Benefits and trade-offs of integration and interfacing approaches
| Benefits | Trade-offs | |
|---|---|---|
| Integration | Consistency Efficiency Integrated records and improved workflow Ease of use Costs more predictable/lower maintenance costs Single log-in | Locked into one supplier High one-off purchasing cost (as opposed to being able to gradually purchase complementary functionality) Limited scope for innovation resulting from new ways to combine software solutions |
| Interfacing | Potential to combine with other software to align with local needs More mature products and better support Best of breed Easier to make changes/smaller system Cost of creating interfaces, potentially lower than multimodular systems | Developed by individual clinical teams, cannot be supported by information technology/isolated expertise Multiple contracts with a number of suppliers Managing multiple supplier relationships Data retrieval More training required when interacting with several systems Difficulty of getting suppliers to collaborate Cost and technical challenges in creating interfaces Lack of standards |