TAPAS leverages jSyncManager Technology to improve Medical Practice
Communication.
TAPAS (Technology Assisted Practice
Application Suite) is an Open Source project with the worthy goal of trying to
improve data flow and communication between health care providers. It is
leveraging a number of Open Source web-based technologies to provide
calendaring, messaging, and (eventually) patient care records to health care
providers such as Doctors, Nurses, and administrative staff, in a safe and
secure manner. And the jSyncManager is playing a key role.
TAPAS (Technology Assisted Practice Application
Suite) is an Open Source project with the worthy goal of trying to improve data
flow and communication between health care providers. It is leveraging a number
of Open Source web-based technologies to provide calendaring, messaging, and
(eventually) patient care records to health care providers such as Doctors,
Nurses, and administrative staff, in a safe and secure manner. As well as the
usual web interface, however, the data (and the data content creation
facilities) is also being made available to many of the target members on
PalmOS-based handheld systems. And the jSyncManager MultiPort Server is at the core of
the handheld data interchange
system.
Phase I of the project involves calendaring and messaging synchronization. The Calendar portion uses the standard PalmOS DateBook application on the handheld, and an iCalendar data file on the server side, and is a one-way synchronization. It is being used to inform call group members of whom in their group is on call and when.
The messaging is more interesting. Due to the security needed for the messaging, message data needs to be maintained on the handheld in encrypted form. For this a custom handheld messaging application has been built (with sources available under the GPL as a part of TAPAS) , with a suite of custom jConduits to manage handheld owner information (including their encryption keys), a database of people in the group to whom messages can be sent to (and received from), and the message database itself.
All messaging and user information is retrieved via the web in XML formats (for which schemas have been defined), and is then synchronized with the handheld.
The sources for these jConduits (some of which are still a work-in-progress) are available online , and are licensed under the GPL. As the use XML and iCalendar, you should be able to fairly easily re-use these in your own projects (or, at the very least, use them as further real-world examples).
The project is also using a special custom authenticator plug-in for the jSyncManager MultiPort Server, which uses multi-factor authentication to ensure that not only the user is validated, but that the specific handheld device is validated and permitted to sync (as that user) as well.
TAPAS does have a test group of real-life Doctors who will be using its output in their daily practice, and who are already using the calendaring portion. The server is a simple Intel-based server running Ubuntu Linux, Plone , Sun Java 1.4.2 , and the jSyncManager MultiPort Server. Thus far, the stability of the jSyncManager MultiPort Server has been excellent, without a single reported moment of (unplanned or unexpected) downtime in months.
It is my hope to use this project in part as a test-case to show off the jSyncManager's capabilities. Other Open Source PalmOS synchronization solutions don't provide solutions for synchronizing a lot of handhelds at once as the jSyncManager does, and they don't share the jSyncManager's huge cross-platform binary compatibilities for plug-in conduits that the jSyncManager does, making the jSyncManager a much more attractive proposition to the enterprise market. TAPAS provides an open showcase for these capabilities, while being a very honourable and worthwhile endeavour in its own right.
So who knows? Perhaps the next time you visit your family doctor, it may just be that the jSyncManager is one of the tools being used to maintain and ensure the health of you and your family.
Phase I of the project involves calendaring and messaging synchronization. The Calendar portion uses the standard PalmOS DateBook application on the handheld, and an iCalendar data file on the server side, and is a one-way synchronization. It is being used to inform call group members of whom in their group is on call and when.
The messaging is more interesting. Due to the security needed for the messaging, message data needs to be maintained on the handheld in encrypted form. For this a custom handheld messaging application has been built (with sources available under the GPL as a part of TAPAS) , with a suite of custom jConduits to manage handheld owner information (including their encryption keys), a database of people in the group to whom messages can be sent to (and received from), and the message database itself.
All messaging and user information is retrieved via the web in XML formats (for which schemas have been defined), and is then synchronized with the handheld.
The sources for these jConduits (some of which are still a work-in-progress) are available online , and are licensed under the GPL. As the use XML and iCalendar, you should be able to fairly easily re-use these in your own projects (or, at the very least, use them as further real-world examples).
The project is also using a special custom authenticator plug-in for the jSyncManager MultiPort Server, which uses multi-factor authentication to ensure that not only the user is validated, but that the specific handheld device is validated and permitted to sync (as that user) as well.
TAPAS does have a test group of real-life Doctors who will be using its output in their daily practice, and who are already using the calendaring portion. The server is a simple Intel-based server running Ubuntu Linux, Plone , Sun Java 1.4.2 , and the jSyncManager MultiPort Server. Thus far, the stability of the jSyncManager MultiPort Server has been excellent, without a single reported moment of (unplanned or unexpected) downtime in months.
It is my hope to use this project in part as a test-case to show off the jSyncManager's capabilities. Other Open Source PalmOS synchronization solutions don't provide solutions for synchronizing a lot of handhelds at once as the jSyncManager does, and they don't share the jSyncManager's huge cross-platform binary compatibilities for plug-in conduits that the jSyncManager does, making the jSyncManager a much more attractive proposition to the enterprise market. TAPAS provides an open showcase for these capabilities, while being a very honourable and worthwhile endeavour in its own right.
So who knows? Perhaps the next time you visit your family doctor, it may just be that the jSyncManager is one of the tools being used to maintain and ensure the health of you and your family.
Posted: Wednesday - April 13, 2005 at 09:18 PM
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Published On: Aug 30, 2007 08:14 PM
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Published On: Aug 30, 2007 08:14 PM