Draft Website - For Review Purposes Only

Messaging

The acknowledgement message that is sent by the receiving system when the message is successfully received, indicating whether the received interaction can or cannot be accepted for further processing.

Use Case

An information system or a component of an information system that produces, manages, or acts on information associated with operational activities in an organization; has a specific role, performs specific functions, and is defined in an abstract manner. Actors exchange information through standard HL7 v2 messages and can be an initiator or a responder.

Selective Adoption

An object from another version of the standard that is imported into a message profile.

Selective Adoption

The HL7 v2 version from which an object was adopted.

Constraint Type

Descriptive text that accompanies a standard element definition or concept and provides additional information pertaining to the use of the element (i.e., it is an elaboration of the concept as it relates to the use case to which it is being applied); may be associated at any defined element level in a message profile (e.g., a field).

Messaging

The acknowledgement message that is sent by the receiving system after the message is successfully and functionally processed by the receiving system.

Slicing

The HL7 base datatype for the field as defined in Chapter 2 of the base standard. The default datatype and all the datatypes flavors associated with that field must derive from the base datatype.

Standards Development

The base HL7 v2 standard.

Vocabulary Constraints

The association of a coded data element to a vocabulary. Depending on the level of the specification, the binding can be to a concept domain, code system, or value set. The HL7 v2 tables can represent any of these three vocabulary types depending on how the table is defined and used. At each specification (profile) level, the binding becomes increasingly specific, refining the data semantics of the element by limiting the vocabulary’s content to a particular set of coded values.

Vocabulary Constraints

Define allowable options for code set modifications in derived profiles. Binding parameters include extensibility and stability.

Vocabulary Constraints

Indicates the conformance of the binding, that is, whether the vocabulary must be used or not. There are two possible values: Required (R) and Suggested (S) (Recommended). All bindings are eventually required in implementations, and a suggested binding can be specified in a constrainable profile (i.e., the specification needs to be further constrained before implementation).

Constraint Type

Indicates the number of occurrences for an element by specifying the minimum and maximum bounds.

Constraint Type

A rule (constraint) used to express dependencies among a set of data values.

Vocabulary Constraints

An element with a data type definition that supports coded concepts. Examples include IS, ID, CE, CWE, and CNE and any data type flavors of coded data type definitions (e.g., CWE_01).

Vocabulary Constraints

A managed collection of codes that represent concepts used in a particular business or technical area; often there are relationships between the coded concepts.

Standards Development and Implementation

Declaration as to whether two specifications define sets of requirements that are harmonized with each other, allowing systems that implement them to work together, i.e., interoperate.

Standards Development and Implementation

The degree to which a derived specification adheres to the requirements defined in the foundational specification (standard); i.e., following the rules for adding constraints. Example of a usage compliance rule: a “required” element must remain “required” in any derived specifications (profiles).

Structure Definition

A data type that contains more than one element which can be another composite data type or be a primitive data type. Also referred to as complex data type.

Profile Construction

A profile created by combining a core profile component and one or more profile components.

Vocabulary Constraints

An abstract notion that refers to a set of related ideas (concepts) that serve to help define the meaning of a particular data element (over and above just the name of the data element).

Standards Development and Implementation

The relationship between a specification and an implementation; is an indication of how closely the software implements the requirements stated in the specification; an objective measure of how closely an implementation satisfies the stated requirements; is associated with the utilization of formal testing to verify adherence to the standard.

Implementation Guides

Defines the requirements, criteria, or conditions that must be satisfied by an implementation to claim conformance to the specification. The conformance clause identifies what must conform and how conformance can be met. This information typically is provided via a list of profiles or use cases that contain the profiles.

Constraints

The key mechanisms for profiling; include usage, cardinality, data type, vocabulary, length, content, slicing, conformance statements, co-constraint, and semantic refinement.

Constraint Type

The minimum for a maximum Length; sets the minimum number of characters that an implementation must support for an element.

Constraint Type

An explicit declaration conveyed in text or as a testable expression that defines a constraint.

Standards Development and Implementation

A rule that is applied to narrow or focus the use of an element in accordance with a use case; is the central feature of the refinement process when creating profiles, as a constraint reduces the generality of the specification and focuses it on a particular requirement; enables implementers to understand how to use the various data structures and how to populate those structures with business-relevant information in accordance with the requirements detailed by the subject matter experts.

Constraint Type

Defines the rules related to the data (value) for an element, such as a vocabulary, fixed value, or adherence to a format.

Profile Levels

Is derived from either the standard profile or another constrainable profile; it further constrains the definition attributes in accordance to the profile compliance rules; for example, a U.S. state-level constrainable profile can be derived from a national-level profile by adding more constraints for a specific state.

Vocabulary Constraints

Indicates the method used to expand a value set definition into a set of codes. An enumerated value set definition is called an Extensional definition. A value set definition that is (defined) expanded based on an algorithm is called an Intensional definition.

Profile Construction

Is used to document the common set of requirements for a profile across the set of related definitions.

Structured Definition and Constraint Type

Defines the data element structure and, at the primitive level, the type of data it may contain. Constraints include type substitution and specialization (when combined with other constraint types).

Constraint Type

The mechanism for building on a data type for constraining components and sub-components; a specialization on a base data type.

Implementation Guides

A “new” profile that is created and based on another profile. Profiling is an iterative process in which more detail is provided in each derived specification.

Slicing

The location of the discriminator element(s). The path is relative to the base datatype. All occurrences of the field have the same discriminator position. Discriminator position can be one or more elements (e.g., PID-11.6 (Country) and PID-11.7 (Address Type)).

Slicing

The content of the discriminator element. For a fixed value, the evaluation is based on a literal value. For exists, the evaluation is based on Boolean logic. For pattern, the evaluation is based on a regex (regular expression).

Messaging

An element lacking content. Indicated in er7 format for a field as ||.

Messaging

Is a general term to indicate that a conformance violation has occurred. The response to an exception is context dependent.

Vocabulary Profiling Mechanics

Indicates whether the value set definition can be extended (added to) or not in a derived (profiled) version of the specification. Extensibility can be either Open or Closed.

Vocabulary Constraints

In Content Definition, is an enumerated value set definition.

Vocabulary Constraints

A vocabulary definition created, maintained, and published by another standards organization. A specifier may reference an external table (code system) and bind that table to a data element in a message profile.

Constraint Type

Constrains the content to a single value, e.g., “A08” that indicates an update event type in ADT messages.

Selective Adoption

The version of the base standard that serves as the core (starting) version of the message definition. All objects in the message profile will comply to this version unless explicitly overridden by an adopted object.

Vocabulary Constraints

Provides an initial table identifier, code values, and certain base standard requirements. Code values defined in an HL7 table must not be redefined in a message profile; and if a concept needed for a use case is not defined, the table definition can be extended.

Profile Levels

Defines all elements such that all optionality and openness have been removed; typically, is derived from a constrainable profile, but it may be derived by further constraining another implementable profile.

All interfaces deployed in a production setting are implementable profiles whether they are documented (explicitly stated) or not documented (implicitly stated).

Vocabulary Constraints

Allows for unknown (undocumented) codes to be exchanged at runtime with impunity, because the complete code set is not known to the implementers. For a binding that supports implementation tolerance, an implementation must process unknown codes without raising an exception.

Selective Adoption

An object from the foundational version of the message profile. Indigenous objects do not have an explicit version attribute. The version of the object is the version of the Foundational Version.

Use Case

An entity (actor) that starts an action; is also referred to as a Sender, Producer, or Client.

Vocabulary Constraints

In Content Definition, is a means used to expand a value set definition into a set of codes include using regular expressions, characterizing specific attributes for a specific code system (e.g., all laboratory codes in LOINC), or using hierarchical associations that include all specializations of the codes in question.

Messaging

A conversation in which two systems or applications (generically called Actors) exchange data.

Standards Development and Implementation

The ability of implementations to exchange data and to use that data as intended to accomplish a desired task.

Usage

Content that exists and is available for a given element.

Constraint Type

Defines the number of characters that may be present in one occurrence of an element. Can specify a maximum limit or both the minimum and maximum bounds.

Vocabulary Constraints

A table with a non-HL7 assigned table-identifier that contains a set of locally or site-defined values. Local tables typically are used for elements with a CWE data type. During the process of profiling, a specifier will create and bind local tables.

Usage

A value in which at least one-character is a non-whitespace character. Two double quotes (""), which represents a “delete indicator”, qualifies as a non-empty value.

Messaging

A concept for representing “unknown” content. HL7 v2 does not explicitly provide a mechanism for null flavors; however, an equivalent outcome can be achieved for coded data elements by including a null flavor coded value in a value set.

Selective Adoption

An object from the HL7 v2 standard; can be any element (group, segment, field), data type, or table.

Constraint Type

An attribute that is used to define the presence of an element in a message definition. The openness permitted for an element; through the application of conformance rules to the base standard, the openness permitted by the base standard is restricted. Sometimes used interchangeably with “usage”.

Constraint Type

A value that constrains the content of the element based on the specified pattern matching algorithm (e.g., a Medical Record Number format). A pattern-restricted value is specified using the conformance statement mechanism.

Usage

A general term to indicate that an action must be performed and is important concept for understanding receiver side requirements. Message usage requirements alone cannot fully indicate the scope of processing requirements. Additional functional requirements for how data elements should be process can be defined.

Profile Construction

Defines a part or a certain aspect of a profile; is used to aggregate correlated requirements and/or to differentiate requirements from another profile or profile component; provides a mechanism to support a set of reusable requirements and can be applied to any construct or section of a profile. Profiles and profile components can be combined to develop and manage other profiles. A profile component in a family of profiles can be used to identify different levels of requirements for the same use case or to identify the differences in requirements for different, but closely related, use cases.

Standards Development and Implementation

The process of placing additional constraints on a message definition in accordance with defined profiling compliance rules to meet requirements stated in a use case. The terms “derived profile” and, more generically, “derived specification” are used to denote a technical documentation that is based on another technical document. Profiling is an iterative process in which more detail is provided in each derived specification.

Profile Construction

A complete message structure definition with additional constraints applied to it.

Implementation Guides

The process by which a message is sent from a Sender application to a Receiver application.

Implementation Guides

The process by which a message is sent from a Sender application to a Receiver application and one or more response(s) is sent from the Receiver application back to the Sender application.

Use Case

An entity (actor) that is reacting to the action of the Initiator; is also referred to as a Receiver, Consumer, or Server.

Constraint Type

Allows for refinement of the semantics of a data element based on the use case.

Vocabulary Constraints

A vocabulary binding in which the binding to an element is to a single value selected from a vocabulary definition.

Slicing

An attribute that determines the minimum number of occurrences that must contain "discriminator value" and, therefore, conform to “slice datatype flavor”.

Slicing

An attribute that determines the maximum number of occurrences that must contain "discriminator value" and, therefore, conform to “slice datatype flavor”.

Constraint Type

Defines a set of different constraints that are possible for a field instance (occurrence).

Standards Developer

A person who is creating the implementation guide or message profile.

Vocabulary Profiling Mechanics

Indicates whether the content of a value set might change (often the value set is dependent on an external code system that may be updated or replaced after publication of the interoperability specification). Stability can be Static and Dynamic.

Profile Levels

Represents the base standard definitions and constraints as-is and establishes the framework for a specific type of event (e.g., an unsolicited vaccination record update – VXU V04 message event). At this level, the overall structure (“template”), including the data type definitions, is established; however, the full declaration of requirements has yet to be specified, and, therefore, considerable openness still exists. Additional profiles are subsequently derived from the standard profile.

Vocabulary Constraints

An HL7 v2 vocabulary mechanism to define coded concepts. A pre-defined table has an identifier and may contain codes; sometimes acts like a code system, value set, and/or a concept domain depending on how it is defined and used. Tables in HL7 v2 have two types: HL7 Table and User Table.

Messaging

A sequence of events comprising a roundtrip conversation.

Constraint Type

Indicates requirements for the presence (appearance) of an element in a message instance, governing the expected behavior of the sending application and the receiving application with respect to the element; determines, from an implementation perspective, whether an element must be supported; from an operational perspective, usage determines whether the element must be present, can be present, or must not be present in a message instance for the sender, and for the receiver it influences the processing of the element. Sometimes used interchangeably with “optionality”.

Standards Development

Describes a system capability and the associated sequences of actions that a system performs to achieve an intended outcome; can include the actors involved, the interactions (including the message exchanges) between the actors, system functional requirements, acknowledgement requirements, and any other pertinent information that aids in the understanding of an implementer, such as example messages or message excerpts.

Can be considered a container that organizes the pieces needed to specify a system capability.

Vocabulary Constraints

Provides an initial table identifier and, in some cases, suggested code values; are recommendations and, therefore, place no initial requirements on the vocabulary definition. In a message profile, a specifier may use, extend, modify, or replace the suggested codes and descriptions.

Messaging

To place a non-empty value (noun) in an element location.

Vocabulary Constraints

The collection of codes that may be used to populate an element in a message instance; the codes usually are targeted for a specific use.

A value set draws codes from one (usually) or more code systems; the result is a set of codes that constrains the possible content of a data element. A key distinction between a value set and a code system is that a code system is used as a reference source of coded meaning, whereas a value set is a specific constraint for a set of explicit business uses.

Vocabulary Constraints

Refers to assigning a set of coded concepts to a particular data element in order to implement the concept domain associated with the data element.

Vocabulary Constraints

Provides meta data and the codes. Meta data include the name of the value set, the identifier, and value set properties ‘extensibility’ and ‘stability’.

Constraint Type

Defines the vocabulary binding and vocabulary definitions. Vocabulary indicates the allowable values (content) for a coded element. Vocabulary is a term used to convey the notions of concept domain, code system, and value set in a general sense.