Project Structure & Results 
Print Print Page

Work Plan

The project work plan is divided into five major tasks or project work domains (PDs), which in turn consist of several work packages (WPs).



PD1: Analysis and Evaluation

The objective of this project work domain is a pan-European analysis of architecture, implementation and all technically relevant features of national solutions. Moreover, an evaluation of the pilot will be carried out in order to assess the necessity of transferring patients' data within the European healthcare system.

Also part of this PD is the work package ‘Dissemination’, which is responsible for communicating and disseminating the progress and the results of the project in a targeted manner to a broad audience and to defined target groups having professional contact with eHealth services, as well as to cooperate with the CALLIOPE Thematic Network on appropriate dissemination activities.

PD1 consists of:

To top To top


PD2: Legal and Regulatory Issues

This PD deals with identifying all necessary permissions and regulatory clarifications in each member state (MS). Recommendations for legal and regulatory change shall be delivered in order to eliminate barriers and facilitate epSOS Systems in participating MS and beyond.

PD2 consists of:

To top To top


PD3: Specification and Implementation

Project work domain 3 consists of ten different WPs. The main goal is to find a definition of the functional service requirements for the epSOS System. Best practice in NHS connecting for health output-oriented specification is to be taken as the starting point. Furthermore, similarities and differences between patient summary and ePrescription content (medication) structure and requirements should be established and the functional relationship between them should be specified.
This work will result in:

  • Architecture design
  • Component specifications
  • Interoperability framework specifying requirements at each level to ensure interoperability of each component.

The 4th WP of this PD deals with services, which can be combined to create cross-border electronic health services. These common services will consist of the following:

  • Common Security Service supporting for secure transport and authorization and secure use of patient consent,
  • Common ID Service for transformation between different ID mechanisms,
  • Common Semantic Service for translation between different codes, classification and terms used in the different member states,
  • Common Integration Services for the integration of the cross-border services with the existent national infrastructure.

The 5th WP of PD3 defines the semantic services necessary to achieve computable semantic interoperability with regard to the Patient Summary and the ePrescription. The ultimate goal is the communication of processable meaning while maintaining the structures and contents of the original documents or datasets in each country. This will be achieved by building a pivot document or a model of a dataset based on commonly adopted definition, content, vocabulary and structure.

The WP Identity Management is responsible for finding solutions regarding international, compatible, and interoperable solutions on three levels:

  • Person identification / patient identification,
  • Healthcare provider identification incl. identification of persons (health professionals) working in entities with more than one employee,
  • Rights management: definition of rights, definition of rules and procedures for health professionals.

Another task within this PD is the development of a clear definition of the Security Specification, the "National Pilot Setup and Development Guide" and the Pilot System Components Specification. Ultimately, a methodology for testing, comparison and selection will be established and agreed upon. This methodology will include interactive steps enabling modifications on the basis of test results. The result of the entire procedure will allow identifying prototypes, compliant with specifications, which will be used for implementing pilot sites at MS/local level. The MS level will ensure the selection of a provider in charge to set up interoperability instruments according to national procedures and regulations (i.e. call for tender).

PD3 consists of

To top To top


PD4: Field testing

This PD copes with field testing by, for instance, specifying test scenarios including site choice. Moreover, each MS participating in field trials ensures certain preconditions and prepares for introduction and operation of the field trial in that MS. This work package shall support the transfer of commonly developed prototype or laboratory applications into real pilot sites. It takes into account the local or regional responsibilities for setting up the pilot sites and managing the interaction with users (health care professionals and patients).

In addition, the set of preconditions on the site level preparation, particularly the definition of testing site (facility) criteria - such as the site (facility) size, major scope of available specialisations, level and quality of network and its administration, existing inside processes, connectivity, demographical factors (cross-border migration region) as well as the need of educable staff, equipment and place demand should be taken into consideration. Finally, healthcare providers are recruited from the specified regions. Patient groups are to participate together with healthcare providers or individually.

The pilot is implemented at each site specified in the scenario. Site-level, MS level and EU level activities are included. Operation Phase I of the pilot begins with a subset of final users, final tests are carried out and the pilot expanded to all selected users. Operation Phase II is reached when pilots are operated at MS level. ePrescription and Patient Summary services are provided according to the test scenarios. A help service will be established to deal with problems raised in service use by medical personnel and patients. Maintenance and updating of all components is an ongoing activity.

PD4 consists of:

  • WP 4.1: Specification of test scenarios including site choice
  • WP 4.2: Preconditions and EU / site level preparation
  • WP 4.3: Pilot implementation (EU, national, local)
  • WP 4.4: Operation

To top To top


PD5: Project management

The main objective of this PD is to provide the overall coordination of the project work, to oversee the administrative and technical management tasks and to chair the relevant decision-making committees.  The technical project management will attend to the operational management of the project. It plans, coordinates, monitors and controls the project schedule, the project team and the project in its entirety. The project will be subdivided into several sub-projects with independent subproject leaders. The administrative management is to prepare and deal with all administrative matters.

To top To top