Introduction

This document provides further information in support of the Change Management and Roadmap Content ancillary document and should be read in conjunction with that and the relevant parts of the Catalogue Agreement.

The ancillary document describes:

• the Capabilities and Standards Model within the operation of the Catalogue Agreement
• the nature of Catalogue changes and the Roadmap
• the manner in which changes will be made to the Roadmap
• the management of Urgent Change within the Catalogue
• the provisions associated with Managed Capacity
• Opportunity Items and associated change.

This page sets out additional detail which builds on these descriptions, in particular regarding the information to be included on the Roadmap, versioning of Standards and Capabilities and the processes of the Catalogue Authority in managing change. 

Change Management

Definitions

Lifecycle of Standards and Capabilities

All Standards and Capabilities will go through a lifecycle of Draft to Published to Effective and therefore at any given time (represented by "Day 'X'" on the diagram below) there will be a set of Draft specifications, a set of Published specifications and a set of Effective specifications. The diagram below represents this.

If and when a Standard or Capability is replaced or superseded, it will be given a status of 'Retired' and moved to a new area of Confluence such that it is clear that it is no longer current.

Definitions of Draft, Published, Effective and Retired are included in the table above.

Principles

This section describes a set of principles governing the assessment, management and commissioning of changes to Standards and Capabilities and the Roadmap.  The approach to managing change requests which is being adopted by Digital Care Services includes the following:

• A single gated point of entry point for all change requests relating to Digital Care Services Solutions in order that Suppliers should only receive requests for system change from a single source 
• A fair, objective and consistent approach to assessing change requests which includes a balanced and comprehensive set of assessment criteria 
• A more flexible approach to elaboration, commissioning and delivery of change supported by appropriate commercial mechanisms
• Splitting up larger work items into smaller deliverables to ensure that capacity is not wiped out by a single large initiative
• More opportunities for innovation and collaboration
• More opportunities for the wider market to reduce burden on Suppliers with a greater market share
• Ensuring that Suppliers and wider stakeholders are engaged throughout the change process
• Ensuring that change relating to key strategic priorities and objectives for the wider NHS is delivered in a timely manner
• A Standards and Capabilities Roadmap which presents a single overarching view of all changes which need to be delivered and the opportunities available to Suppliers
• Consultative governance forums and arrangements to ensure Suppliers are fully engaged in the process, are aware of their ongoing obligations and have the opportunity to support the shaping of wider strategy and process improvement

Standards

Draft and Published Standards may be associated with an Effective Date by which all relevant Suppliers are required to have achieved compliance.

Where a Standard is Published but does not have an Effective Date, Suppliers can choose to implement this as a way to differentiate their product and gain market advantage in advance of any Effective Date which may subsequently be set. These items are included on the Roadmap as they would bring benefits to end users and the wider NHS if implemented, but do not currently fall within the key strategic priorities. Any given Framework Authority or Agreement may however choose to incentivise compliance.

NHS Digital will generally aim to agree and set the Standards which are to become Effective during the life-cycle of a Framework in advance of that Framework in order that Suppliers can plan and account for any required development capacity and cost within the List Price to be set at the start of any Framework.

New and uplifted Standards to be progressed through the Urgent Change or Opportunity Items route may be added to the Roadmap at any time. There are however restrictions regarding the addition of new Roadmap entries in the Managed Capacity route where an Effective Date is set. Refer to the Change Management and Roadmap Content ancillary document for this information.

Capabilities 

New and uplifted Capabilities may be added to the Roadmap at any time as Draft or Published such that Suppliers could develop against it and begin onboarding. However where this is a material change to an existing Capability or the addition of a new Capability, then this cannot become Effective until a subsequent Framework opportunity.  Although in some cases it is likely that the change could be progressed as an Opportunity Item to facilitate quicker delivery prior to a Framework request.

Given that many Capabilities have linked Standards, when a Standard is to be introduced or uplifted as the result of a change request, an assessment will need to be undertaken to determine if the change to the Standard has a significant impact on the scope of the Capability and hence when it can become Effective. This is known as the Materiality assessment and the details of this are set out below. 

Routes of change

There are three key routes by which change will be progressed and commissioned following assessment, as shown by the diagram. In addition to these key routes of change, Suppliers will be required to respond to RFIs as per the terms of the Catalogue Agreement, may participate in Feasibility Assessments which will be commissioned via the most appropriate Framework or procurement vehicle and may also initiate change themselves based on internal development and delivery plans. It is possible that these routes may be used in parallel or consecutively for a single change. For example there may be a change request which is a standalone feature or perhaps a new messaging interface specification which is best progressed initially as an Opportunity Item, before being Published and given an Effective Date for development and implementation by all relevant Suppliers via the Managed Capacity route. A Feasibility Assessment may be used to engage Suppliers as part of elaborating a specification and/or to understand the parameters of a change prior to it progressing into one of the other change routes.

Managed Capacity

Changes progressing through this route are published for all relevant Suppliers to deliver i.e. the new or uplifted Standard may or may not apply dependent on the Capabilities which a Supplier has selected to support. Suppliers are expected to incorporate the cost of the capacity required to deliver items in the Managed Capacity route which have an Effective Date within the life-cycle of the Framework as part of their List Price set for that Framework. Suppliers must ensure that they make available sufficient capacity to deliver all the work specified via the Standards and Capabilities Roadmap which falls within the life-cycle of the applicable Framework. Capacity issues shall not relieve a Supplier of their obligations to achieve compliance with the relevant Standards by the set Effective Dates. 

It is anticipated that the majority of changes in the Managed Capacity route which have an Effective Date within the life-cycle of the subsequent Framework will be discussed and agreed with Suppliers ahead of that Framework in order that Suppliers can set their List Price accordingly. However the Catalogue Authority reserves the right to add items to the Roadmap within the life-cycle of a Framework which will also become Effective during that Framework. Given that the Frameworks are expected to be relatively short, this is not expected to be a common scenario as any given Effective Date is likely to fall within a subsequent Framework, thus allowing a Supplier to re-set their List Price, however any such occurrence will be handled as per the terms set out in the Change Management and Roadmap Content ancillary document. It should also be noted that the Catalogue Agreement does not restrict the ad hoc resetting of the List Price subject to the conditions set out in the Commercial Standard and the Framework Agreement.

 There will be four categories of change item within Managed Capacity:

• The key strategic (SRO Priority) changes, as agreed by the NHS England CCIO with the support of the Senior Responsible Owners (SRO) group which will need to be implemented by a set Effective Date within the life-cycle of the Framework. This is the group who are accountable for the prioritisation and delivery of the key Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England strategies and objectives (e.g. Secretary of State Technology Vision). These items will generally be agreed with Suppliers ahead of any Framework opportunity and should be accounted for in the List Price set for the Framework. 
• Regulatory and legislative change which must be delivered by a set Effective Date. These items should be accounted for in the List Price set for the Framework.
• Minor and Patch uplifts to previously Published or Effective specifications which will be regular items on the Roadmap to account for small tweaks to existing specifications with Effective Dates every three months. These could include minor or patch uplifts to a range of Standards or Capabilities but the volume of change in each entry will be carefully monitored. It is anticipated that these uplifted specifications would be published a minimum of three months in advance of each Effective Date. As per the Change Management and Roadmap Content ancillary document, these items should be accounted for in the List Price set for the Framework.
• A list of other changes which deliver benefits to the NHS and which NHS Digital would like to be delivered. These items will have Published specifications and may or may not have Effective Dates. These items should not be accounted for in the List Price set for the Framework, however they may be associated with incentive payments for delivery of the change item within a particular bounded time period.
  
  • For example - the introduction of a new version of the Electronic Prescribing Service (EPS). Plans could be issued by the NHS Digital spine team to retire old versions across the market in four years. The new specification which introduces a change to the existing EPS Standard could be Published alongside the Effective specification. Suppliers are then able to implement either the new Published version or the existing Effective one and both would be deemed as compliant.  However, closer to the retirement date of the existing Effective specification (perhaps two and a half years in), an Effective Date by which Suppliers will need to have achieved compliance may then be set for the new Standard. Therefore until that point there will be a Published Standard which is not Effective. 
    
    

When items in the Managed Capacity route are given an Effective Date, they become mandatory. Effective Dates will be objectively justified for the purpose of transparency and will determine the date by which all relevant Suppliers are required to have achieved compliance. The Effective Date will be set in conjunction with Suppliers as far as is reasonably practicable, however for some changes, especially those related to regulatory or legislative change, this may not be possible. Where a Supplier considers that it is unreasonable for them to achieve a given Effective Date, they must notify the Catalogue Authority as soon as is reasonably practicable. Suppliers will have the right to raise disputes in relation to any Effective Date which they consider to be unattainable with regard to the scope or complexity of the work item but valid reasoning will need to be provided.

Suppliers will generally be able to select and develop items in the Managed Capacity route in a manner to suit their development plans and approach, but must ensure that they deliver all the key strategic priorities identified by the NHS England SRO group and achieve compliance by the set Effective Dates.  As per the Change Management and Roadmap Content ancillary document, Suppliers are expected to work with the Catalogue Authority to share and agree delivery plans and development milestones to ensure that obligations can be met.

All changes in the Managed Capacity route will appear on the Roadmap and will not be commissioned via a separate mechanism. The Roadmap will clearly display which of the four categories the item is in, the Effective Date and the availability of incentives where applicable. 

Opportunity Items

Supplier capacity for participation in items in this route is in addition to any capacity or pricing assigned to changes in the Managed Capacity route. Additional funding may be made available for Opportunity Items. Changes progressing through this route will offer Suppliers the opportunity to develop and deliver certain changes early and ahead of the wider market (where applicable), to 'get ahead of the game' and increase the marketability of their products or allow for them to move into new markets and offer additional products and services through the Framework.  These opportunities will be commissioned via the most appropriate Framework or procurement vehicle in current operation at the time and the parameters of each particular Opportunity Item, such as outcomes/outputs, timescales, any associated funding and which Suppliers will be eligible, will be determined on a case by case basis. There are two types of item in this route:

Alpha, Definition and First of Type (see the Change Management and Roadmap Content ancillary document). Opportunities for Suppliers to collaborate and co-produce specifications and to develop these up to the First of Type stage and to refine the specification before it is Published for all other relevant Suppliers to implement through the Managed Capacity route.    

Other opportunities (see the Change Management and Roadmap Content ancillary document). Opportunities for the wider Supplier market to deliver changes such as new Capabilities or standalone features which do not necessarily have to be implemented by Foundation Solution Suppliers or Suppliers supporting a particular Capability. These opportunities may allow a Supplier to set their product apart from others and potentially enter new markets and gain market share or offer a product via the Framework which they may have not been able to previously. These are changes which may be more efficiently and effectively delivered by Suppliers who already have existing products to meet the desired business needs rather than commissioning bespoke development from existing Suppliers.

Feasibility Assessment

(See the Change Management and Roadmap Content ancillary document). The Feasibility Assessment process will be controlled in the same manner as the Opportunity Items.  It is to cover change requests requiring an assessment involving input, analysis and feedback from Suppliers to assist in determining the feasibility, scope, sizing/complexity and nature of the change request prior to it progressing through one of the other change routes and also to assist in defining specifications. This is for work which does not require any development, but goes beyond the scope and time required for an RFI as set out in the Catalogue Agreement. Following completion of the Feasibility Assessment, the change may either be withdrawn or progressed via one of the other change routes.

Urgent Change

Please refer to the Change Management and Roadmap Content ancillary document for information regarding Urgent Change. 

RFI / Analysis only

Please refer to the Catalogue Agreement 

Supplier Initiated Change

Supplier initiated changes are included on the diagram to reflect the fact that Suppliers have their own internal plans and roadmaps for product development and delivery which also require capacity and their own release cycles. These will be handled as per the relevant Service Management and Commercial Standards and Schedules. 

Change Management Process 

The Digital Care Services Change Management process has been set up as a high level overarching process flow shown and explained below, and a series of sub processes which are detailed in the expandable sections beneath. Some of these sub-processes are covered in other documents or are determined on a case by case basis. This is primarily a process internal to NHS Digital, but Suppliers will be involved at various points and it is being shared for transparency as to how change requests will be handled.

The change process is triggered by the submission of a change request to the Digital Care Services Change team, including changes coming out of the Tech Strategy and the ongoing internal review of Standards and Capabilities.  The change request process will be open for submissions at any time and changes will be submitted via a standardised form template giving the key information required regarding the change.

The change assessment process will analyse the details and background of the request to determine the most efficient and effective route for it to be progressed. It is made up of two key aspects:

• Entry Assessment. An internal assessment of the fundamental details and reasons behind the change request and consideration of the validity and necessity of the change to determine whether it should be progressed and added to the Roadmap. The intention of this stage is to filter out any requests which are not deemed to be necessary, are already in train with other work requests or which are not in a sufficient state of readiness to be progressed, such that Suppliers and other key stakeholders are not engaged in the work unnecessarily.
• Full Assessment. Analysis of the finer detail of the change request to consider the most appropriate change route and set the parameters for delivery and how the change will be commissioned.

Further definition of these stages is included in the processes below.  There are three main outcomes following these initial assessments, although they may need to be repeated to refine the details of the request prior to a final decision being made:

• Rejected. Determined by the assessment team that the change should not be progressed. This may mean it is covered by or merged with other work, the request is not ready to be progressed or that it is in some way not suitable for the Digital Care Services change process i.e. it is not relevant to the current scope of Digital Care Services or may be better progressed via an alternate mechanism
• Withdrawn. Change requestor opts to withdraw the change following assessment and feedback
• Added to the Roadmap and assigned to a change route
  • RFI and/or Feasibility Assessment
  • Urgent Change
  • Opportunity Item
  • Managed Capacity

Rejected or Withdrawn end the change process for that submission, although it is expected that some of these changes may be resubmitted into the process down the line. Adding the change to the Roadmap triggers further processes which are detailed below.

Entry Assessment

Full Assessment

Managed Capacity

Opportunity Item

Urgent Change

Standards and Capabilities Versioning 

As per Section 1 of this document, all Capabilities and Standards will have a version number. These version numbers will be in the format "a.b.c", where:

• a = major version
• b = minor version
• c = patch version

Some key principles regarding these version numbers are set out below:

• When a major version number is updated, the equivalent minor and patch version numbers will be reset to zero (e.g. 2.1.2 becomes 3.0.0)
• Version numbers for Capabilities and Standards are independent of any Framework and will therefore carry over if no updates are to be made between Frameworks
• Capabilities and Standards (including Capability Specific Standards) will have separate version numbers which will be iterated independently i.e. if the Prescribing Standard moves from v1.0.0 to v1.1.0, this does not always mean that the version number of the Prescribing Capability will also change.
• Any time a change is introduced which impacts an existing Capability and/or Standard, the version number will be iterated.
• The iteration of version numbers only applies to changes which impact an existing specification. Specifications for new Capabilities and Standards will always be major changes and will always be set at version 1.0.0 when initially Published.

Definitions

The definitions of major, minor and patch and how it would be determined as to whether a particular change requires a major, minor or patch change to the version number are detailed below. It should be noted that there is not necessarily a 'one size fits all' definition of these terms as what applies to an API for example would likely be very different to what applies to the Epics and Acceptance Criteria which make up a Capability. Therefore these definitions have been deliberately left fairly broad and they would be assessed accordingly as part of the change process. In the case of changes to APIs, these have been based around https://semver.org/.

Major: Change has a material impact on Capability or Standard and Suppliers will need to update their Solutions to remain compliant AND/OR a version when breaking or incompatible (i.e. not backwards compatible) changes are made.

Minor: Change does not have a material impact on Capability or Standard, but indicates a Supplier may need or wish to update their Solution AND/OR a version when larger non-breaking changes or a significant number of smaller non-breaking (i.e. backwards compatible) changes are made; or an unsubstantive breaking change is made.

Patch: Change does not have a material impact on Capability or Standard and minimal or no update to Supplier Solutions is required such as the introduction of additional guidance or clarifications, correction of grammatical errors or typos, restructure or reformatting of requirements AND/OR a version when smaller non-breaking changes or backwards compatible bug fixes are made.

How will version uplifts be handled through the Change process?

All changes entering the Change Management Process will be assessed to determine whether they are a patch, minor or major uplift to a specification and the parameters of the change and Effective Dates will be set accordingly as per the processes set out above.

There may be scenarios where a specification which has been Published in the Managed Capacity route and given an Effective Date needs to be amended for some reason and changes what a Supplier is required to deliver, or may already have delivered. It is hoped that this will not be a common scenario, although it is more likely to apply to some things (e.g. APIs and messaging specifications) than others.  The following mechanisms and principles will be used to manage this:

Major changes: Any revisions which are assessed as major changes will be assessed through the Change Management Process and the Effective Dates and other parameters associated with the change adjusted accordingly to account for the work required from Suppliers. The Roadmap would be updated as necessary to reflect this change and this may be subject to the restrictions set out in the Change Management and Roadmap Content ancillary document.

Minor or patch changes: There will be items on the Roadmap in the Managed Capacity route with Effective Dates every three months to cover minor and patch uplifts to a range of existing specifications which are either Effective or Published. For example, each entry on the Roadmap could cover possible uplifts to GP Connect interfaces, IM1, GP2GP or other APIs or messaging specifications etc. but there would not be an uplift to all of these within each and every entry on the Roadmap. The scope of what is included within these will be carefully managed and monitored. Suppliers will be expected to allow capacity for these items within their List Price.

Taking this approach sets a regular rhythm for Suppliers in keeping up to date with the latest versions of specifications and allowing them to plan for this, but also for Programmes in managing their specifications and knowing when they can release patch or minor uplifts and when they can expect that they will be developed. It is expected that the details of what is to be included in each 3 monthly Roadmap entry and the specifications will be published a minimum of 3 months ahead of each Effective Date. 

Digital Care Services Standards and Capabilities Roadmap

The Digital Care Services Roadmap ('the Roadmap') will provide a single, summary view of all the changes and opportunities for Suppliers regarding new and uplifted Standards and Capabilities, whichever route they are to be progressed through. This may include 'Horizon' items which Digital Care Services are aware of and are expecting to be progressed via the defined change routes at some point further into the future, but which have not yet been formally requested and may not materialise. The Roadmap will be the only mechanism by which changes in the Managed Capacity route will be commissioned. Changes following other routes will be commissioned via separate mechanisms as described in the Change Management and Roadmap Content ancillary document, but will still be displayed on the Roadmap. .

What information will be shown on the Roadmap?

The Roadmap will include a summary of information to ensure Suppliers are fully aware of the changes that are required and the opportunities which are available to them. Some of the data items are common to all change routes, and other data items are specific to a particular change route. The table below sets out the information to be included. Horizon items are not included in this table as they will not have been assigned to a change route and there is likely to be limited information available about the change. Dependent on the final form presentation of the Roadmap, certain information, such as the change route, may not be given in distinct fields and may instead be represented in an alternate format, such as in labelled swim lanes or with colour coding or sections.

In addition to the Roadmap, each Capability and Standard on Confluence contains a Roadmap section linking to a page which details any Roadmap items related to that Capability or Standard and the details of that change.  There is also a central Roadmap page on Confluence where a full list of Roadmap items will be available with a summary of information similar to the above.

Roadmap Content

The Roadmap area of Confluence presents the details of the items on the Roadmap.