OBJECTIVES

The Sustains project is a European Commission IT project which started in January 1997, co-ordinated by Finsiel, and which aims to support the enhancement of accessibility to health-care information systems through high friendly man-machine interaction tools, tailored on specific needs for able and unable users. 

The interest of the solution proposed by Sustains consists, in one side, on the development of the Front Office component. This software component runs on the top of the Back Office (a database system where the information is physically stocked) to assist the user in issuing correct questions to the information system using the same terms that the user uses in his day-to-day life. The other level of interest consists in the development of the Interface manager, a high- friendly interaction tool, that manages the dialogue between the Front Office and the user.

The key issue of the Interface manager is its ability to define a specific user path for each specific user analysing the replies to the first question. The dialogue path will take into consideration the ability level of each user in its relationship with the system.

The Sustains solution, through two applications installed respectively on an un-assisted public Multimedia Kiosk and on an Internet terminal, will improve efficiency and effectiveness of public interest services and will contribute to the development of the Information Society.

The application of the un-assisted Multimedia Kiosk will be running from public facilities, i.e. hospitals and chemistries, enabling unable people to perform procedures for receiving medical services : consultation of medical records, booking a visit etc. ; the Internet application will be developed, instead, on a standard Internet browser to be used at home, providing similar services.

PROJECT ACTIVITY


To realise its objectives of defining and developing tools for enhancing unable users to access information, Sustains is organised into five development phases corresponding to its fundamental objectives:

  • identification of the front-office functions;

  • description of the user interaction paths;

  • classification of the user profiles;

  • creation of an interface prototyping environment;

  • validation of the results through in-field experiments.


    • CONSORTIUM


    RESULTS

    The Sustains Multimedia Kiosk and Internet Terminal will enable people to perform procedures for receiving medical services: consultation of medical recordS, booking a visit etc. The Kiosk will be run from public facilities, hospitals, chemistries etc.; the Internet application will be developed on a standard Internet browser to be used at home.

    On the basis of the results obtained, and in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the SUSTAINS project it will be highlighted:
  • the advantages and the points of force of this application;

  • the assessment of the impact produced by the introduction of new methodologies and techniques;

  • the assessment of new opportunities in new sectors in the relevant national and international business.


    • This point will allow a better positioning of SUSTAINS in the market, both for the Internet that the Kiosk solution. The SUSTAINS functionality will be cross analysed in comparison with the other ATM/Kiosk solutions offered into the market, and the value-added of SUSTAINS will be underlined.

    The same approach will be developed to benchmark costs versus functionality of the other ATM/Kiosk models present in the market to establish the best value for money solution.

    DELIVERABLES

    Da: Kiosk and Internet Interfaces

    Db: Kiosk and Internet Front Offices

    Dc: Trials preparation

    Dd: Sustains improvement I

    De: Sustains improvement II

    Df: Final results and exploitation

    Deliverable Da: Kiosk and Internet Interfaces
    This deliverable presents the software package that realise the Interface Manager for the kiosk, provided with its library of interface components, and the specification on the Interface Manager of the Internet terminal. Also enclosed is a specification on the development state of task T21 concerning the realisation of the Front Office core software. Finally, an up-to-date representation is given of project management structure and quality assurance organisation.

    Deliverable Db: Kiosk and Internet Front Offices
    This deliverable presents the software package that realises the Front Office core, common to both the kiosk and the Internet solutions, and its integration with the Interface Manager of the kiosk to obtain the whole kiosk Front Office. At this time the kiosk Front Office is not yet connected to the Back Offices and only provided with test data. The Interface Manger of the Internet solution is also delivered with its library of interface components. A specification on the integration of the Front Office core with the Interface Manager of the Internet solution is also given.

    Deliverable Dc: Trials preparation
    This deliverable releases, first of all, the Internet Front Office obtained from the integration of the Front Office core with the Internet Interface Manager. Then, the activity spent in planning the trials execution, in preparing the host organisations and in connecting the Front Offices with the respective Back Offices is reported. In addition, the development state of task T41 concerning the realisation of the ICDT environment is specified. Finally, an intermediate specification of the partners’ exploitation plans is reported together with the results achieved so far in liaison with other projects.

    Deliverable Dd: Sustains improvement I
    The main content of this deliverable is the package constituting the ICDT tool, that is, the set of functions that support the tuning of existing kiosk and Internet interface components and the development of new ones. Moreover, a specification on the development state of the PDST tool is provided, and a first report on the progress of pilot cases execution (tasks T32, T33 and T34) is given.

    Deliverable De: Sustains improvement II
    The main content of this deliverable is the package constituting the PDST tool, that is, the set of functions that support the modification of dialogue paths and data structures of a new Front Office and the definition of new ones. Moreover, a second report on the progress of pilot cases execution (tasks T32, T33 and T34) is given, together with the achievements resulting so far from the ongoing Front Office tuning activity (task T43).

    Deliverable Df: Final results and exploitation
    The deliverable summarises the results of the three national trials and provides recommendations on the way to follow in establishing future Front Offices on the top of legacy information systems. In particular, the results from liaison with related projects are described. Conclusions from the tuning activity (task T43) are drawn. The two envisaged demo CDs are delivered and other dissemination activities are reported, in particular the Sustains workshop. Finally, the detailed exploitation plans involving the Consortium partners are presented.