Data Conversion in Health Care

In case of the project, the information system will undergo changes whereby new information database will be installed which require changes in the data consisting of the database. In other words, the project involves a health care which is transitioning to a new information system or the electronic health records. Importance of data conversion Data conversion is significant in the process of transitioning from the existing data formats to new ones that need changes in data formats. That means data conversion is the transferring of data from an old system to a new system (Turner, 2008). There are different types of data conversion processes that can be utilized during the transition. Besides, it is essential to determine the format that the data needs to be converted into, the extent of the digitalization, the original and final format and the tentative duration of the project.

Once all those factors have been set, the project team will have defined the boundaries of the data conversion. b) Stakeholders’ Engagement All the parties to the healthcare need to be engaged in the process to ensure that everyone understands the importance of data conversion. During a project that is affecting some certain significant changes, some employees are likely to resist change making it difficult to facilitate the process of data conversion. Engaging all the stakeholders to the healthcare involves educating them about the quality of data conversion and the impacts it has on subsequent processes that make use of the converted data. This is a process that will provide a detailed list of the data that needs to be moved to the EHRs system during the data conversion.

Important decisions need to be made about the project to getting the necessary information required by the target application that is not in the old system (Turner, 2008). For instance, user input, the default setting, and new data entries need to be addressed during this data mapping. The output of this phase will be a data mapping spreadsheet to show what is required for the new application. Secondly, the conversion team will download the programs that will be used in extracting the identified conversion data elements from the existing system (Turner, 2008). The scripts of interface programs the interface tables will help move the data to the targeted tables as well as validate the data which would have been validated in the form of the target module if the conversion was conducted manually.

An application production table in which the converted data stays needs to be developed to ensure that all data that require being converted is present in the final data structures (Turner, 2008). Besides, a test plan needs to be integrated into the conversion process to be used in comparing the original data with the converted data. Finally, a conversion execution plan explaining how the actual conversion should take place need to be developed. A Checklist for Closure of The Project The closure of a project should be given as much significance as it is implementation. Project evaluation means steering the project interventions to ensure its sustainability and longevity. Inputs will produce outputs which will have outcomes that contribute to a long-term impact.

The evaluation of a product will help in assessing the effectiveness of the plans towards long-term impacts of the project cycle. The methods in which the project can be evaluated include monitoring of the project, annual project reviews, interim and final evaluations as well as impact assessments. Monitoring of the project entails focusing on the activities and the outputs and the contribution they have on the output (Boulmetis & Dutwin, 2014). Rahschulte, T. Martinelli, R. J. Milosevic, D. Z.