Take advantage of DataFirst’s long years of experience migrating data. Our careful approach to assessing, planning and executing successful migrations ensures that you’re kept up to date at every step while your data are safely and securely migrated.
Our approach
1. Kickoff Meeting
At the beginning of the project, a Kickoff Meeting is scheduled to introduce the migration concepts, identify responsibilities, discuss any specific concerns, and assign action items. This meeting represents the first review of the Customer-supplied details about the Source and Target systems, its networking environment, and overall project expectations. Once implementation details of the project have been determined, we schedule an installation and begin preparations for on-site activities.
2. Project Analysis & Technical Review
The project analysis process is started within five business days after DataFirst receives the completed Migration Documentation Package from the Customer. DataFirst will analyze all project related information to identify any potential areas of concern that need to be addressed by the project members.
The analysis includes tests for project complexity based on the quantities, sizes, and attributes of the Customer Data and equipment. It also determines the approximate number of batches (if applicable) that will be required to access all of the data during the course of the project. The analysis summary report includes estimates on sequencing, batch management, and project lifecycle.
3. On-site Installation
After all connectivity issues are reviewed, resolved, and approved, a Migration Engineer from DataFirst will be scheduled to complete the installation of the DataFirst migration server within 15 business days. This migration server will communicate with the Source system, the Target system, and the DataFirst factory throughout the project. The on-site objectives include the following:
- Meet with the person(s) who will provide details about site-specific coördination
- Verify the DICOM configuration setup on the Source and Target systems so they will allow communications with the migration server
- Determine the Customer-supplied broadband access path from the migration server to the Internet
- Verify connectivity to all necessary systems
Typically, the on-site installation requires less than one day.
4. Migration Schedule & Database
The migration process provides an automated “data pipeline” wherein data flow between the Source and Target systems proceeds at a controlled rate. To ensure normal, uninterrupted clinical access to the Source system data, the installation process includes setting the transfer rate (duty cycle) and schedule of the migration process. This allows the migration to be slowed or stopped during clinical work hours and increased during non-clinical time.
After all of the connectivity issues have been resolved and verified, DataFirst will start to build its migration database—a comprehensive DICOM structure including the patients, studies, and, if available, the series information from the Source system. This process involves sending DICOM C-FIND commands to the Source system to find all patients, and then creating a database of those patients on the migration server. This process typically can take place during an overnight query, but may run longer depending on number of patients and response times from the Source system. This database will be used throughout the project for migration tracking and sequencing.
Further considerations
Incomplete Studies, Errors, or Stoppages
If there is an issue preventing the normal operation of the project, DataFirst will stop the migration process and provide a series of statements to the customer explaining the relevant issue until the issue is resolved or a plan of action is announced. For any image within an image Series that is not received, an error log will be created, the Series will be marked, and the Series will be requested again later. If another transfer attempt is unsuccessful, the image Series will be marked as unavailable and the image Series will not be requested again.
Project Monitoring & Reporting
DataFirst will monitor the migration process using a secured and encrypted Internet connection at a frequency that is appropriate for consistent data movement and the identification of stoppages. An ongoing backup of logs, databases, configurations, and necessary support files will be maintained throughout the project life cycle.
DataFirst will provide progress reports and initiate remedial action if problems are detected. The reporting frequency will vary with the level of project management purchased for the project and a final report will be provided as a permanent record of which patient studies were migrated by the Service.
Project Completion
After all available Data have been migrated, DataFirst will deliver a comprehensive report that includes the following information about the data that were migrated:
- The patient names and Patient IDs
- The Study dates
- The Study UIDs
- The Series UIDs
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