Collaborative Requirements Development Methodology (CRDM)

PHII approaches each project by focusing on our core tenets: collaboration and achieving consensus among participants and stakeholders. In addition, we follow a well-established set of best practices designed to keep projects on time and within scope.

Among the best practices we employ is our Collaborative Requirements Development Methodology (CRDM), which gives project participants tools and a process for documenting public health workflows and defining functional requirements for information systems that support those workflows.

The videos below detail each phase of our CRDM process, and a case study is provided as an example. 

Introduction

As part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Common Ground approach, our CRDM process is used by state and local health departments to document their business processes in chronic disease management and public health preparedness. The below introductory video provides a brief overview of how this methodology is used.

 

 

Overview

The Common Ground approach is divided intro three primary areas of concentration. This overview walks through those areas and highlights key principles from each phase: business process analysis, business process redesign and system requirements.
 

Defining Processes

The business process matrix is useful for developing a model for your agency's workflows. It outlines important steps that need to be addressed when analyzing business processes. This clip explores the components of the business process matrix and how they should be incorporated into your plan.
 

 

Creating Task Flows

This video describes task flow diagrams and why they are integral to mapping out a business process.

 

 

Refining Processes

Completed task flow diagrams can make it easier to identify gaps in your business processes. Revealing those inefficiencies can help practitioners refine their processes by understanding problems areas that need to be improved.
 

 

Defining Requirements

Information systems must support your business process and activities. This video defines what it means to have clear, concise and measurable functional requirements.

 

 

Case Study

This case study examines a public health agency's preparedness and response process for the H1N1 virus.

 

Defining the Work of Public Health Together

The director of our Requirements Lab walks viewers through why it's important for health practitioners to work together and collaboratively develop requirements for public health information systems.