HL7 and Sparx Systems Announce 2012-2013 Tooling Challenge

ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN--(Marketwire - Sept. 19, 2012) - Health Level Seven^® International (HL7^®), the global authority for interoperability and standards in healthcare information technology with members in 55 countries, and Sparx Systems, a leading vendor of modeling tools based on open standards, today announced a new tooling challenge. Developers are invited to produce a UML profile for HL7's Model Interchange Format (MIF) static models using Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect for a chance to win $4,000 USD.

The goal of this challenge is to increase the number of modeling tools that are compatible with the MIF format. The 2012-2013 tooling challenge, the first in a planned series of annual challenges sponsored by Sparx Systems, was kicked off at the HL7 Plenary and Working Group Meeting in Baltimore, MD. The contest is open to the public; both HL7 members and non-members are encouraged to participate. Interested parties should declare their intent to participate by May 5, 2013 and submissions must be submitted by July 1, 2013. Entries will be evaluated by a panel of judges and the winner will be announced at the 27^th Annual Plenary and Working Group Meeting on September 23, 2013.

HL7 CTO John Quinn noted that UML profiles will enable commercial tools to work with the HL7 models, which have features that extend the standard UML expressions. He stated, "The industry is in need of tooling solutions that will facilitate the implementation and adoption of standards. We hope that this and future challenges will address this need and provide developers with the ability to use more off-the-shelf tools."

To qualify for the prize, submitters must perform the following tasks:

• Create a UML profile using Enterprise Architect that correctly describes MIF static models to the extent allowed by the UML language.
• Document any parts of MIF static models that cannot be expressed in UML Profile Language. This documentation will be provided to OMG, the owner of UML, and used when considering potential extensions to UML.
• Use the submitted UML profile to adapt Enterprise Architect to express the proper HL7 stereotypes as a proof of concept.

"Sparx Systems is pleased to sponsor this HL7 Tooling Challenge for the development of health standards. This exciting and forward looking initiative extends our relationship with HL7 and provides a competitive spur to the development of health informatics education courses in the academic sector and strengthens the delivery process to meet urgent and growing demand from the health industry for qualified graduates," said Ken Harkin, Business Development Manager for Sparx Systems. He continued, "We support course development through our Academic License Program which makes Enterprise Architect licenses available on a non commercial basis to universities and institutions for use in teaching and class work."

A series of webinars will be held to answer any questions that entrants have regarding the challenge. The first webinar will be held in October 2012. For more information on the challenge, upcoming webinars and to register, go to the HL7 Tooling Challenge webpage on the HL7.org site at http://www.HL7.org/events/toolingchallenge.cfm.

For information about Sparx Systems Academic Licensing Program visit: www.sparxsystems.com/solutions/academic.html

About Health Level Seven International (HL7)

Founded in 1987, Health Level Seven International is the global authority for healthcare information interoperability and standards with affiliates established in more than 30 countries. HL7 is a non-profit, ANSI accredited standards development organization dedicated to providing a comprehensive framework and related standards for the exchange, integration, sharing, and retrieval of electronic health information that supports clinical practice and the management, delivery and evaluation of health services. HL7's more than 2,300 members represent approximately 500 corporate members, which include more than 90 percent of the information systems vendors serving healthcare. HL7 collaborates with other standards developers and provider, payer, philanthropic and government agencies at the highest levels to ensure the development of comprehensive and reliable standards and successful interoperability efforts.

About Sparx Systems

Sparx Systems specializes in high performance and scalable visual modeling tools for the planning, design and construction of software intensive systems.

With customers in industries ranging from health and automotive engineering to aerospace, finance, defense, government, entertainment and telecommunications, Sparx Systems has won four consecutive SD Times awards and is the leading vendor of innovative solutions based on the Unified Modeling Language (UML) and its related specifications. A Contributing Member of the Object Management Group (OMG), Sparx Systems is committed to realizing the potential of model-driven development based on open standards.

The company's flagship product, Enterprise Architect, has received numerous accolades since its commercial release in August, 2000, including two Jolt and Visual Studio Magazine Reader's Choice Merit awards. Now at version 9.3, Enterprise Architect is the design tool of choice for over 300,000 registered users world-wide.