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  3. Analytics FAQ

Analytics FAQ

This section answers frequently asked questions about the analytics aspect of the Ocean Provider Network.

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How do I enable contribution to a Service Request Repository?

Data contributions to a Service Request Repository allows health systems to better plan resources by collecting information about wait times and more.

Questions about data collection?

If you have any questions about the purpose of the data collection, please contact your respective Regional Authority.

To contribute data to a repository, you must enable the functionality on your Directory Listing using the steps below. If you have multiple Directory Listings, you will need to configure each listing individually.

Prerequisites

  • Log in to your Ocean site, navigate to the Admin Settings area, and select 'Directory Listings'.
  • Use the dropdown menu to select the Directory Listing for which you will enable contribution to the Service Request Repository.

  • Within the 'Regional Authority' section of the listing, enable the 'Contribute data to repository' checkbox.

    Note: If your Shared Encryption Key is not already stored in Ocean Cloud Connect, you will be prompted to do so. For instructions, please follow the steps in this article.

    The Shared Encryption Key is required as repository contributions contain encrypted Personal Health Information. Once complete, return to your Directory Listing and enable the checkbox.

  • Press 'Save Changes' at the bottom of the page.
  • Ensure that "Enable Ocean Cloud Connect" is turned on in Admin > Site Features

Warning: Removing your Shared Encryption Key

If your Shared Encryption Key is removed from Ocean Cloud Connect, the connection between your Ocean site and the Service Request Repository will be broken. To restore the connection, you must re-store your Shared Encryption Key in Ocean Cloud Connect as soon as possible.

How do I add Custom Analytic values to my eReferral/eConsult form?

Custom Analytic values can be added to your Ocean eReferral/eConsult form to capture data on eReferrals received at your Ocean site. While basic analytic information is always automatically collected under the set of Core Analytic values, you can optionally define additional analytic values for your specific purpose.

Identify your eReferral/eConsult Form

Prior to following the steps in this article, please ensure that you have identified the Ocean eForm that you are using as your referral/consult form for incoming eReferrals/eConsults at your Ocean site.

Adding Custom Analytic Values to your Referral/Consult Form

Each item in an Ocean eForm has a unique item reference. By configuring specific item references with the prefix of 'fx_' or 'ax_' for the different elements in your referral/consult form, you are able to create custom analytic reports containing the aggregate response data for the configured eForm items.

Note: Any 'ax_' item references must be chosen from the list of additional available analytics.

The steps below outline how to configure eForm items in your referral form to be used with custom analytic Export Templates in Ocean.

  • Log in to the Ocean Portal, open the Menu, and select 'eForms'.
  • Locate the eForm that you are using as your referral/consult form. Select it and press 'Edit' to open it in the eForm editor.
  • Select the specific item in your eForm that you wish to collect analytic data on, and select the 'Scripting and More' tab on the right hand side.

  • In the 'Item reference' field, provide a descriptive name for this specific eForm item with the prefix of 'fx_' or 'ax_'.

    As a simple example, if the chosen eForm item is used to collect the patient's smoking status, an appropriate item reference could be 'fx_smokes'.

  • Continue adding the appropriate 'fx_' or 'ax_' item references for each of the items in the eForm which you would like to collect analytic data on.

    Ensure that you keep track of and note the intended usage for each of the item references that you are configuring in your eForm in an organized way, as they are important when configuring your custom Export Template later on. A spreadsheet or text file is recommended.

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  • Once complete, ensure you press 'Save Changes' to save your eForm.

Once the custom analytic item reference mapping is completed in your referral form, you can proceed with creating a custom analytic Export Template. The Export Template is used to generate reports that contain the responses to the eForm items that are configured with the 'fx_' or 'ax_' prefixes.

How do I create a custom Export Template for eReferral & eConsult Analytic Data?

To capture customized data in your eReferral Analytics Export, you can make use of a custom Export Template. An Export Template allows you to define the specific analytic values that you would like to capture in your .csv export file.

As a prerequisite to creating an Export Template, you must ensure that your desired analytic values and their respective eForm item reference mapping on the referral eForm has been completed. Please review the Capturing Referral Form Analytics support article for more detailed information.

Creating an Export Template

  • Log in to the Ocean Portal, open the Menu, and select 'Admin'.
  • Select the 'Reports' option.
  • Under the 'Export Referral Analytic Data' heading, press the 'Add Custom Template' button. This opens the 'New Export Template' page.
  • Enter a name for your custom Export Template. It is recommended that the name briefly describes the purpose of this template, so that you can easily recognize it in the future.

  • The 'Column Fields' text box allows you to specify your desired column headers for your final .csv export file. Enter the specific analytic values that you would like to include in your export as columns, separated by a comma.

    Please note that the column fields must be either a core analytic value, an additional analytic value with the prefix of 'ax_', or a custom analytic value with the prefix of 'fx_'. The analytic values are case sensitive.

  • Once your column fields are finalized, press 'Save' at the bottom.

Core Analytics

We strongly recommend including Core Analytics in your customized Export Template to ensure that you obtain basic information about each referral, followed by your desired custom analytic values. The sequence in which the analytic values are entered represents the sequence in which the column headers will be displayed from left to right in the exported .csv file.

Expand the tab below for a list of the minimum recommended Core Analytics. A complete list of the available core analytics can be found in Supporting Analytics in eConsults and/or eReferral eForms.

Core Analytics Table
Analytic Value User-Friendly Name Description
referralRef Reference The unique reference number for the referral in Ocean.
referralCreationDate Sent Date The date the referral was sent OR resubmitted by the referring provider. This value may be the back-dated referral date entered on an inbound (faxed) request. It is used as the starting reference point for wait time calculations.
referralInitialCreationDate Initial Sent Date The initial sent date of the referral from a clinical perspective. This value may be the back-dated referral date entered on an inbound (faxed) request. Unlike the Sent Date, this value does not change with resubmissions.
oceanCreationDate Referral Creation Date The date the referral was created in Ocean. Could be the date it was sent in Ocean from the health map, or the date it was transcribed from fax.
modificationDate Last Modification Date The date/time the referral was most recently updated (in ISO 8601 format).
patientId Patient ID The unique reference number for the patient in Ocean. If the patient's Health Card # is omitted when the referral is sent, the patientID will not be generated.
siteNum Owner Site Number The Ocean site number of the site currently managing the referral as a receiving provider.
regionalAuthoritySiteNum Primary Regional Authority Site Number The Ocean site number for the initial Regional Authority (RA) that the referral is captured under (if it's sent to a listing under a regional authority). 
inbound Inbound Request Manually Entered by Fax/Phone/Other Flags the referral as being created as an Inbound eRequest. Will be TRUE if the referral was received by phone or fax, and FALSE if it was received through Ocean.
currentHealthService Currently Assigned Health Service The health service on the referral that is currently assigned (which may differ from InitialHealthService if someone reassigns the health service manually e.g. during triaging, or if the referral is split from a master referral)
srcSiteNum Source Site Number The Ocean site number that the referral was originally sent from. This field could be blank if referral was not sent through an Ocean site, such as via a fax.
srcSiteName Source Site Name The name of the source referral site.
referrerName Referrer's Name Referrer's Name
referralState State The basic primary status of the referral, such as "INITIAL", "ACCEPTED", "BOOKED", "COMPLETE", "CANCELED", or "DECLINED".
patientAge Patient Age The age of the patient in years, rounded down
patientGender Patient Gender The gender of the patient, can be overwritten on the form
patientCity Patient City The patient's home city.
patientPostalFirst3Chars Patient Postal Code (First 3 Characters) The first 3 characters of the patient's postal code.
sentToTestListing Sent to Test Listing Flag to indicate if the referral was sent to a test listing, or manually labeled as a test referral using the Action menu. Used to exclude the referral from analytics.

For convenience, you can easily copy the .csv-style format of these Core Analytic values by pressing the 'Copy' button below, and append your own comma-separated custom analytic values after the final value.

referralRef,referralCreationDate,referralInitialCreationDate,modificationDate,patientId,siteNum,regionalAuthoritySiteNum,inbound,currentHealthService,srcSiteNum,srcSiteName,referrerName,referralState,patientAge,patientGender,patientCity,patientPostalFirst3Chars,sentToTestListing
Copy

Custom Analytics

Custom Analytics are the user-defined analytic values that capture the response data from their respective eForm item reference mapping in the referral form. Custom Analytics must start with the prefix of fx_ with a unique name following the underscore (e.g., fx_myFirstAnalytic).

Your custom analytic values can then be included as a Column Field in your custom Export Template, and their respective eForm responses will be included in the .csv export file under the appropriate analytic value column header. It is important to note that analytic value names are case sensitive.

Generating Custom Reports

Once your custom Export Template has been saved and at least one referral capturing the desired analytic data has been received, you can obtain the .csv export file.

  • Under the 'Export Referral Analytic Data' heading, select your desired Date Type, Start date, End date, File Type, and Export Template.
  • Press the 'Export Referrals...' button to download your .csv export file.

Testing your Export Template

Any time a new custom Export Template is created, it is recommended that you generate an export after at least one test referral has been received including the desired analytic values to validate that the .csv export file is populating and displaying the data as desired.

During testing, verify that the 'File Type' is set to 'All' to ensure you are capturing referrals that have been marked as test referrals, and/or referrals that were sent from a test listing.

Editing a Custom Export Template

If you have an existing custom Export Template(s) you are able to modify it or delete the Template entirely. It is important to note that deleting a custom Export Template does not remove the eForm item references defined in the referral form.

  • Under the 'Export Referral Analytic Data' heading, select the Export Template that you would like to modify, and press the 'Edit' button.
  • The selected Template's properties will appear, allowing you to modify the template and use the 'Save' button, or delete the template entirely by using the 'Delete Template' button.

Accessing eReferral Analytics

Ocean Sites receiving eReferrals can access their Referral Analytic Data at any time, from within the Admin Settings page of the Ocean Portal. Referral analytics can also be accessed through our Ocean API. For more details, please refer to the Ocean Open API.

Since referral analytics do not contain patient health information, they are maintained indefinitely within Ocean. This means that even though the Ocean eReferrals themselves are automatically purged from Ocean over time, their analytic data will always be accessible from within your Ocean Site.

Export Referral Analytic Data

  • Log in to the Ocean Portal, open the Menu, and select 'Admin.'

    Note: You must have Site Admin access on your Ocean Site to access referral analytic data.

  • Select 'Reports'.
  • Under the 'Export Referral Analytic Data' heading, specify a Date Type.

  • Optionally specify a date range.

    You can either download data within a specific date range, view all data since you started receiving referrals to a specific date (select just an end date), all data from a specific date onwards (select just a start date), or all data since you started receiving referrals (leave both dates blank).

  • Optionally select your desired Export Template (if configured).

  • Click 'Export Referrals'. This will export your referral analytic data in a CSV file.

    A data dictionary containing detailed information about each analytic value is available for download by clicking the button to the right.

  • Referral Analytics Data Dictionary

Export Referral Messages

  • The 'Export Referral Messages' button can be used to extract detailed analytic information about messages that exist within the 'Messaging' area of each eReferral/eConsult.

    Note: Export Templates are not applicable to this export.