The need for developing this product was born out of multiple implementations of HL7 Interfaces that Eutech has carried out. The information gathered during repeated testing such as errors that were generated and the users concerns in handling HL7 interfaces, prompted us to develop this tool.

The HL7 send data routines:

• Collect the required information from the application database
• Format information in the required HL7 format
• Send messages to receiving applications
• Handle data errors, transmission errors, communications medium errors and receiving application errors

The HL7 receive data routines:

• Receive messages from the sending application
• Process the message and update the associated database tables
• Handle data errors, transmission errors, communications medium errors and sending application errors

The Architecture has been built to support the currently common ASCII format and socket communication. It also caters for other forms of data manipulation like XML as well as other means of communication like queues. The entire messenger layer is common across all implementations. A Messenger Layer Interface API is provided with samples on how to use these API’s. The Service Manager and Business Layer interface is also documented to ensure that the required interfaces are implemented by the business layer. This architecture ensures that any new implementation of the HL7 interface requires only the Business layer, which is application specific, to be customized.