CCTOS Common : Agent

• Objectives:
  • Definition of the generic concept of Agent from a groupware point of view.
  • Centralized management of common properties related to agent, particularly:
    • Authetications
    • Permission profiles
    • Electronic signatures
      
• Summary:
  • Derived from Item.
  • Scope:
    • Generic properties of the actors appearing in the context of healtcare projects, typically:
      • Healthcare professionals, doctors, nurse, secretaries, technicians, ....
      • Although an agent is usually a person or a group of persons, it could also be an informatics procedure, maintained under the responsibility of a person. Indeed an informatics process could also be seen as agents.
      • In principle also the patient himself or his representative, since it should be possible to provide accesss to own medical information.
      • Groups of Agents:
        • Management of groups of Agents having some common properties and to be seen as one global Agent, without knowing in advance who will be included in the group.  For example an emergency department seen as one entity, regardless who was working at a given time.
          
        • A team has an identification and a team leader, while the persons inside the team may change over time.  For example where no other details are known, the director of an hospital represent the whole hospital.
        • An important type of agent is the current care team, i.e. the group of agent in charge of the patient and having his/her agreement.  See below.
      • 
        
  • Approaches:
    • Maintenance of the properties of Agents, locally and/or in synchronization with external data bases.  Journal of modifications, including Agent responsible of the registration/modification.
    • Authentication procedures:
      • Most system need at least a password.
      • Communication should always be encrypted.
      • More advanced procedures based on a token.
      • Maybe seeking information in an external LDAP.
    • Authorization profile of the agent, i.e. what the Agent is allowed to do.
    • Management of delegations:
      • Every responsible agent should always be identified on its own.  That said delegations of authorization profiles to other Agents should be possible.  For example delegation of some tasks by a doctor to a secretary.
    • Management of aliases : 
      • an Agent may have > 1 identifications, on condition it must unambiguous.
      • Declaration of probable links between Agents, waiting to be validated a little later by a qualified authority, after verification.
      • Merge, and possible un-merge, of data belonging to the same Agent.  
    • The same physical person could have > 1 role.  This means to be seen as several independent functional Agents linked to the same physical person.
    • Responsibility issues, electronic signature.
    • ...