General+Questions

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How do I get started?
If you have decided you would like to participate in the S&I Framework and its initiatives, your immediate first step will be to read the overview on getting started as a participant. You can do this at the following wiki page.

CET - Getting Started

Once you feel comfortable in your understanding of the S&I Framework and S&I Framework initiatives, you can proceed to complete an initial statement of commitment: Join

Where is the S&I Framework Wiki site located?
The wiki site is made available to all interested participants who wish to participate in the S&I Framework. The wiki is located at http://wiki.siframework.org. From there, a participant can sign up for specific initiatives, learn more about the S&I Framework process and S&I Framework initiatives, and join active discussions on current S&I Framework initiatives.

Where can I learn more about the S&I Framework?
The S&I Framework team has developed an Introduction and Overview wiki page where you can get an introduction to what the S&I Framework is and how it works. This page is located at:

[|Introduction and Overview for the S&I Framework]

A formal S&I Framework Process Guide is also being developed and will be made available in late-January 2011 for review and comment. The goal of the S&I Framework is to evolve its process through collaboration and transparency with the health information technology community.

**What are the goals of the S&I Framework?**
The objective of the S&I framework is to create a robust, repeatable process based on federal best practices that will enable ONC to execute on initiatives that will help improve interoperability and adoption of standards and health information technology. The S&I Framework include processes and tools that will streamline and coordinate the execution of the initiatives to support the goals of the ONC and the HITECH Act. More specifically the S&I framework will enable:
 * Linkage of objectives, challenges, use cases, requirements, and standards across the solution development lifecycle; e.g., pre-discovery, discovery, implementation, pilot, and evaluation
 * Repeatable mechanisms for harmonization and integration of existing standards as well as identification of new standards
 * Development of tools that enable consistent, robust, and testable solutions; e.g., test suite to validate an implementation against a specification
 * Integration of multiple Standard Development Organizations (SDOs) with different expertise across the solution development lifecycle
 * Leveraging of federal guidance and best practices

What is an S&I Framework Initiative?
An S&I Framework initiative is designed to focus on a specific interoperability challenge identified through a formal prioritization process.

How does an S&I Framework Initiative get started?
An S&I Framework Initiative is defined in an Initiative Charter. Initiatives are also prioritized by ONC and other advisory bodies, who will decide which initiatives will move forward through the S&I Framework.

So what is an Initiative Charter?
The Initiative Charter defines:
 * The problem statement, which should be a statement of how a standards and interoperability obstacle currently limits the achievement of a national health goal
 * The Initiative Goal and scope, which should be a statement of the value the Initiative will create, in specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound terms
 * The overall Staff resource allocation for the Initiative (for Staff Assigned Initiatives)
 * The key Initiative Deliverables
 * Key timelines, including the timeline for the Call for Participation

How can I participate in an initiative?
The S&I Framework teams have prepared an onboarding overview, known as the Community Enabling Toolkit (CET), to get new participants acclimated and up to speed quickly and easily. The checklist is located here: S&I Community Enabling Toolkit (CET)

What are the success metrics for the S&I Framework?
The S&I Framework will have measurable and planned results. In the beginning, metrics will be baselined and focused on the initial phases. Metrics will be measured on improvement over the baseline. The key to measuring the success of the framework is to measure the throughput of the framework, and the impact that it has on the Health Information Technology community.

Initial success metrics are shown below:


 * ~ Outcome Metrics || # Ability to fulfill Meaningful Use criteria and drive real business value
 * 1) Cumulative cost reduction from using Initiative outputs
 * 2) Cumulative time reduction in producing, developing or implementing Initiative outputs compared to currently available standards
 * 3) Number of artifact/output downloads from S&I Framework
 * 4) Number of use cases implemented by S&I Framework ||
 * ~ Process Metrics || # Number of participants engaged in the S&I Framework
 * 1) Number of visitors to the S&I Framework Wiki
 * Visitor volume/day
 * Time spent/page
 * Number of pages visited/visitor/day
 * 1) Participant contribution level of output development in S&I Framework
 * Lines of code count
 * Documentation contribution
 * Number of comments
 * Number of participants in consensus review
 * Number of specifications developed ||