Agent Installation Checklist

The correct configuration and subsequent verification of the agent software is vital to ensure its smooth operation, it is a very flexible application which can be kept very simple by utilising presets (pre-defined actions) or it can afford the ability to perform more complex, finely grained tasks if required. To help facilitate the best possible installation and configuration of the agent, a list of key steps / questions are listed below that you should ask yourself when installing / upgrading and configuring the software.

The list of questions below are key to obtaining the information required prior to attempting an installation of the agent software. It is extremely important to obtain as much information as possible in order to ascertain whether the basic pre-requisites have been satisfied as well as derive a deployment scenario that best suits the business domain of the site or individual.

1. Does the organisation or individual that I am installing the agent for have a location certificate from Medicare Australia?
   • If the site does not have a location certificate, the client will need to contact Medicare Australia eBusiness Service Centre on 1800 700 199 to apply for one. More information on how to apply for Medicare location certificate can be found at http://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/provider/business/online/register/apply.jsp
   • If the site has a location certificate, does it have an email address as an attribute of the certificate?
     • If the certificate does not have an email address as an attribute, the ReferralNet client software will not be able to bind itself to the ReferralNet account.
       The client will need to complete the Request For Revocation/Suspension/Reinstatement/Renewal of Location & Individual Certificate Form, alternatively, contact Medicare Australia eBusiness Service Centre on 1800 700 199 for assistance.
   • Note: You can find out what certificates have been issued to a site / individual by using the Provider Search function available from the ReferralNet web site.
2. Does the organisation or individual use any clinical and or practice management software?
   • If yes, is/are they currently listed on our integration register?
3. What operating system(s) does the organisation or individual require the agent to be installed on and does it match our pre-requisites?
   • If it is an Apple Macintosh system, then you must use either the OSX Genie Agent or ReferralNet Client application.
4. Does the organisation or individual want to send messages, receive messages or both?
5. Does the organisation or individual have a current Broadband connection?
6. Have I read the release notes of the latest version of the agent software to see if there are some features or fixes that are of benefit to me?
   • If I have and I would like to upgrade to this release, have I downloaded and run the installer or used the Check for Updates function available in the agent about box dialog?
7. Should I install the agent to run as a System Tray or as a Windows Service?
8. Is there more than one provider practising at this site?
   • If yes, are they all using the same clinical application?
     • If yes, then have you strongly considered using message forwarding?
9. Does the organisation or individual run any antvirus software on the computers that the agent will be installed onto?
   • If yes, what products are they? (Nod32, McAfee etc)

It is imperative that this information be captured within a Getting Started with ReferralNet Form and then emailed to ReferralNet support prior to scheduling and undertaking the actual installation. Submitting the request form will ensure that the ReferralNet team is able to provide advice on the best deployment model(s) for the said site as well as making you aware of any issues to be wary of in the context of the install.

There is also a Provider List Form (PLF) that can be used to collect the provider details of each installation site, this information should be supplied by the site which is then used to create the associated ReferralNet accounts.

Below are a list of questions that you should always ask yourself prior to leaving the installation site.

1. Have I identified an SMTP server that the agent can use to send alert emails when error conditions occur?
   • If I or the site that the agent software is being installed on cannot identify an SMTP server, then consider using a free SMTP relaying service likeGmail, Hotmail, etc.
   • If I have configured an SMTP server in the Settings section of the agent, have I sent a test email to confirm that all is well?
2. Are there presets available that I can use rather than defining my own actions, if there aren't, and I will be installing many instances of the agent, have I asked for one to be created?
3. Have I chosen the right preset? If I am wanting to configure the agent for receiving a HL7 Referral message that will be consumed by a clinical application other than Medical Director (like Best Practice, Genie etc), have I selected the Save All HL7 Referrals preset and not the Save HL7 Referrals for Medical Director preset?
4. If I have configured the agent to save HL7 messages for a 3rd party clinical application to consume, have I also implemented an additional backup scheme in case this application fails to view the enclosed letter content correctly?
5. If the agent receives message types that it is not configured to receive, do I want to save them to a location somewhere rather than just ignore them?
   • If I do, have I configured the default action to reflect this?
6. Have I configured the On Failure folder to store messages when an unexpected error occurs?
   • If I have specified an SMTP server for the agent to use, have I checked the Send an email to the administrator option?
7. Have I sent a test message to confirm that the agent can successfully send and receive a message and also prove that my actions are configured correctly?
   • It is important to send the test message to the site accounts you have just configured, a neat way of doing this is by using the Windows Explorer integration option to send a sample test HL7 message.
8. Have I configured the relevant notification events on the specific ReferralNet user account profiles'?
9. Have I obtained a zip archive of the agent configuration so that I can keep it for future reference and support?, the zip archive contains;
   • Copies of all the agent logs.
   • A copy of the current agent configuration files.
   • Relevant system information of the PC/Server that the agent instance is executing on.

• Getting Started with ReferralNet Form
• Provider List Form (PLF)