The importance of stability and safety in a COVID-19 vaccine scheduling solution

The importance of stability and safety in a COVID-19 vaccine scheduling solution

Johan Andersson |May 14 2021 6 min

When you decide to put part of your vaccination operation in the hands of an external software provider, you need a reliable system. This article will describe the importance of stability and safety of a COVID-19 scheduling solution from a software developers' perspective.

When developing software, it's very tempting to start with fancy features. Yet, to build a reliable system, I, as a developer, need to ensure we have a solid foundation. According to me, my teams' primary responsibility is to ensure stability and safety first. 

What is system stability?

My definition of system stability is a system that delivers the desired output. If disturbances occur, after all, a stable system will quickly return to normal functioning.

What is system safety?

A safe system ensures that your information is secure, and that the system is protected from adversaries who potentially try to hack the software.

Why are system safety and stability so important?

My colleagues and I often emphasize that we must build solutions with a stable and safe foundation. But why is it so important?

The importance of stability

A COVID-19 vaccine scheduling solution is designed to match appointment demand and supply. The system automatically makes more appointments available when a certain number of bookings have been made.

Any disturbance of this particular function can have severe effects on you and your patients. Above all, two unfortunate situations can occur. Either too many patients arrive at your facility, but you don't have enough vaccination to give, or you have a lot of vaccination at your facility but too few patients to give it to. 

A reliable and stable system is critical for succeeding with your COVID-19 vaccination program. 

The importance of safety

Security has always been important, but when systems move from being available on an intranet to the internet, it quickly becomes a top priority for everyone. A cloud-based system is so much more exposed to security risks. 

When you are handling COVID-19 vaccinations, you need to deal with sensitive data from patients. This data must be encrypted and safe in the system. 

How we ensure stability and safety in a COVID-19 vaccine scheduling solution

As a software developer, I take pride in delivering stable and secure software solutions. Below are a few examples of commitments that my colleagues and I make to provide reliable systems to our customers. 

Teaming up with the best actors in the business

Our SAAS solutions are deployed in Amazon Web Services which also take stability and security very seriously. We don't cut corners in keeping the frameworks and server software we use up to date. Our developers, testers and product owners regularly read literature and participate in discussions to stay ahead of the game.

Leaning on experience and knowledge

We have a long history and a lot of knowledge of selecting the best platforms and building our software on top of it. Technology is a rapidly changing field, but our long track record tells a story of an organization that always takes pride in delivering stable and secure software solutions. Stability and safety are a significant part of our culture and DNA.

Using best of breed Java solutions

We use a collection of best-of-breed Java solutions to build our technology stack that can be deployed on-premise, in the cloud and in a distributed model to handle remote locations with limited connection speed.

Making our hardware and software

Our ability to handle any deployment setup is one thing that sets us apart from our competitors. We also design our hardware and create its embedded software in-house. That way, we ensure that sensitive data is encrypted and safe.

Testing everything before a change is approved

We strive to cover each line of code with unit tests before including any change. Automated end-to-end testing is used to inform developers earlier in the development cycle. We track each of our changes carefully using tools like Git and Jira.

Learn more about our COVID-19 vaccine scheduling solution

Do you want to know how our reliable vaccine scheduling can help you manage COVID-19 vaccinations efficiently? Click the bottom below to get in touch with an expert. 

Talk to an expert

 

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