Introduction¶
NGIS represents a suite of applications and APIs that support whole-genome sequencing (WGS) for the Genomic Medicine Service (GMS)
The majority of NGIS applications required to run the WGS in the GMS are developed and maintained by Genomics England, however, there are third-party (i.e. non GEL) developed applications where third parties provide additional services required by GLH users in the NHS.
The document formalizes the change management process for all Third Party Integrators (TPIs).
It is the responsibility of each TPI to ensure that they test against any changes that have been communicated, whether its regression testing or testing of breaking changes. Genomics England will not be responsible if testing is not done, and the TPI is impacted by the changes.
Please note that, for urgent production fixes, Genomics England may not be in a position to offer any notice of breaking changes.
Genomics England will provide as much notice as possible in these circumstances.
Process¶
Whenever GEL is aware of any changes being done that will impact any of their APIs, the following process will be followed:
- GEL will create a formal API Change Notice, which will detail the following:
- A detailed description of the changes.
- Information relating to whether these are breaking changes or not.
- Where applicable, we will provide details of any additional "test cases" and "scenarios" that will assist in their testing.
- A timescale of when the changes will be available in the test environment, and dates for UAT and Production.
- Details of NGIS API drop-in surgeries set up for TPIs to discuss any questions.
- It is the responsibility of the TPIs to acknowledge receipt of the API Change Notice.
- Once the API Change Notice has been reviewed by the TPIs, they can send queries prior to the NGIS API drop-in surgeries.
- Wherever possible, GEL will aim to provide replies to the queries outside the NGIS API drop-in surgeries, and a tracker of questions asked, and replies provided will be maintained by GEL, and shared, so that every TPI received the same information.
- If there are any changes to the plan, which will impact the TPIs, they will be informed as soon as possible. This includes, but is not limited to, changes to the dates published and changes to the scope.
- Changes to scope will have been impacted assessed, to ensure that if things are dropped from / added to the scope, and discussed at a scheduled meeting with all TPIs.
When the change is available in the lower test environment and ready for TPIs to do their regression / system testing, this will be communicated as follows:
A formal notification will be sent to all TPIs when the changes are available in the lower test environments.
The TPIs will be aware of the date, but the notification will be the point from when they can start any regression /
system testing.
The TPIs have the responsibility of doing any testing they feel is needed.
The TPIs will have access to Jira ServiceDesk, and will be able to raise JSD tickets if they have any defects.
This process should be used for any defects identified in any of their environments.
The NGIS API drop-in surgeries will be used to discuss queries / defects / issues highlighted.
The TPIs must ensure that the changes they are implementing align to Genomics England's change windows.
As part of the normal communication process for releases, the TPIs will need to ensure that they subscribe to StatusPage to get any general updates for UAT & Production unavailability, due to maintenance outages, etc