Access to Environments

The Ministry of Health offers a number of environments for organizations developing interfaces to health information exchange systems operated by the ministry. The purpose of each environment and the requirements for connecting to them are listed below.

Sandbox Environment

The sandbox environment uses non-production data, and allows developers to test their system's ability to connect and integrate with the ministry health information exchange systems. Prior to access, organizations are required to:

• Review the complete set of conformance standards
• Understand what is required for sandbox access
• Understand what is required for production access
• Agree to appropriate usage of the sandbox environment
• Sign the Vendor Participation Agreement
• Acquire a dedicated network circuit and configure access
• Submit registration forms (e.g., Vendor Registration form); and
• Configure their system for a secure connection to the sandbox environment

Conformance Environment

The conformance environment is used to evaluate an organization's fulfillment of the conformance standards. Access to the conformance environment is granted for the duration of the evaluation, which is typically five days. Prior to access, organizations are required to:

• Conduct a conformance self-test prior to requesting a conformance test and accessing the conformance environment; and
• Configure their system and securely connect to the conformance environment

Training and Production Environments

The training environment uses fictitious data and is used by organizations when training users on their application's functionality. The training environment is to be used on an on-going basis for all training sessions pre- and post-deployment. Training data and test data are not permitted in the production environment.

The conditions are the same for both the training and production environments. Prior to access to either environment, organizations are required to:

• Successfully pass the conformance evaluation and receive certification
• Understand the support model for production systems; and
• Configure their system and securely connect to the environments