Before you select applicable Capabilities and Epics, we recommend that you review the full Capabilities & Standards Model to understand the relationship between Capabilities and Standards, as well as the requirements under each Capability and Standard.

Introduction to the Capabilities & Standards Model.

Online Consultation and Video Consultation Capabilities

Overarching Standards

Interop Standards

Supplier Defined Epics

If your Solution does not map to any of the May Epics within the Video Consultation or Online Consultation Capabilities then you have the option to define your own Epics that will map to one of these Capabilities.

You will need to clearly define your new Epics in the ‘Supplier Defined Epics’ template. Guidance on how to format these Epics can be found in the template also.

For each Capability, the Supplier can choose whether to provide:

• A recorded video demonstration (with optional voiceover or on screen narration describing what is happening and where each acceptance criteria is met); or

• Schedule a Remote Live Witness Demonstration. During the Remote Live Witness demonstration, the Supplier will present evidence for all Capabilities and Epics that they have mapped to. The demonstration must be recorded by the Supplier and uploaded to their secure Sharepoint site.

The Supplier must provide evidence for:

• Each of the Epics selected within their chosen Capabilities that are mapped to their Core Solution

• Each of the Epics selected within their chosen Capabilities that are mapped to their Additional Services (if the Supplier has chosen to include any Additional Services))

• Each of the Supplier Defined Epics (if the Supplier has chosen to include any Supplier Defined Epics)

In order to pass an Epic, all of the Acceptance Criteria under that Epic will need to be passed also. The demonstration should therefore provide evidence for every Acceptance Criteria within the Epic.

Recorded video demonstrations

The production quality of the video files provided will not be assessed. Your videos can be recorded simply, for example, using a software such as Web-ex, and recording a shared screen. The important thing is that the video provided is clear and easy to view. To this end, including Capability and Epic name in each video file name will be appreciated.

Narration—either verbal via voiceover or embedded via words on-screen—should be included in each video to indicate where each acceptance criterion is evidenced in each video.

Can I submit multiple videos?

You can submit one or multiple video files for each Capability. We recommend making the file(s) as small as possible to ensure that they can be uploaded and viewed.

What if I don't have any video recording software?

You don’t need specialised recording software. For example, you can create and record a screencast using Web-ex or other meeting application or software.

If you are not able to create videos, you can schedule a Remote Live Witness demonstration with us.

Will my videos be shown to the public?

Your video evidence will only be used for assessment and will not be published publicly on the Catalogue or elsewhere. However, all information submitted to the Buying Catalogue is subject to FOI requests.

Assessing your Capabilities

Once you have submitted your Solution details and Capability evidence, we will review your submission, including mapping information provided and the applicability of the Associated Services. If we have questions, we will email your lead contact for clarification. Once we have completed our review, we will notify your lead contact of the outcome.

At this point, we will assess your Capability Evidence. During this time, we may need to ask clarification questions and request more information to complete our assessment. These clarifications will be sent via email to your lead contact.

Each Capability has Epics, and each Epic has acceptance criteria. Each of these acceptance criteria will be reviewed and scored as passed or failed. To pass an Epic, all acceptance criteria for that Epic must be passed.

Each Capability has a minimum of One Must Epic; these Must Epics are mandatory in order to pass the Capability. All other Epics are May Epics and are Optional. We strongly advise you to select the May Epics that demonstrate the functionality of your Solution. If a May Epic is included, it will be assessed in the same way as a Must Epic. A failed May Epic will not prevent you from onboarding against a Capability provided you have passed the Must Epic.

All Epics passed will be displayed in the Catalogue Solution page listing and will be visible for Buyers.

Once we’ve completed our assessment, your lead contact will be notified of the outcome.

How to submit evidence - Traceability Matrices

After you’ve submitted evidence for Capabilities (stage 2), you can submit evidence for Standards (stage 3). This stage will involve a detailed analysis of your Solution against each of the Overarching Standards and applicable Interoperability Standards which apply to your Solution.

Each Standard has a separate Traceability Matrix (TM), which is an Excel file that lists each piece of required evidence for that Standard as an individual line item. Based on the risk-based approach outlined below, each line item has been classified as either ‘Must’ (mandatory to implement) or ‘May’ (optional to implement).

You can submit most evidence for a Standard via its TM. Additional files such as screen shots or supporting documents can be included with your TM submission. The TMs for each Standard applicable to your Solution can be accessed via the Standards Folders set up for you in your secure Sharepoint site. Once you’ve finishing filling in the required information, you can upload the completed TM to the same Sharepoint folder. You can submit TMs for each Standard one at time.

Evaluating your Standards

The evidence you submit within your Traceability Matrices (TMs) will be evaluated for compliance, according to the risk-based approach outlined below.

Once we’ve evaluated each line item in a Standard, we will send an email notification to the Supplier lead contact confirming that updated TM with feedback has been uploaded to the Supplier’s Sharepoint. The feedback is intended to support the Supplier in providing additional evidence. Suppliers can re-submit TMs as many times as needed until all line items meet the minimum level required to pass compliance for that Standard.

Compliance approach - risk based

In order to establish our compliance criteria for each Standard, a risk-based approach has been applied to all aspects of each Standard, to determine what level of compliance evidence will be assessed by us, and which areas will be assessed by the buyer.

In general, central compliance will be applied when risks exist around the following areas:

• Clinical safety

• Information governance (including information security)

• Central Spine Services and associated services

• Interoperability

Where central risk mitigations have been identified, a risk level impact has been applied and mapped to mitigating actions. Examples of Standards’ risks/mitigations are shown below:

• No risk impact: yes/no self-certified response

• Low risk impact: a self-certified statement with a brief description of how you have met the line item

• Medium risk impact: self-certified statement with an implementation description plus physical evidence which may include screenshot/video, API response message, evidence of external compliance/certification (for example, ISO)

• High risk impact: witnessed tests, design documents

The compliance evaluation of your overarching Standards will also seek a proportionate risk-based approach. However, given the nature and variability within the overarching standards, the approach will be dependent on an understanding of the Solution being provided.

Compliance approach – ongoing

Ensuring that Solutions remain compliant to Standards post-evaluation is critical to provide buyers with assurance that Solutions continue to function as intended and do not present safety risks. All assured Solutions must follow the requirements in the Service Management Standard, which will explain how Suppliers should manage change to their Solution, including any related compliance activities, for example, change and regression testing.

Suppliers will have a responsibility to cooperate with any feedback activities or direct audits. The goal of both activities is to help identify and address any non-compliance and support the continued delivery of compliant Solutions to end users.

Having successfully passed both the Capabilities Assessment and the Standards Compliance stages, you can progress to populating your Catalogue Solution listing, which will form your Solution page. In this final stage, you will be asked to provide additional information relevant to potential Buyers.

Some aspects of the Solution Listing may vary by Framework, for example prices and performance levels.

We will moderate the Solution Listing to ensure it isn’t misleading and is presented within the spirit of the Commercial Standard before it is published.