Tricks of the Trade: First Class Denizens of the Universe (Part 3 of 3)

Contributed by: John Sharpe, President, Comstock Software, Inc.

In Part 1 of this series, we wrote a report to keep an eye on our use of Meditech Server Resources. In Part 2, we looked at a way to keep server resource usage to a minimum. In Part 3, we look at an important NPR change control problem and solution.

One evening you’re dining on the town, you jump as your cell phone rings unexpectedly. It’s the Help Desk; seems your new NPR report in the ED is crashing. Your plans for the evening fade away like an ice cube on the sidewalk on a summer day. Hours later, you discover the problem with the report. It seems you forgot about a macro that is called when the patient is under 2 years old. This code never made it LIVE. How could this have been prevented?

One of the great things about NPR is the ability to execute code from just about anywhere (report title, custom fields, footnotes, line attributes & macros). When your report goes LIVE, you want to make sure all relevant code has been accounted for.

Don’t you wish there were a better way than manually combing thru the report? Want the good news? There is a better way. Download your NPR Source Code to a text file on your computer.

Use the NPR Report Parser @ http://comstock-software.com/NprSourceParser.aspx.

Use the Browse button to find your NPR Source Code. Click the Parse File button to identify the reports and code associated with your report.

You now have a list of reports and macros referenced in the report you’ll be moving live. By moving all of your code live at the same time, you’ll avoid that call from the Help Desk for the ED.

John Sharpe is President / NPR Consultant at Comstock Software, Inc. John hosts the ‘Meditech NPR Report Writing’ blog at http://comstock-software.com/blogs/npr/ where you can learn and read more about NPR Report Writing.