communications with their customers/stakeholders. I.e. does the fact that it facilitates two-way communication fundamentally alter the dialogue process? I am doing the research as part of my dissertation for my course MA Communications Management. It would help me greatly if you were to answer the short questionnaire below and send it to r.crutchley@londonmet.ac.uk Let me know if you require any additional information. Kind regards, Rachel

Corporate blogging is a relatively new addition to the communications mix. In what ways do you think its evolution has affected corporations relationship with their customers/stakeholders?

In your view what role does corporate blogging play in the communications mix of organisations?

In your view what is the appropriate level of blogging in a company e.g. who (what level) should blog? How frequently?

What arrangements/safeguards (if any) are in place to manage your corporate blog? E.g. are comments censored before they are made live on the site?

Do you have, or have to adhere to any kind of corporate code when blogging?

Could you briefly outline how you feel blogs add or should add to the functionality of a company's communication with its customers/stakeholders?

In your view as blogging becomes more widespread how can we ensure corporate blogs are effective and useful?

Please comment on the future of blogging and communications and anything else you feel relevant?

Please pass this questionnaire on to anyone else in your company that also blogs on the company blog.

Many thanks

hResume, Semantic Web, UDEF [ was Chuck Allen, hr-xml.org, on What Corporate IT Infrastructure Would Look Like ]

<ed.note>... if the C-Suite truly thought employees were valuable re: onboarding, compensation and succession management, etc. Update: Chuck has been looking lately at the interaction of hr-xml and microformats [1], [2], [3].

I find the timing of this of interest because the folks at UDEF are honing in on the importance of metadata. And the semantic web asserts itself in many places such as healthcare (btw, I think one semantic leap forward would be if we could all agree on how to spell "healthcare" ;-).

As businesses and organizations become increasingly global, cross cultural and cross sector, the ability to accurately portray meaning across the enterprise becomes obvious as a base level competency for the firm. It will be interesting to see if the C-Suite breaks out these competencies for remuneration, or if stockholders punish them for not doing so.</ed.note>

Rex Brooks on Collaborative Expedition Workshop #62

<ed.note>Rex is ACTIVE in many healthcare IT related initiatives, one of which is the OASIS International Health Continuum Technical Committee. He posted the following summary in a recent listserv comment:</ed.note>

Hi Folks,

I've been attending and presenting at these collaboration workshops for five years now. The first presentation I gave was at #36. It seems unreal that this was #62.

Here's the url for the workshop yesterday. All of the presentations are downloadable.

Ian Ïoster's presentation on Service Oriented Science is really important for connecting the dots of how all this health-related activity can be pulled together and work together, enabling the kind of multiplier effect we are all hoping will lift Healthcare IT from the depths of paper-anchored catacombs.

Christopher Mackie's presentation on Cyberinfrastructure supports Ian's presentation on Service Oriented Science is particularly cogent in the context of not letting go of the tiger's tail. It's a very pragmatic approach to how to ensure that cyberinfrastructure, especially in academia remains strong after initial funding dwindles. It includes references to actual software development projects.

The Trans-Enterprise Service Grid presentation was given by David Ellis from Sandia Labs, with whom I work on a regular basis in the OASIS Emergency Management TC, and it highlights both the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) as a message payload, and the Emergency Data Exchange Language Distribution Element (EDXL-DE) for message routing. Since messaging is what makes web services work, whether using SOAP or REST, the concept of the Service Grid is what makes the Service Oriented (Architecture) Science and Health Grid mentioned in the other presentations work.

Michelle Warner's presentation on the Health Grid from the perspective of the National Governors Association is another dose of pragmatism. It is a wise inclusion, since the level of state cooperation basically dictates the actual viability of all national health initiatives.

Saul Rosenberg, whose presentation highlighted the concept of the Health Grid, is HQd across the SF Bay from me, and I think I will be working with him in an associated-follow-up project to support his registry-based PTSD/Head/Brain injury early diagnosis service. I met him through Marc Wine in the GSA Office of Intergovernmental Solutions.

This wiki page is a rich set of resources, especially down in the Resources Section toward the bottom of the page.

Cheers,

Rex Brooks
<rexb at starbourne.com> 
President, CEO
Starbourne Communications Design
GeoAddress: 1361-A Addison Berkeley, CA 94702
Tel: 510-898-0670

Managing Virtual Distance - Driving Business Transformation through Distributed Work, November 14-16, 2007

The Disneyland Hotel • Anaheim, CA

THE One, THE Only Conference Focused on Strategies, Teams, Tools & Beyond in the Virtual Workplace
ANNOUNCING INAUGURAL CONFERENCE ON MANAGING VIRTUAL DISTANCE

• IDENTIFY, MANAGE & MEASURE virtual distance
• Break through language barriers & manage MULTI-CULTURAL ENVIRONMENTS
• Harness virtual KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
• Believe the unbelievable & witness the power of VIRTUAL WORLDS technology
• Transform business norms & cause cultural shifts in the way people work through SOCIAL NETWORKING
• Implement new millennium strategies that change the way we think about INNOVATION in a corporate context
• Manage, Train & Measure Productivity of the REMOTE EMPLOYEE
• Identify SECURITY CHALLENGES introduced by the transition into Web 2.0 and Web 3.0

To Register:
E-mail register@iirusa.com
Call 888.670.8200
Fax 941.365.2507 
Visit http://www.iirusa.com/virtual

The New World of Work
Daniel W. Rasmus
Director of Information Work Vision – MICROSOFT

Virtual Distance Under High-Stress
Honorable Jerry MacArthur Hultin
President – POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY & FORMER UNDER SECRETARY OF THE U.S. NAVY

Global Projects vs. Traditional Projects
Karan Sorensen
Chief Information Officer – JOHNSON & JOHNSON PHARMACEUTICAL R&D

Legal Issues & IP Protection
Michael S. Mensik
Partner – BAKER & MCKENZIE

Virtual Worlds Technology
Philip Rosedale
Founder & CEO – LINDEN LABS

Secrets of High-Performance Distributed Teams
Cynthia C. Froggatt
Author of “Work Naked: Eight Essential Principles for Peak Performance in the Virtual Workplace”

Leadership in the Digital Age
Charles H. House
Executive Director – STANFORD UNIVERSITY, MEDIA X LAB

A Perspective From Corporate Resources
Ann Bamesberger
Vice President of Open Work Services – SUN MICROSYSTEMS

More here.

15th Enterprise Architecture Practitioners Conference, July 23-25, Austin, TX

Agenda here.

If Congress Can't Understand the Decrease in STEM Students

<ed.note>it is, in part, because CIOs are being paid to down-salary and geo-concentrate tech-related gigs and the folks intelligent enough to enter STEM classes are also intelligent enough to use this new-fangled world wide web thingie and read about. Informed, market forces can be very efficient re: incenting activity.

The comments at one posting on this reality ( "This is all about containing costs. There are more than enough well trained US citizens available to fill these positions." and "There are lots of other professionals with elite qualifications (and sometimes experience) that would love to join the revolution. What about using technology to employ people where they currently live?" ) reinforce for me the inconsistency of the fedgov's lack of policy to encourage firms which make software to enable the distributed, digital enterprise, which the fedgov buys, to adopt the work over ip paradigm, especially at as time when politicos "make hay" over e85 ( noone dares mention it is in part because of all that commuting folks are doing ).

Any currently running Green politician out there willing to make "the work over ip paradigm as default position" part of their campaign speech? "e-nable first, then e85." How would that play with the Iowa server farmers?</ed.note>

Shift Happens

here.

Transformation & Innovation 2007 May 21-24, 2007, Washington, DC [ Update ]

Program and Registration here. Session presentations here.

Update: e-Builder [ was AEC Industry Volunteers Sought for XML Development Project ]

Update:

e-Builder, a leading provider of web-based capital project management software, will support the agcXML Project as a member of the Review and Validation Committee. The Project aims to define a standard for the exchange of construction project information among all building design and construction professionals. This standard will facilitate the efficient transfer and exchange of information by standardizing the data nomenclature used among AEC stakeholders. Additionally the agcXML Project will formalize a set of XML data schema to transfer this information across different technology platforms.

# # # #

AGCxml Project:
The agcXML Project is an industry-wide initiative funded and led by Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) and managed, under a contract with AGC, by the National Institute of Building Sciences. The goal of the project is to enable the efficient and reliable exchange of electronic construction project information among all building design and construction professionals. While building information modeling (BIM) is designed to facilitate the electronic exchange and the effective use of information about a building facility throughout the life cycle of a building facility, the agcXML Project focuses on transactional data--which may or may not be "building information"--that architects, engineers, contractors, subcontractors, material suppliers, and building owners typically exchange during the building design and construction process. For more information, visit www.agcxml.com. See also http://www.iai-na.org/agcxml/main.php

# # # #

Sep 1, 2006 - Cadalyst.com

Effort led by Associated General Contractors of America aims to facilitate exchange of digital construction data.

AGC (Associated General Contractors of America) yesterday extended a nationwide invitation to architects, building owners, contractors, engineers, material suppliers, software developers and subcontractors to serve as volunteer members of a Review and Validation Committee for its AGCxml Project.

The AGCxml Project is an industrywide, AGC-led initiative aimed at enabling the efficient and reliable exchange of electronic construction project information among all building construction and design professionals. The project, managed by the National Institute of Building Sciences under a contract to AGC, will result in a set of XML (extensible markup language) schemas that will enable design and construction professionals to exchange electronically the information contained in common construction and communication documents, such as owner/contractor agreements, schedules of values, requests for information, requests for proposals, architect/engineer supplemental instructions, change orders, change directives, submittals, applications for payment and addenda.

HR-XML Certifications Expand Globally

The HR-XML Consortium announced today that it has awarded certifications to CareerJunction, Manpower France, and Volt Information Sciences, Inc. The award for Volt Information Sciences, Inc. was a renewal of an earlier certification. The certification for Manpower in France is in addition to an earlier certification granted to Manpower. The certification for CareerJunction is the first awarded to that company.

... Other HR-XML Consortium certified companies are: Acxiom Information Security Services; American Background; Applicant Insight Limited, Inc.; BenefitsXML Inc.; BrassRing; Business Information Group (BIG); Candidate Manager Ltd; CareerBuilder.com LLC; Certiphi Screening, Inc.; ChoicePoint; ClearStar.net; deverus; eWork Exchange Inc.; ExecuTRACK Solutions; Fidelity Investments; First Advantage; The Gallup Organization; HireDesk; HireRight; HR Services, Inc.; InfoMart; IntelliCorp; JobFlash; Jobpartners Ltd.; Justifacts Credential Verification, Inc.; Lawson Software, Inc., Manpower; MetLife Inc.; milch & zucker; Monster; MrTed Limited; onTargetjobs; Oracle; PeopleBank; Peopleclick; Questionmark; Resume Mirror, Inc.; SHL Group PLC; SHPS; Sovren; Sterling Testing Systems; Taleo; Truescreen, Inc.; Unicru; USA-FACT; USIS; Valtera; Volt Information Sciences, Inc.; and Vurv.

The Era of the Inclusive Leader

By Chuck Lucier, Steven Wheeler, and Rolf Habbel, strategy+business

As turnover levels off, our annual CEO succession study shows chief executives and their boards adopting new survival strategies.

Welcome to the era of the inclusive chief executive officer — a very different species from the “imperial” CEOs who roamed the corporate landscape not so long ago. Whereas imperial CEOs answered only to themselves, the power of today’s CEO is not as absolute: Boards of directors are becoming more critical and more closely involved in setting strategy, and are far more likely to insist that CEOs deliver acceptable shareholder returns (as well as demonstrate ethical conduct). Indeed, the data indicates that boards are increasingly prepared to replace CEOs in anticipation of disappointing future performance, instead of merely as punishment for poor past performance. At the same time, large shareholders like hedge funds and private equity firms are taking a more active role in decisions that were once the sole purview of the CEO.

Who Fetches Coffee? - Internships move online

<ed.note>Apparently somebody knows about Results-Only Work Environments.</ed.note>

Friday, June 8, 2007, by Amy Hoak, MarketWatch

Last school year, Matthew Hanzelka did an internship with a financial planner, helping develop a monthly e-mail newsletter and taking on special projects while finishing coursework at Texas Tech University in Lubbock.

But his wasn't a traditional type of internship, complete with a small workstation in an otherwise unused corner of an office. All the work was completed from the comfort of the house he and his roommates lived in, and he mainly communicated with his boss through e-mail and telephone.

College students across the country are beginning to embark on summer internships, often one of their first chances to apply concepts learned in the classroom to an actual workplace. Increasingly, however, defining the office casual dress code isn't necessary, as some interns aren't making regular appearances in the office at all.

Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity Call for Papers

By Alice Lipowicz, washingtontechnology.com

The Homeland Security Department is initiating an ambitious Cyber Security Research Development Center program that entails soliciting input from industry, government labs and academia on how to protect data against the latest threats and intrusions.

IBM Gives Free Resources To Manage ACORD XML Standards

NU Online News Service, May 21, 2:41 p.m. EDT

Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM said today it will offer free technical resources to help insurers better access, integrate and manage ACORD standards-based XML data across the enterprise.

Database administrators and software developers running IBM DB2 9 data server software can now view an interactive demo and download a new DB2 pureXML industry bundle that includes scripts and examples at no charge, IBM explained.

The company said this will help insurers to begin seamlessly managing both conventional relational data and ACORD XML messages without having to reformat the XML data for consumption outside of the database.

A Vendor Challenge For Electronic Health Record Use Case - Semantic Interoperability Using Universal Data Element Framework (UDEF)

<ed.note>Update: a listserv conversation which may be informative to folks just becoming famliar to the UDEF EHR initiative.</ed.note>

...Approving extensions to the UDEF requires approximately a six week process once we have a set of proposed extensions ready for the review and approval process. The list ... represents that proposed list. We are trying to establish a subset of the Electronic Health Record extensions that will allow the vendor community to build products based on those extensions plus the entire approved UDEF that they can demonstrate at a future Open Group Conference. The goal is to allow us to establish a suitable schedule and associated press release announcing the vendor challenge.

To add the content of HL7 or LOINC to the approved list will require participation from experts in the two standards. Participation means mapping those standards (as data element concepts) to the UDEF and submitting the proposed extensions (as required) to the list. Collectively, the members of the UDEF Project are encouraging subject matter experts to take an active role. Up to this point in time, Arnold [ van Overeem of Capgemini ] and I have been creating sample mappings in the medical area to help educate those who have recently joined this list. I may be wrong, but I suspect that it will require many months to map the entire HL7 and LOINC standards to the UDEF.

We (The Open Group UDEF Project) are facing a chicken and egg dilemma. We need the vendor community to build products that will enable organizations such as the medical community to map their standards to the UDEF. At the same time we need participation from major domains such as medical to demonstrate the value that UDEF can bring. The vendor community needs a potential large market such as medical and the associated data integration with Electronic Health Records to help them justify their effort. We are hopeful that a subset of the medical domain vocabulary will be sufficient for the vendor challenge and that it will allow the vendors to demonstrate the UDEF’s value toward the goal of supporting Electronic Health Record integration.

Except for FDA, I didn’t realize we had a US focus. However, if we have, then perhaps it is to help us stay focused on those topics that apply to the Electronic Health Record initiative that is a US initiative. Future extensions can address organizations that are other country counterparts to the FDA.

I hope this answers your questions and hopefully encourages subject matter experts to take an active role in the process.

Ron Schuldt
Chairman The Open Group UDEF Project
ron.l.schuldt at lmco.com

See also:

April 25, 2007 presentation by Ron Schuldt, Chair, The Open Group Universal Data Element Framework (UDEF) Project.

My New York Times Best-Selling Business Strategy Comic Book Series

<ed.note>This is a placeholder post.</ed.note>

A Good Friday for Post-Congregationalists

<ed.note>I listen to audiobooks when possible ( fwiw - I like audible.com, store.audiotech.com, summary.com, some others ). It is interesting to me that the two recurring themes that stand out for me in the business management meme are the importance of servant leadership in the C-Suite ( including the ability to put your ego and vision on the shelf when circumstances dictate that that it is prudent ) and listening to the consumer ( and actually spending money on aligning your business practices and processes { yes this means ACTUAL I.T. capex spending [ over airplanes, race cars and yachts ] and employee education, eg - requiring that every employ be both tech and biz savvy, usually involving the statistical data warehouse and open comments on public facing web properties }).

Bill Kinnon captures this same spirit as applied to the tradition ecclesiastical structural deafness in the land at his ongoing posts found here.

A personal aside and hypothesis: you might think that US denominations exist for theological reasons -- in fact, I would offer, it is to keep otherwise uninsurable ministers in affordable health insurance plans. Go ahead -- ask your minister/pastor/priest -- and then ask if anyone in the congregation can get the same deal. Then ask them why not.

Oh, and if you are wondering what I think the resolution to all this angst is going to be -- ( it's going to be a shocker coming from me ;-) -- apply the Pauline edification imperative ( I Cor. 14:3-4 ) -- via a globally distributed, open stance model -- as the default answer to every discussion ( as opposed to the rote "congregational meeting drivification for 30 minutes to discuss something that should have been wikied" response ). Start there...</ed.note>

CORE Competencies

Providers, Hospitals Can Now Access Consistent Health Insurance Coverage Information in Seconds

New CAQH CORE Rules Dramatically Streamline Administrative Healthcare Data Exchange

Washington, DC – (April 3, 2007) - Healthcare providers and hospitals can now access in seconds consistent eligibility and benefits information required to verify patient health insurance coverage thanks to new standard business rules developed by the CAQH Committee on Operating Rules for Information Exchange (CORE).

Currently, provider practice staffs often spend hours researching and making follow-up calls at significant cost to obtain and verify insurance information. The CORE rules, which build on the HIPAA eligibility (X12 270/271) transaction, make electronic administrative data communications seamless, streamlined and predictable, regardless of the technology – in many cases eliminating the need for practice staff phone calls.

This significant improvement was made possible because nearly 20 leading health organizations have begun voluntarily exchanging patient administrative data in accordance with the CORE rules. Those organizations are ACS EDI Gateway, Inc.; Aetna, Inc.; athenahealth, Inc.; AultCare Corporation; Emdeon Business Services; Emerging Health Information Technology; Health Net; HTP, Inc.; Mayo Clinic; McKesson Provider Technologies; MedAvant Healthcare Solutions; Medical Informatics Engineering, Inc. (MIE); Montefiore Medical Center; NaviMedix, Inc.; Passport Health Communications; Siemens Medical Solutions; and WellPoint, Inc. and its 14 Blue Cross and Blue Shield-licensed subsidiaries.

All of these organizations recently completed CORE certification testing, a process ensuring that their IT systems and products comply with the CORE rules. They join The SSI Group, Inc., which was the first healthcare organization to receive CORE certification seals. More than 50 million Americans are covered by the health plans now using the CORE rules.

“Quick access to reliable patient insurance information eliminates a huge administrative headache for all healthcare providers,” said William F. Jessee, M.D., FACMPE, FACPM, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Medical Group Management Association. “All of the CORE-certified organizations and those seeking certification are to be applauded for taking a bold step to fix an age-old problem.”

CAQH launched CORE to simplify eligibility and benefits data transactions, promote better health plan/provider interoperability and improve provider access to administrative information. CORE’s vision is provider access to eligibility and benefits information before or at the time of service using the electronic system of their choice for any patient or health plan, effectively reducing administrative burden and costs. To date, the voluntary industry-wide CAQH initiative has brought together nearly 100 industry stakeholders – health plans, providers, vendors, CMS and other government agencies, associations, regional entities, standard-setting organizations and other healthcare entities – to collaborate on the rules.

“Interoperability should be at the heart of any long-term solution for improving healthcare administration,” said Bob Greczyn, CAQH Board chairman and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina President and CEO. “The CORE rules are a revolutionary step toward that goal. They are a foundation and model for all health plan/provider electronic administrative communications.”

Several other healthcare entities, including Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina; Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Tennessee; GHN-Online; Health Plan of Michigan; MedData; NoMoreClipboard.com; the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; and VisionShare, Inc. are committed to CORE rules compliance by no later than June 30, 2007.

“Today’s announcement is the product of a unique collaboration in healthcare administration,” added Jay Gellert, Health Net, Inc. President and CEO, and Chair of the CAQH Administrative Simplification Committee. “Adoption of the CORE rules by these pioneering organizations proves that the industry is actively contributing ground-breaking solutions. We encourage all organizations with an interest in insurance verification to pursue CORE certification as soon as possible.”

The CORE rules were recently included in the Health Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP) Consumer Empowerment Interoperability Specifications as part of a national model for populating and maintaining robust patient insurance information in patients’ personal health records. CORE’s second set of rules, expected to be announced later this year, will address additional eligibility components (X12 270/271) and claims status (X12 276/277), both of which are addressed under HIPAA.

More than 20 organizations have endorsed the CORE rules, including Accenture, the American Academy of Family Physicians; the American College of Physicians; the American Health Information Management Association; CalRHIO; Claredi, an Ingenix Division; Edifecs, Inc.; the eHealth Initiative; Foresight Corp.; the Greater New York Hospital Association; the Healthcare Financial Management Association; the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society; the Medical Group Management Association; Michigan Public Health Institute; Microsoft Corporation; MultiPlan, Inc.; NACHA - The Electronic Payments Association; Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP; the International Smart Card Alliance Council; URAC and the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange.

About CAQH
CAQH is a catalyst for healthcare industry collaboration on initiatives that simplify and streamline healthcare administration. CAQH solutions help promote quality interactions between plans, providers and other stakeholders, reduce costs and frustrations associated with healthcare administration, facilitate administrative healthcare information exchange and encourage administrative and clinical data integration. Visit www.caqh.org for more information.

Our People Are Our Greatest Asset - If Only We Could Trust Them

Updates: Senators Push for More Telecommuting, Telework Exchange Study Reveals Majority of Federal Telework Coordinators Spend 25 Percent or Less of Their Time on Telework, World Needs 4 Million Healthcare Workers, American Telemedicine Association in Nashville, May 13-15, 2007

PR via http://www.govtech.net/

"Forty-four percent of federal employee respondents to the survey, conducted by CDW Government Inc., indicate that they have the option to telework -- up 6 percent from 2006 -- while just 15 percent of private-sector employee respondents have that option. During the past year, telework growth in the federal government also outpaced the private sector: 35 percent of federal teleworkers started teleworking, compared to 10 percent of private-sector teleworkers."

Please see also "New Technology, Old Habits", by Moon Ihlwan and Kenji Hall, BusinessWeek - "Despite world-class IT networks, Japanese and Korean workers are still chained to their desks"

<ed.note>In addition to greater telework ( isn't it time to adopt "Work Over IP" or some such - does anyone really still use dial up? ) adoption, one of the areas I've anticipated from the "hr-xml-ish" world has been the idea of objective competency measurement, especially of the type that could be integrated into professional services human resource management tools. Tom Schmidt of Resumefit suggested that by completing the Workplace Big Five ProFile ( assessment at no cost, and review the results ) that this process can accurately measure 54 competencies. They also provide a digital signature to benefit HR which guarantees that the resume hasn't been tinkered with afterward.</ed.note>

UML & AADL 2007 Call For Papers

Workshop held in conjunction with ICECCS07, the twelfth IEEE International Conference on Engineering of Complex Computer Systems, July 14 , 2007 Auckland, New Zealand

The first OMG sponsored “UML & AADL“ workshop was held in ENST Paris (Telecom Paris) last year. The workshop was focused on embedded real-time software intensive systems that are usually found in the avionic, vehicular control and aerospace fields.

The workshop had clearly a main concern which was to determine what architectural levels would be better described with UML as opposed to AADL and vice versa, how to use these two standardised languages together (integrating them using an MDA approach, e.g.: TOPCASED).

Now that the AADL standard is completed with a behaviour annex proposal which enables a description of the functional aspect of components, other concerns have naturally stood out, e.g.:

• How to better formalize the design
• How to specify functional and non functional properties of AADL components
• How to ensure predictability with a prior checking of certain properties
• Verification upon the system model given by AADL
• Which parts of the MARTE UML profile can be incorporated into an AADL PSM without over-complicating the language
• How to maintain the non-functional properties and aspects of the design throughout the whole software engineering process

Administrivia - Churches Almost Rediscovering Polis

<ed.note>It is interesting to me that movements whose rhetoric places a high premium on precedent ( in this case the "patterns" of the new testament ) can go so long without realizing that they are missing the most basic ones ( in this case the earliest churches use of 'members in a polis' { city/town/environs }, rather than 'congregation', as a way to describe their organizational nature ). The earliest churches might meet in several synagogues, house churches, meeting spaces like schools, etc., and were often referenced "geographically" rather than "edificially." Only later were some homes converted to "churches", and other buildings built. Folks who study the Pauline tradition see that while he was concerned with "the worship service" he was more often concerned with edification, whereas our concern today is gathering so that the pulpit minister can strong arm the congregation for a contribution for the latest building program. These fellas are apparently unaware of scheduled direct deposits. I'm waiting for churches to discover that the globally distributed free open source software development related tools and model likely would have been adopted by Paul if he were teaching today. Unfortunately, the "freer education pattern" doesn't quite stack up with that other common church-related revenue collecitng mechanism - the church-sponsored school/college/univeristy. Coordinating outreach work at a mega-community level with leaner structures and greater tech savvy is a "pattern" which should be more widely considered.</ed.note>

Chris Bailey, East of England, on the use and funding of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in the UK Voluntary and Community Sector

here.

Model Driven Architecture for building the HDR and CDS [ HELP!!! I am writing an AMIA paper ]

Ken Rubin passed this notice to various listservs on behalf of Bo Dagnall:

Subject: Wow. The deadline for AMIA submissions for 2007 is in 9 days. Eric and Gloria are expecting me to submit a paper about the HDR and related technologies. I thought the most interesting topic would be Model Driven Architecture for building the HDR and CDS. These papers are supposed to be 5 pages. I can probably write 5 pages on this topic fairly easily, but in order for to be considered a good article, it needs to reference other printed material. I did a search on Pubmed for Model Driven Architecture and found no relevant results. I did another search on JAMIA (Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association) and found no results. I did some Google searches and got results, but the results didn't appear to be related to the healthcare informatics field.

Can anyone help by pointing me towards some printed material (peer reviewed journals in biomedicine preferably) that is relevant? Also, would anyone consider co-authoring and potentially co-presenting with me on this topic?

Here is the abstract that I wrote:

Abstract

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is pursuing an ambitious endeavor to modernize their electronic health record system by re-hosting or reengineering the clinical applications that make up VistA (VHA Information Systems and Technology Architecture). One of the objectives of this endeavor is better portability, interoperability and computability of clinical data. An enabling component for this objective is the creation of an integrated and consolidated Health Data Repository

(HDR) capable of persisting and managing standardized clinical records for the entire veteran's population. Another core constituent facilitating data interoperability is an enterprise-wide, standard VHA Health Information Model (VHIM) providing standard data definitions, semantics and constraints so that data can be represented consistently across all components of the VHA's future electronic health record system. The novel approach used in the VHA is to make the information model computable by using Model Driven Architecture (MDA) techniques to generate implementable models and artifacts specific for different technology implementations; including the auto-generation of parts of the internal architecture of the VHA's HDR.

Bo Dagnall
HDR Architect and CDS Team Lead
801.588.5224
bo.dagnall@va.gov

Nonprofit Sector Non-Self-Regulation

<ed.note>Still no mention of xml or xbrl or universal charts of account. The appearance of transparency without the power of it. No apples to apples peer comparisons to determine which programs are efficient or wasteful. According to ModernHealthcare: "An Internal Revenue Service inquiry into not-for-profits’ executive compensation found widespread disclosure errors and raised “considerable concern” about loans to directors, officers and key employees, according to a summary of the findings. Of the roughly 1,200 tax-exempt organizations initially surveyed by IRS, including hospitals and health systems, more than 30% were required to amend annual IRS filings, the Form 990. The initiative, under way since 2004, included a second wave of closer examinations for 782 tax-exempt organizations, which resulted in proposed penalties totaling more than $21 million against 40 individuals or not-for-profit subsidiaries for excessive compensation or failure to properly report pay, largely among private foundations. Of the second raft of examinations, 10% remain open."</ed.note>

On 2/28/07, Panel on the Nonprofit Sector <info@nonprofitpanel.org> wrote:

Read the second draft of the principles on self-regulation.

We are pleased to report that the Panel has posted on its website the second draft of the principles for effective practices developed by its Advisory Committee on Self-Regulation. It is now seeking comments on the second draft from a broad audience.

Nearly a year ago, the Panel on the Nonprofit Sector appointed a special Advisory Committee on Self-Regulation to assist in developing recommendations for strengthening the self-regulation of charitable organizations. Last month the Panel called for comments on the initial draft of the principles, which the Advisory Committee created after examining more than 50 self-regulation and accreditation systems that monitor different types of charitable organizations. Members of the nonprofit community responded with more than 125 comments, and the committee and the Panel utilized them extensively as they revised the principles.

Because of the value of the those earlier suggestions, the committee now invites you and others in our community to comment on the second draft of the principles, which are posted on the Panel's website. The committee will be considering all comments submitted by March 30, 2007, before making its final recommendations to the Panel. The Panel will consider the committee's proposals and issue its report on strengthening self-regulation in the nonprofit community in late Spring 2007.

We look forward to hearing from the many voices in the field commited to improving practice in the nonprofit community.

Sincerely,
Diana Aviv
Executive Director, Panel on the Nonprofit Sector
President and CEO, Independent Sector
Panel on the Nonprofit Sector, 1200 Eighteenth Street, NW, Suite 200
Washington, DC 20036 | 202-467-6120 phone | 202-467-6101 fax
www.NonprofitPanel.org

UDEF and Electronic Health Records

Ron Schuldt writes:

For those who have not read the President’s Health Information Technology Plan, I recommend that you see the following 

I offer the following based on my assumption that an individual’s electronic health record will include topics such as:

Electronic Health Record Information (identification)

Patient Information (identification, address, phone number, date of birth, gender)

Primary Care Doctor Information (identification, address, phone number)

Insurance Coverage Information (identification, address, phone number)

Medical Conditions (identification and time period)

Medical Treatment Process (identification and time period)

Medical Treatment Substances (identification and time period)

Assuming the above topics and probably others are expected to be an integral part of an individual’s electronic health record, I offer the following UDEF names and IDs for each topic. Note: Proposed UDEF extensions are in italics

A standard SOA paradox

Adam Michelson, guest commentary, http://searchwebservices.techtarget.com

What would service-oriented architecture be without standards? Not much. But is it any better off with the large number of SOA standards that exist? Java and the Java EE are feeling the backlash of a specification that is too complex with too many standards, as simpler scripting languages are making ground. SOA will suffer the same backlash if the number of SOA standards and specifications continues to grow in number and complexity. We already see the emergence of very simple REST Web services as IT professionals look for clarity through the morass of SOA standards. Simplicity is the pathway to adoption.

It is not easy to stem the tide of the creation of SOA standards. Many times the creation and support for standards is political, with certain standards backed by software vendors that have their own agenda. The standards that survive give their creators leverage, so the result is no shortage of standards being created and trying to be the fittest. Given the proliferation of SOA standards, there is an opportunity to take a step back and provide some perspective on all the SOA standards that exist. That is the purpose of this series of articles.

We will explore the key SOA standards and try to identify which are likely to be adopted. Unfortunately this is not an easy task. Identifying only the most popular standards is not a popular thing to do as there will be a few that may feel snubbed for not being included. But there are so many SOA standards that exist and they are changing constantly, so discussing them all is practically impossible. The different versions of all the standards compound the complexity. This article still lists almost 70 individual standards, way too many for the average IT worker to be expected to keep abreast of.

New Banking Innovations For Better Healthcare At Fifth National Medical Banking Institute

Current Registration Fee Extended to February 28, 2007

Franklin, TN (February 21, 2007) Join thought leaders from Harvard Medical School, the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC), the National Governors Association (NGA), the National Alliance for Healthcare Information Technology (NAHIT), Booz Allen Hamilton, PricewaterhouseCoopers, BearingPoint and many others at the Fifth National Medical Banking Institute, located at the beautiful Marietta Conference and Resort Center from March 5-7, 2007.

Register Today & Save:  http://www.mbproject.org/5MBI2007_registration.php

Our agenda outlines the emergence of an eHealth ecosystem and provides invaluable insight about how banks can assist in the national build-out for both administrative and clinical messaging.

The 1600 employer-strong Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) will chair a new Value In Health Educational Track after moderating a Large Employer Panel featuring Pitney Bowes, Wachovia and Sanofi-aventis (the third largest pharmaceutical manufacturing firm in the world). Through the efforts of a new MBProject/AIAG Joint Taskgroup on Value In Health, a delegate from the Board of the recently announced Dossia Project, that is implementing some 3 million PHRs for employees of Intel, Wal-Mart, Pitney Bowes, BP, Cardinal Health and others, is presenting and participating in MBProject's E/PHR Use Case working sessions at the Institute.

A new 'Medical Banking Blog' (MBlog) is capturing the 'Institute Buzz', and recently interviewed Roy Ramthun, former economic advisor to President Bush in the area of health savings accounts (see MBlog at www.mblog.mbproject.org ) or visit our home page at www.mbproject.org and click on ?MBlog?. Ramthun kicks off Day 2 (March 7th) of the Institute and is followed by national health IT strategist Scott Wallace, President/CEO of NAHIT, who will focus on what?s needed today to move the eHealth agenda forward. We?ll then hear a senior officer at Booz Allen Hamilton talk about the ?MegaCommunity Model? that has been used around the world to convene leaders around complex social issues.

The Institute, guided by a new President?s Council comprised of ACS, Mellon, PNC Bank, McKesson and Subimo/WebMD, offers seven educational tracks, five concurrent sessions, insightful plenary sessions with industry leaders, workgroups focused on the 'HSA Accumulator' and bank-driven E/PHRs. Attendees include high level executives from leading banks, financial services firms, healthcare stakeholders, privacy and consumer groups and others.

The Exante Networking Reception at Brumby Hall and Gardens provides an exceptional forum for networking with colleagues.

The National Medical Banking Institute is proud to recognize its sponsors. For more information about each firm, please click on the link provided below.

-- Educational Grantor: Exante Financial Services www.exantefinancialservices.com

-- Platinum Sponsors: Sanofi-aventis www.sanofi-aventis.com; ACS www.acs-inc.com

-- Gold Sponsors: Fifth Third Bank www.53.com; PNC Bank www.pnc.com

-- Silver Sponsor: Cerner www.cerner.com

Our Speakers:

--Ann Mond Johnson, President, Subimo/WebMD

--Bill Marvin, President, CEO & Founder, InstaMed

--Bob Nay, Director, Financial Services Convergence, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida

--B.P. Fulmer, President, Medical Banking Institute; Executive Director, Commercial EDI, ACS

--Brian R. Kelly, Director of Finance & Business Dev., University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Strategic Business Initiatives, Incline Healthcare Solutions

--Christopher Queram, President & CEO, The Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality

--Dan Johnson, President & CEO, SearchAmerica

--David Harris, National Healthcare Revenue Cycle Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers

--David Hom, Human Resources ? Strategic Initiatives, Pitney Bowes, Inc.

--David McCallie Jr., MD, VP, Medical Informatics, Cerner Corporation

--Dean Mason, President, UnitedHealthcare/Exante Bank

--Devika Kumar, Associate VP, Revenue Cycle Services, QHR

--Eric Racine, Pharm.D., Associate VP, Employers & Quality Associations, US Managed Markets, Sanofi-aventis

--Isaac S. Kohane, MD, Ph.D., Assoc. Professor of Pediatrics & Health Sciences & Technology, Director, Children?s Hospital Informatics Program, Children?s Hospital, Harvard Medical School

--James Dean, Sr. Manager, Financial Services Practice, BearingPoint

--James F. Kragh, Founder, President & CEO, Good Health Network

--Joseph A. Fortuna, M.D., Medical Director, E&C and AHG Divisions, Delphi Corp/Automotive Industry Action Group

--John Casillas, BS, CT (ASCP), Chair, Medical Banking Institute; Executive Director & Founder, The Medical Banking Project (Keynote)

--John Hardin, B2B Product Manager, SOA/Business Integration, Sun Microsystems

--John Lindquist, President & CEO, Electronic Warfare Associates, Information & Infrastructure Technologies

--June St. John, CTP, Sr. VP, Treasury Services, HSA Produ