Aim and objectives of the tendered services

The specific aim of the tendered services is to maintain the openIMIS software distribution and to support smooth operations of existing and new openIMIS implementations. Customization to specific requirements from countries should be included into openIMIS in case of general interest and relevance. The maintenance scope includes the software components of the new modular architecture and in rare cases the migration of legacy features that were not yet migrated.

In order to achieve the aim of the project, the following objectives shall be pursued:

1. Implementers of openIMIS are supported on issues that are related to the source code of the openIMIS distribution (3rd level user support)

2. The existing code base is managed and kept up to date (software maintenance).

3. New software releases are managed and published on a regular basis (release management).

The three objectives translate directly into the following work packages that the Firm of Consultants will be expected to complete. Note that the work packages are strongly interrelated and require an integrated approach.

Tasks to be performed by the contractor

The contractor is responsible for providing the following services:

Work Package 1:  3rd Level User Support

1. Provide remote, technical troubleshooting support, based on clearly defined service level response times that reflect the sensitivity of financial transactions related to the provision of health services (initial response within 24h for requests flagged as ‘Urgent’ and 72h for all other requests).

2. Constantly monitor the public issue queue and review single issues in a timely manner.

3. Together with the implementers, discuss issues and further refine them into the appropriate channel of the change process.

4. Implement bug fixes and back ports if needed.

5. Publish all information and solutions in a timely and participative manner on the appropriate platform.

6. Support community managers, trainers and higher support levels with technical expertise. This includes support during technical workshops, capacity development activities and product presentations.

7. Maintain real-time statistics on volume and distribution of user support issues and their solutions.

8. Ensure the proper functioning of the sandbox environment.

Work Package 2: Software Maintenance

1. Proactively analyse and quality check the existing source code and propose technical changes and fixes via the issue tracker where needed (e.g. security fixes or performance optimizations).

2. Programme new functions as part of the release cycle.

3. Manage external code contributions (pull requests) and integrate them as appropriate within agreed service level response times.

4. Closely co-operate with other software development projects managed by the openIMIS Initiative and initiate changes that a smooth integration of the new components into the modular architecture.

5. Do extensive developer and integration tests, also proactively involving resources from the OpenIMIS Initiative and local implementation projects.

6. Assess all changes according to their effect on the upgrade process for implementers and on communication interfaces, especially after data model changes.

7. Document all changes in the appropriate platforms (including inline code documentation) and initiate secondary documentation changes (e.g. user manuals, translations). Where needed, pro-actively request and integrate contributions and from other software development projects managed by the openIMIS Initiative.

Work Package 3: Release Management

1. Manage the release cycle and ensure the timely delivery of new releases according to the release plan for updates regarding existing functionality (bug fixing, small functional changes) and new functionality (including changes to system architecture, interoperability and modularization).

2. Maintain the packaging mechanism that allows a full install of the software in close co-operation with other software development projects managed by the openIMIS Initiative.

3. In close co-operation with the Coordination Desk of the Product Group, coordinate user and developer communities to capture change and feature requests proactively.

4. Draft and review change requests together with the requestor and identify the importance of these change requests.

5. Approve developers contributions to source-code (pull requests) and harmonize implementation specific changes into the generic main version before every beta test..

6. Manage release priorities and identify updates to be included in a release in close co-operation with the Coordination Desk of the Product Group.

7. In accordance to the release schedule, suggest an implementation work-plan and timelines for releases to the Coordination Desk of the Product Group.

8. Ensure proper quality assurance of changes through diverse testing mechanisms regarding their functional validity, their proper integration into the main version, the performance and vulnerability of the system and the acceptance by the end users through involving the openIMIS Implementers Committee.

9. Ensure release specific documentation updates and the upgrade of the demo server to the new release.

10. Release the new version and inform all stakeholders via the defined communication channels.

11. Provide basic support to user organisations who want to install or upgrade openIMIS to a new version of the software.

Other specific requirements

a) General Conduct

The here tendered service package falls under the outcome 2: The openIMIS software is further developed with new functionalities, and in-line with security standards.

The staff members seconded by the Firm of Consultants must cooperate closely with the GIZ project officer who is responsible to BMZ for the German and Swiss contributions to the openIMIS Initiative and the programme officer appointed for this contract. All activities of the Firm of Consultants have to be done in line with and on the basis of ongoing activities of the openIMIS Initiative to achieve all programme outputs (see chapter 1.IV above).

Ongoing activities that must be taken into account and built upon during this assignment are:

1. activities of the openIMIS Initiative geared towards community building and regional support structures. This activity is supplemented by additional contracts for regional openIMIS hubs.

2. activities of the openIMIS Initiative geared towards implementation support for new scheme operators.

3. active involvement of the openIMIS Initiative in the interoperability networks OpenHIE, GovStack and the Digital Convergence Initiative in Social Protection.

Developments that may lead to difficulties in a later project phase should be identified as quickly as possible. Furthermore, in view of the focus on the results described above, results monitoring is crucially important. An efficient monitoring and evaluation system must therefore be proposed and set up that allows all entities of the openIMIS governance structure, the Firm of Consultants and the GIZ Global Programme Social Protection Innovation and Learning to monitor project progress. Progress reports are submitted quarterly based on a format which will be agreed upon during the inception. Regular feedback sessions may be convened by the GIZ Global Programme Social Protection Innovation and Learning depending on the progress of the assigned tasks. The Firm of Consultants is expected to respond to changes flexibly, especially if the project is in danger of straying from outputs mentioned in Chapter 1.

b) Previous Results in the Maintenance and Support of openIMIS

The openIMIS Initiative together with other development partners has previously supported the maintenance and support of the openIMIS product. The results include among others:

• A harmonised version (main) was created from the country specific adaptations of the openIMIS software package and migrated to a modular architecture using open source technologies and implementing international interoperability standards. It is available in a public code repository and updated regularly with recent code contributions. (https://github.com/openimis )

• A regular release cycle according to a defined change management process was established and successfully applied since 2019.

• A technical roadmap was developed as a living and constantly updated technical document based on a series of workshops with different stakeholders and ongoing technical strategy discussions. (Product Roadmap )

• Community platforms were set up as resource repositories and communication channels for the openIMIS community. A regularly maintained helpdesk was set up and established.

• A sandbox environment to demonstrate openIMIS features and its interoperability options was set up for testing and show-casing.

c) Adherence to Strategic Principles and International Standards

The openIMIS Initiative is committed to operate according to international development principles that are endorsed by the supporting GDC and SDC and correspond to the guiding principles of GIZ. The Firm of Consultants is especially expected to comply to

• the Principles for Digital Development (https://digitalprinciples.org/ )

• the Digital Investment Principles (https://digitalinvestmentprinciples.org/ )

As one direct consequence, the development towards the new modular architecture of openIMIS is oriented at standards set by

• the Business Process Framework for National Health Insurance Information Systems elaborated through the Joint Learning Network (JLN)

• the digital health architecture of the Open Health Information Exchange (OpenHIE) community of practice.

• the interoperability specification for Fast Health Interoperability Resources (FHIR) by the Health Level Seven International Organisation (HL7) 

• the emerging standards GovStack, openG2P and Digital Convergence Initiative for Social Protection

The Firm of Consultants is expected to align with the ambitions of the openIMIS Initiative to further harmonise openIMIS with those standards in terms of terminology, workflows and interoperability.

d) Integration into the Existing openIMIS Structures

The openIMIS initiative builds upon existing software for health insurance management that is being used by insurance organisations in several countries already. Although the migration of the core packages of openIMIS to the new modular architecture is about to finish and the legacy version will not be included in future releases any more, continuous support for smooth operations of those legacy implementations is still important to this commission. Besides simply operating openIMIS, these local organisations also support the openIMIS Initiative with own code developments, which need to be integrated into the core system on a regular basis.

The existing repositories, communication channels and community platforms that were established by the openIMIS Initiative shall be used. Specifically, these are

• openIMIS code repositories (https://github.com/openimis )

• openIMIS issue tracker (https://openimis.atlassian.net)

• openIMIS documentation server (https://openimis.readthedocs.io )

• openIMIS wiki (openIMIS )

• openIMIS translation platform (https://localize.com)

Within the openIMIS governance structure regular exchange meetings are foreseen for different stakeholders, some of which are also relevant for the Firm of Consultants. In the context of this commission, the Firm of Consultants is currently especially expected to take part in the weekly calls of the Developers Committee and the monthly review calls but might be invited for additional events – online or in person.

e) Co-operation with Partners of the openIMIS Initiative

In order to build a sustainable community of practice, the openIMIS Initiative is co-operating with various international partners and sub-contracting other consultants. The Firm of Consultants is expected to work together with these partners in a co-operative and friendly way, respecting and supporting the work of others and disclosing relevant information where necessary. Apart from the consultants that work on the ongoing activities mentioned in chapter 2.I.a and those who work on short term consultancies, the openIMIS initiative currently co-operates closely with other players such as the OpenHIE community, the GovStack Initiative, the Convergence Initiative and other Digital Public Good Initiatives from related sectors. Finally, it can be expected that free implementers and developers who are interested in the project want to associate and contribute to the project. The openIMIS Initiative has a special interest to nourish this kind of relations through a welcoming community culture of trust.

f) Open Source Policy

Being an Open Source project itself, the openIMIS initiative strongly supports the use of Open Source Software in the given context. The Firm of Consultants must be willing to use Open Source Software where possible and at the same time accept that the openIMIS Initiative will release any code that is being produced in the project under an Open Source Software license (GNU Affero General Public License, Version 3). For non-software products such as documentation or training materials, a Creative Commons license will be applied (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License). The Firm of Consultants is expected to avail all software and non-software products in a timely manner to the openIMIS Initiative in source versions that can be further maintained with Open Source tools without loss of product quality.

g) Data protection

In the course of the commission, the Firm of Consultants might be exposed to data on health issues and financial transactions of individuals. The Firm of Consultants is expected to treat any personal information of individuals according to the highest applicable data confidentiality standards. At the same time, the Firm of Consultants is expected to contribute to the security of individual data by applying adequate quality standards.

h) Branding

The Firm of Consultants is expected to comply to the corporate identity guidelines of the openIMIS Initiative and GIZ where appropriate. This applies especially to the use of logos, colour schemes and fonts. Existing templates for presentations or training materials have to be used.

Milestones & Deliverables

Certain milestones, as laid out in the table below, are to be achieved by certain dates during the contract term, and at particular locations: