1. Partially Populated for ADT Messages
NIST HL7 Message Maker VA
MWB
~13000 Elements
(~1200 Unique)
Data Sources
NIST HL7
Element DB
(MS Access)
[Static: Fixture Data]
[Dynamic: Patterns]
[Dynamic: Range]
[Configuration: Site
Specific]
HL7 V2
Profile (XML)
Message
Maker
Partially Populated for ADT Messages
HL7 Test
Messages
Profile based
Structurally correct
Validated
Varied
Descriptive
Suitable basis for
conformance testing
Message
Factory
(XSLT)
NIST Ref.
Data (XML)
HL7
Standard DB
HL7 Tables
(XML)
Table Data
HL7
HL7 User
User (Local)
External
User Tables
(XML)
Testing Options
Usage
Cardinality
Volume
Data Content
Length
etc.
Testing
Framework
External Tables
(XML)
NIST Created
(Configurable)
Coded Data
SNOMED
LONIC
etc.
Interface
Module
Robert Snelick
September 2004

2. NIST Conformance Testing
Reference Database of HL7 Data Items
Tool for automatic creation of test messages
based on profile (XML), reference database
message variation
Testing Framework
simulated HIS node
send and receive messages
validation (messages and state of the database)

3. Reference Database Contain sample entries for all HL7 data items
range of values
simple, complex, boundary, valid, invalid
XML format
some data created automatically
Tables
HL7 Tables
User Tables (HL7 suggested values)
User Tables (NIST created or actual)
Code Sets

4. Message Maker Creates test messages Messages based of profile
range of messages (minimal to fully populated)
variation of data values
valid and invalid
description of test purpose
Messages
Displayable as XML, ER7, Enhanced ER7
Batch file (initially)
Can be edited

5. Message Maker Features
User can create message “by-hand” (select data items from DB)
Edit existing messages
String messages together into test scenarios
Control granularity and test case types
Import database
Modify reference database

6. Questions and Issues
How important is it to have “sensible” data (e.g., a pregnant male)? Syntactically? Semantically?
Are there cases where it is important?
What are the important aspects to test? Any known problem areas?
Sources of example data; table data?
Conformance schema—add to profile?
What features should be added?
Sample requirements list?