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HIMSA Certification Policy

HIMSA Certification Policy

The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice.

HIMSA II K/S MAKES NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND WITH REGARD TO THIS MATERIAL, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTY OR SUITABILITY FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  HIMSA II K/S shall not be liable for errors contained herein or for incidental consequential damages in connection with the supply of, performance of, or use of this material.

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Copyright © 2016 HIMSA

Document Introduction and Style

This policy document is presented so that the reader can gain as much information they need or want to in regards to the HIMSA certification program.  There are more links to additional information depending on the type of product being integrated with a HIMSA product.

This document does not require technical experience.  This document is written with the assumption that the reader will fall into one of the following categories:

  • Software Business Manager

  • Project Manager / Team Leader

  • Quality Assurance department employee

  • Software Developer

Covered Products

The certification program covers both software and hardware – The general term “Solution” will be used in the rest of the documents.  The following HIMSA products are included:

  • Noah

o    General Noah (Engine) – Noah System

o    Noah 4 Compatible Business Systems (full business system)

o    WSI (Web Service Integration)

o    Noah 4 and 3 API modules

o    The certification process also covers hardware which is commonly used between many different manufacturers

  • Noahlink Wireless and NOAHlink

  • HIPRO (not a HIMSA product but included in testing)

  • Noah 4 Mobile API

  • Noah ES API

 

Certification can only be granted or maintained when related to a HIMSA supported version for a given solution. 

Goals of the Certification Program

The most important goal of the certification program is that obtaining certification represents a quality testing program.  It is very important that hearing care professionals, member companies, and HIMSA can feel that the certification program is reliable. The certification program will be continually monitored and updated to meet the ever-changing software and hardware environments.  Changes will be made to address new issues and provide the most efficient test procedures possible. 

The following is a list of goals for the certification program.  These goals provide details as to how the polices are formed.  Each item provides more details as to the goal:

  • 1.01 – Hearing Care Industry is in control

Description

Hearing healthcare companies would like to be in control of defining how to best conduct quality testing.  HIMSA and its member companies wish to promote quality testing that is represented by the HIMSA certification process.

Preconditions

There is a central authority to administer and track test results (e.g. HIMSA)

Rationale / What Problem Does This Solve

If the hearing healthcare companies are not in charge or have a significant voice, then there is a risk that other organizations will define their own test procedures that may be poorly designed or incomplete.

One quality assurance standard of integration testing instead of many.

Additional Description

 

  • 1.02 – Prevent inter solution -company problems

Description

A primary focus of the certification program is to catch problems that occur between different company solutions before the solution is in use by HCP’s.

The certification program is not meant to specify how well a solution looks or acts as long as the solution does not have bugs or design flaws that adversely impact other solutions/member companies/HIMSA.

The certification programs ultimate goal is to prevent issues defined as “critical” from occurring.  In order to be critical, it must have the possibility of adversely impacting a HIMSA or other HIMSA member company product.

Preconditions

This goal applies to solutions that are commercially available as well as in limited release (e.g. beta testing).

Rationale / What Problem Does This Solve

It is not within HIMSA’s scope to set rules for a member company on “how good” their solution is.  HIMSA’s job is to test or define tests that determine how the solution interacts with a HIMSA solution and other member company solutions.

Additional Description

Example of where HIMSA is not concerned:

A fitting module crashes if a user selects GUI A, C, and then B in certain circumstances.  The result of the crash does not impact Noah and other fitting modules can start without intervention (e.g. computer reboot).

In this case the HCP should be able to determine that this is not a Noah bug but rather a member company issue; therefore, the HCP will complain to the member.

  • 1.03 – Member companies want to avoid critical problems

Description

Members do not wish for their software to cause critical issues for other industry solutions.  They also do not wish to be impacted by another system offered by another member company.

Preconditions

The HIMSA member company is highly concerned about causing problems for other companies and believes that the HIMSA certification program will help avoid problems.  It may be that they feel they have not caused any problems in the past and do not see the need to be certified by HIMSA.

Sometimes HIMSA assumes that the size of the company has an impact.  There are some companies that have 50+ software developers with a full QA department to back them up.  Then, there are some companies with 1 developer who also conducts the QA testing.

Rationale / What Problem Does This Solve

If a member company causes a problem for another system it is often considered negative advertising for the company that created the problem.  But, sometimes both companies will disagree with who is at fault and they will blame each other.

Additional Description

Q: Is the certification program responsible for testing/certifying other solutions from non-member companies?

A: No, this is out of the scope of the HIMSA certification program

  • 1.04 – HCP’s expect conflict-free solutions

Description

HCP’s expect that the solutions they use will not cause conflicts with each other.  In a perfect world, HCP’s would like to never have a problem with software/hardware.  But what is even more difficult is solutions from different companies causing problems.

Preconditions

The solutions being used are only considered when made by a HIMSA member company.

Rationale / What Problem Does This Solve

If there is a conflict between two different companies there is often finger-pointing going on between the two companies and the HCP is confused as to what to do. They do not get the sense that anybody will fix the problem.

Additional Description

HCP’s would probably like it if HIMSA could include the certification process to guarantee 100% bug-free solutions; however, this is not the aim of the program.

  • 1.05 – HIMSA expects conflict-free solutions

Description

Just like a member company, HIMSA wants to avoid causing critical issues for member company products or be negatively impacted by member solutions.

Preconditions 

Rationale / What Problem Does This Solve

As the organization that manages the certification program, it would seem self-defeating to not support and follow its own certification program!

In rare but important cases, a member creates a critical problem for a HIMSA product but as a paying member company to HIMSA, the member company strongly suggests that the problem may not need to be addressed or addressed as quickly as HIMSA would like it to be.  It is nice for HIMSA to have well-established rules to follow in these situations, rules that are expected to be applied evenly to all companies.

Additional Description

In addition to the extensive QA testing performed by HIMSA, it does also follow the same certification procedures, examples:

 

  • Noah System tests as a fully integrated business system.

  • Noah 4 Audiogram module tests just like a normal audiogram module would.

  • 1.06 – Certification with little or no outside company involvement

  • 1.08 – Quickly Determine Certification Status

  • 1.09 – Data Integrity and Usability