Addressing Terminology Service Requirements
Application providers should refer to the following sections of this guide for statements of terminology service requirements that need to be met for effective access to SNOMED CT.
- 2.3.1 Terminology Service Users
- Which notes user requirements for high performance services that provide appropriate access to SNOMED CT.
- 4 Terminology Service Types
- Which describes specific terminology services or functions that are required to enable effective use of SNOMED CT
- 3 Terminology Service Use Cases
- Which provides examples of practical use cases involving access to SNOMED CT that an application may need to complete. For each of these use cases it identifies one or more of the required terminology services that can be used to complete the required activity.
As noted in the following section, these requirements can be met either directly by the application or by use of SNOMED CT terminology services accessed through an API.
Application Options for Access to Terminology Services
Applications that require access to SNOMED CT are direct users of SNOMED CT terminology services. Organizations that design, develop, supply and support those applications can enable access to SNOMED CT in several different ways. The main options are identified in Table 2.3.2-1 with notes on the advantages and disadvantages of each option from the perspective of the application provider.
The first two options shown in Table 2.3.2-1 require the application provider to also develop and maintain terminology services. Application providers considering those options should also take a look at the notes on the Terminology Services Provider Role.
Table 2.3.2-1: Options for Application Access to Terminology Services - Application Provider Perspective
| Terminology Services Options | Advantages for Application Provider | Disadvantages for Application Provider |
| Application includes built-in functions for the terminology services it requires | - Integrated approach may simplify installation.
- No external dependency on third parties for supply or support of terminology service.
| - Application provider must create, maintain and support terminology services.
- Application provider must keep pace with any significant changes to the terminology design that impact application user requirements.
- Application provider must enable each customers with access to an appropriate version of the SNOMED CT edition that they require.
- Application may be less attractive to organizations already using a terminology server.
|
| Application uses a defined interface to terminology services provided by the same organization | - Purpose built terminology server matching to application requirements.
- No external dependency on third parties for supply or support of terminology service.
- Potential for terminology services to be licensed as a product for use with other applications.
| - Application provider must create, maintain and support terminology services.
- Application provider must keep pace with any significant changes to the terminology design that impact application user requirements.
- Application provider must enable each customers with access to an appropriate version of the SNOMED CT edition that they require.
- Application may be less attractive to organizations already using a different terminology server.
|
| Application uses terminology services provided by a specified third party | - No need to create, maintain and support terminology services.
- Less important to keep up with terminology developments (as terminology server should manage this).
- Less responsibility for ensuring customers have access to an appropriate version of the SNOMED CT edition that they require (as terminology server should manage this).
| - Application provider must maintain and support application calls to interface with chosen third party terminology services.
- External dependency on supplier of chosen terminology services for support.
- Risk of support conflicts where source of error may be the terminology services or the application
- Risk of limitations to development the chosen terminology server does not update to take account of changes to SNOMED CT or additional terminology access requirements of the application.
- Application may be less attractive to organizations already using a different terminology server.
|
Application supports use of terminology services that offer an interface that conforms to a published specification
| - No need to create, maintain and support terminology services.
- Less important to keep up with terminology developments (as terminology server should manage this).
- Less responsibility for ensuring customers have access to an appropriate version of the SNOMED CT edition that they require (as terminology server should manage this).
- Application may be more attractive to organizations already using the supported terminology service interface.
- Opportunity for customers to migrate to a different source of terminology services if their current terminology provider is not meeting their requirements or ceases to develop or support their service.
| - Application provider must maintain and support application calls to interface with third party terminology services that implement the chosen interface.
- Risk that different implementations of terminology services using the same interface may have different performance characteristics.
- Risk that different implementations of terminology services using the same interface may return different results in response to some service requests.
- External dependency on chosen terminology service providers for support.
- Risk of support conflicts where source of error may be the terminology services or the application
- Risk of limitations to development the chosen terminology server does not update to take account of changes to SNOMED CT or additional terminology access requirements of the application.
|
| Application configurable to support use of a specified range of terminology services | - No need to create, maintain and support terminology services.
- Less important to keep up with terminology developments (as terminology server should manage this).
- Less responsibility for ensuring customers have access to an appropriate version of the SNOMED CT edition that they require (as terminology server should manage this).
- Application may be more attractive to organizations already using the one of the supported terminology services.
- Opportunity for customers to migrate to a different source of terminology services if their current terminology provider is not meeting their requirements or ceases to develop or support their service.
| - Application provider must maintain and support application calls to interface with third party terminology services that implement the chosen terminology services interface.
- Risk that different supported terminology services may return different results in response to some service requests.
- Risk that different supported terminology services may return different results in response to some service requests.
- External dependency on chosen terminology server for support.
- Risk of support conflicts where source of error may be the terminology server or the application
- Risk of limitations to development if the chosen terminology server does not update to take account of changes to SNOMED CT or additional terminology access requirements of the application.
|