CPHIMS System Implementation and Support Flashcards

Which document captures the agreed-upon service expectations between the IT department and clinical end users following system implementation, including uptime and response time guarantees?

Answer: Service level agreement (SLA)

An SLA formally defines the measurable service standards, such as uptime percentages and support response times, between IT and end users.

A healthcare organization plans to decommission a legacy system six months after go-live of the new EHR. What is the MOST important consideration for the decommission plan?

Answer: Defining a data archival and retrieval strategy for historical patient records

Decommissioning a legacy system requires a clear plan for archiving and retrieving historical data to meet regulatory retention requirements.

Which type of system testing verifies that a new software patch applied to the EHR has not broken existing functionality?

Answer: Regression testing

Regression testing re-executes existing test cases after a change to confirm that previously working functionality has not been broken.

An implementation team is conducting parallel testing by running legacy and new systems simultaneously. What is the PRIMARY goal of this approach?

Answer: To compare outputs of both systems and confirm the new system produces accurate results before cutover

Parallel testing compares real-world outputs from both systems to validate accuracy and build confidence before decommissioning the legacy system.

During post-go-live support, a hospital notices that system response times have degraded significantly at shift change. Which action BEST addresses this performance issue?

Answer: Conduct a performance analysis and optimize database queries or server resources based on findings

A targeted performance analysis identifies the root cause—such as inefficient queries or insufficient resources—enabling a corrective optimization.

Which activity is MOST critical during the cutover planning phase to ensure business continuity if the new system fails immediately after go-live?

Answer: Downtime and rollback procedure documentation and testing

Documented and tested downtime and rollback procedures ensure the organization can revert safely if critical failures occur at go-live.

A project manager is tracking implementation tasks using a Gantt chart and discovers that a delay in interface build will push the go-live date back by two weeks. The interface task is on the critical path. What should the PM do FIRST?

Answer: Analyze options to crash or fast-track the interface build to recover the schedule

When a critical path task is delayed, the PM should first explore crashing (adding resources) or fast-tracking (overlapping tasks) before rescheduling go-live.