Agree what shared information fields mean

What this means for your practice

Create a shared dictionary covering meaning, source, allowed values and ownership. Start with fields that drive decisions or handovers rather than documenting everything without a purpose.

Questions to take to your supplier

Illustrative glossary entry: Enquiry stage describes reception's work on an enquiry. New means it is waiting for review; assigned means a named team owns the next action; closed means the administrative enquiry has ended. Appointment status is a separate field showing whether a booking was requested, confirmed or cancelled. A closed enquiry does not, by itself, mean an appointment was booked. These are example definitions to adapt with your team, not rules every clinic should adopt.

For your chosen field, add the main system where staff correct it, its permitted choices, what a blank or unknown value means and the role that approves definition changes. Ask two teams to interpret the same fictional record using that entry. If they disagree, resolve the meaning before connecting the tools.

Agree the working process

Start with the fields that affect decisions, handovers or important reports. For each, explain what it means, where its current value is maintained, which choices are allowed and how an unknown value should be handled. Keep the language accessible to the staff who supply or use the information. Technical field names can sit alongside that explanation for the implementation team, but should not replace it. Ask two teams to interpret the same fictional record using the dictionary and discuss any different conclusions.

Those differences are the useful part of the exercise: they expose assumptions before an integration embeds them. Name a person who can resolve disputed meanings and maintain the record when services change. Avoid trying to document every field at once without a clear purpose. A small, trusted reference for important information is easier to use than an exhaustive spreadsheet nobody reviews. Link accepted changes to the connections and reports that rely on them so definitions and behaviour stay aligned.

How to check the result

Count fields whose meaning remains inconsistent.