A CHALLENGE FOR HEALTHCARE WEB APPLICATIONS - From Data- to Process-Orientation

Abstract

In recent years web applications have evolved from pure data-centric towards complex process-based applications that involve multiple users, organizations and systems. Web applications in the area of healthcare have been particularly affected by this evolution. New process-oriented technologies like business process management systems were used for the development of such web applications. They facilitate the implementation of the processes by providing tools for the process design, execution, administration and integration and guarantee performance and scalability. However, most web applications are implemented conventionally and therefore, cannot take advantage from these new technologies. What they are lacking is a methodology for converting conventionally implemented, intrinsically process-oriented web applications to process-oriented platforms. In the following article, a methodology is introduced that shows how web applications may be re-engineered towards process-oriented platforms. Furthermore, the relevance of this methodology to solve the challenges arising in a concrete web application in the area of healthcare, specifically incident reporting in hospitals, is outlined.