Software Requirements Specification for Hospital Management System

Software Requirements Specification

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

1.1 Purpose
1.2 Scope
1.3 Definitions, Acronyms, and Abbreviations
1.4 References
1.5 Overview

2. General Description

2.1 Product Perspective

2.2 Product Functions
2.3 User Characteristics
2.4 General Characteristics

3. Specific Requirements

3.1 Functional Requirements

3.2 Performance Requirements
3.3 Non-Functional Requirements
3.4 Design Constraints

Appendix

A. 1 Hospital Management Process Diagram

Page 1 of 10 SRS v2.1

31/07/2014
Software Requirements Specification for Hospital Management System

1. Introduction

1.1 Purpose

Basic Description of Problem

The Administrator and staff of a hospital have been experiencing major headaches in
organising and managing patients, beds, and nurses. There have been reports of
missing patient information, lack of security and privacy on patient medical history,
and confusion in bed allocations. Nurses have complained about mistakes in nurse
allocation to patients, and bed management for waiting patients. The manual systems
can not handle current demands on hospital staff.

1.2 Scope

The purpose of this specification is to document requirements for a system to manage

the hospital. The specification identifies what such a system is required to do. The
specification is written in a format conforming to the IEEE Standard 830-1984.
Subject to approval, the specification will complete the Requirements phase and will
be followed by detailed design, implementation, and testing.

The product will be labelled the ​Hospital Management System (HMS). The Hospital
Management System will manage a waiting list of patients requiring different
treatment. The availability of beds will be determined and if beds are available the
next appropriate patient on the list will be notified. Nurses will be allocated to wards
depending on ward sizes, what type of nursing is needed, operating schedules, etc.

The current manual method of managing patients, nurses, and beds is time consuming
and error prone. It is also difficult to manage the large paper flow involved in this
process. The Hospital Management System will allow hospital administrative staff to
access relevant information efficiently and effectively.

The goal of HMS is to manage nurses, patients, beds, and patient medical information
in an efficient cost-effective manner.

All of these sub-systems (managing nurses, beds, patient medical information) need to
be designed and implemented so that HMS can run effectively.

1.3 Definitions, Acronyms, and Abbreviations

HMS​ Hospital Management System

GUI​ Graphical User Interface
PHID​ Patient Hospital Identification Number

Page 2 of 10 SRS v2.1

31/07/2014
Software Requirements Specification for Hospital Management System

1.4 References

1. Austin, C.J. (1983). ​Information Systems for Hospital Administration.​ Health

Administration Press.
2. Dean, R. (1996). ​The Healthcare Information Systems Directory​ [online].
http://www.health-infosys-dir.com/
3. Rowland, H.S. (1984). ​Hospital Administration Handbook.​ Aspen Publishing.
4. Rowland, H.S., Rowland, B.L. (1992). ​Manual of Hospital Administration.​ Aspen
Publishing.

1.5 Overview

This specification includes a brief product perspective and a summary of the functions
the software will provide. User characteristics are discussed and any general
constraints or assumptions and dependencies are listed.

Requirement statements are categorized as either functional requirements,

performance requirements, non-functional requirements, or design constraints.
Functional requirements are further categorized in terms of patient management,
nurse management, or bed management. Non-functional requirements are further
categorized in terms of security, maintainability, and scalability.

An appendix of additional information is provided. A process diagram is included.

2. General Description

2.1 Product Perspective

The HMS is designed to help the hospital administrator to handle patient, nurse and
bed information. The current design goal is to build an internal system to achieve the
functionality outlined in this specification.

2.2 Product Functions

The HMS will allow the user to manage information about patients, nurses, and beds.
Patient management will include the checking-in and checking-out of patients to and
from the hospital. The HMS will also support the automatic backup and protection of
data.

Page 3 of 10 SRS v2.1

31/07/2014
Software Requirements Specification for Hospital Management System

2.3 User Characteristics

There are three different types of users for the HMS system:

Type 1. The Hospital Administrator (Frank Moisiadis), who is most familiar

with the problem domain. He holds a M.D. with some knowledge of
basic computer operations and applications such as Microsoft Word,
Excel, and PowerPoint. He has some education in computer science,
which allows him to adapt to new systems quickly. The Hospital
Administrator is the only person who will have the authority to change
information stored in the database. In addition, the Hospital
Administrator is the major stakeholder in this project. The Hospital
Administrator should therefore always be consulted for comments on
requirements issues.

Type 2. Administrative Clerks, who handle data entry for the HMS system.
They have data entry training from college. Administrative Clerks are
familiar with basic computer operations.

Type 3. Nurses, who are in charge of hospital wards. Of the three user types
nurses have the least computer knowledge. There is a requirement for
nurses to perform some data entry. Nurses will need to make regular
scheduling changes, and so the interface should be easy to use.

Based on the above categorizations, in order to meet user's needs the following
precautions should be taken:

● the interface should be designed with the computer novice in mind

● data entry masks should recognize and correct improperly entered data
● for deleting or revising a record the system should ask the users for
confirmation
● report generation should occur in a timely fashion
● diverse computer education levels should be considered
● online help is important
● the design should not assume users will perform their jobs as expected
● error messages should be used
● system design should follow the manual process as closely as possible
● the interface should be easy to understand
● users should be consulted throughout design

2.4 General Constraints

Page 4 of 10 SRS v2.1

31/07/2014
Software Requirements Specification for Hospital Management System

The following constraints will limit the developer's options for designing the system:

● the budget for this project is 1 million dollars

● implementation is required by the end of week 11, semester 2, 2002.
3. Specific Requirements

3.1 Functional Requirements

R l. Patient Management Subsystem

The patient management subsystem requirements are concerned with the management
of patient information. They specify how patient information can be managed and
manipulated.

R 1.1 The HMS shall allow the user type 1 and 2 to update patient personal
information (name, address, tel, email, closest relative, date of birth,
…).

R 1.2 The HMS shall store all patient illness history information (past
illnesses, test results, allergies, …).

R 1.3 The HMS shall allow the user type 1 and 2 to add new patients into the
system.

R 1.3.1​ The HMS shall assign a unique ID to new patients.

R l .4 The HMS shall allow all user types to retrieve patient personal
information by patient ID or patient last name, first name, or Medicare
number.

R l.4.1 The HMS shall allow all user types to retrieve patient personal
information.

R l.4.2 The HMS shall allow user type 1 and 3 (only if nurse assigned
to the particular patient) to retrieve patient illness history information.

R 1.5​ The HMS shall manage the patient check-in process.

R l.5.1​ The HMS shall update the patient status to in-patient.

R l.5.2 ​The HMS shall record bed, nurse, and doctor information
associated with the patient.

R 1.5.3 ​The HMS shall allow the user type 1 or 2 to change bed, nurse,
and doctor information associated with the patient.

Page 5 of 10 SRS v2.1

31/07/2014
Software Requirements Specification for Hospital Management System

R l.6 ​The HMS shall allow the user type 1 and 3 (only if nurse assigned to the
particular patient) to update patient treatment information.

R 1.7​ The HMS shall manage the patient check-out process.

R 1.7.1 ​The HMS shall update the patient status to out-patient.

R l .7.2 ​The HMS shall calculate the bill due when the patient checks
out.

R 1.8 ​The HMS shall manage patients on a waiting list.

R l.8.1 ​The HMS shall allow the user type 1 or 2 to add patients to a
waiting list.

R l.8.2 ​The HMS shall allow the user type 1 or 2 to remove patients
from a waiting list.

R 1.8.3 ​The HMS shall allow the user type 1 or 2 to check-in a patient
on a waiting list.

R l.8.4 ​The HMS shall allow the user type 1 or 2 to retrieve waiting
patient information by illness category, illness seriousness, start
waiting date, patient last name, first name, ID, or Medicare number.

R 1.9​ The HMS shall allow all user types to generate reports on patients.

R l.9.1 ​The HMS shall allow all the user types to generate reports on
selected patients.

R 1.9.2 ​The HMS shall allow all user types to generate reports of
in-patients by ward, illness category, or check-in date.

R l.9.3 ​The HMS shall allow all user types to generate reports of
on-waiting patients by illness seriousness, illness category, or waiting
time.

R2. Nurse Management Subsystem

The nurse management subsystem requirements are concerned with the management
of nurse information. They specify how nurse information can be managed and
manipulated.

R 2.1​ The HMS shall allow the user type 1 or 2 to add new nurses to the
system.

Page 6 of 10 SRS v2.1

31/07/2014
Software Requirements Specification for Hospital Management System

R 2.2​ The HMS shall allow the user type 1 or 2 to remove nurses from the
system.

R 2.3​ The HMS shall allow the user type 1 or 2 to update nurse information.

R 2.3.1​ The HMS shall allow the user type 1 or 2 to update nurse personal
information (name, address, tel, email, date of birth, …).

R 2.3.2​ The HMS shall allow the user type 1 or 2 to update nurse
specialty information (area of expertise, experience).

R 2.4​ The HMS shall allow all user types to retrieve nurse information by nurse
number or last name, first name, or tax file number.

R 2.4.1​ The HMS shall allow all user types to retrieve available nurse
information.

R2.4.2​ The HMS shall allow all user types to retrieve nurse
information by specialty.

R2.4.3​ The HMS shall allow all user types to retrieve nurse personal
information.

R 2.5​ The HMS shall update nurse available information when a nurse is
assigned to a checked-in patient.

R 2.6​ The HMS shall allow user all users to generate reports on nurses by
specialty, available status, or experience.

R3. Bed Management Subsystem

The bed management subsystem requirements are concerned with the management of
bed information in the hospital. They specify how bed information can be managed
and manipulated.

R 3.1​ The HMS shall allow all users to add new beds to a ward.

R 3.2​ The HMS shall allow all users to remove beds from a ward.

R 3.3​ The HMS shall update availability status when a patient checks in or
checks out.

R 3.4​ The HMS shall allow all users to retrieve available bed information by
bed number.

Page 7 of 10 SRS v2.1

31/07/2014
Software Requirements Specification for Hospital Management System

R 3.5​ The HMS shall allow all users to generate reports about beds.

R 3.5.1​ The HMS shall allow all users to generate reports about beds
by ward or​ ​availability status.

R3.5.2 The HMS shall allow all users to generate bed usage statistic
reports showing bed usage rates in one year by ward.
R4. Other Requirements

R 4.1 The HMS shall backup patient, nurse, and bed data every 24 hours
automatically.

3.2 Performance Requirements

R 5 The HMS shall respond to user's retrieving information quickly. The waiting time
for any retrieve operation must be under 2 seconds.

3.2 Non-functional Requirements

R 6. ​Security.

The security requirements are concerned with security and privacy issues. All patient
medical information is required by law to be kept private. Only after the patient signs
a written consent form (on being admitted to hospital) can anyone (even the patient's
doctor, nurse, and the hospital administrator) view the medical details about any
particular patient. In the case of an emergency, the allocated doctor, nurse, and the
hospital administrator are immediately given user 3 status, and written consent is
sought from the patient afterwards.

R 6.1​ The HMS shall support different user access privileges.

R 6.1.1 User type 2 shall have security privilege level 1. They can only
read patient current illness information. They can’t access patient
illness history information.

R 6.1.2 User type 3 shall have security privilege level 2. They can read
and write patient current illness information. They can only access
patient illness history information if they have been assigned to the
particular patient.

R 6.1.3 User type 1 shall have security privilege level 3. They can read
and write patient current illness information. They can also read patient
history information.

R 6.2​ The HMS shall protect patient illness history information.

Page 8 of 10 SRS v2.1

31/07/2014
Software Requirements Specification for Hospital Management System

R7. Maintainability

The maintainability requirements are concerned with the maintenance issues of the
system.

R 7.1​ The repair time of HMS shall be under a half hour.

R 7.2​ System down time for maintenance should be less than 6 hours per
quarter of a year.

R8. Scalability

The scalability requirements are concerned with the scalable issues of the system.

R 8.1 The HMS shall be able to scale up to support more workstations. System
performance shall not degrade if up to twenty percent (20%) more
workstations are added.

3.4 Design Constraints

R 9.​ The HMS shall use a graphical user interface.

R 10.​ The HMS must run in the 3rd year computing labs.

R 11.​ The HMS must be written in Java.

Appendix:

A.1 Hospital Management Process Diagram

Page 9 of 10 SRS v2.1

31/07/2014
Software Requirements Specification for Hospital Management System

Page 10 of 10 SRS v2.1

31/07/2014