A strategy for PACS development using introductory team software process

A PACS development requires to fill the needs of a specific imagenology area in a hospital and, as consequence, the amount of requirements associated to a PACS implicate a great complexity. This can be observed through methods that allow the size and complexity of a PACS software system to be quantified and measured, by analyzing the user requirements and interactions with other systems to be realized. When a PACS development is proposed, it can be difficult to actually launch the development project since a lot of time may be invested in defining the initial activities to be performed. In this work a model to address the complexity of a PACS development is proposed, and a strategy to divide the different tasks involved is defined. The model can offer an estimation about the effort to be spent. To face the problem, a correct planning and schedule can be defined. The model was obtained applying the first steps of the introductory Team Software Process(SM) (TSPi) methodology, and was represented using Unified Modelling Language activity diagrams. The model shows the different activities that have to be realized during the PACS development, and also the products that are generated once activities are accomplished. Another main aspect is a dependence view which shows the synchronization and dependence between tasks. This allows the possible sequences of activities to be visualized, and to be planned across different cycles. According to the TSPi, in each planned cycle a testable version of a PACS specific application should to be produced and the combination of the products, obtained through the different cycles should produce a final software system. With the model presented in this work, PACS developers can have a clear idea about the involved tasks and can schedule the work to accomplish specific PACS applications. A case study was conducted at the "Centro Nacional de Rehabilitacion" (National Rehabilitation Center)in Mexico City, using the proposed model.