Authoring and managing reference sets require some level of tooling support. Broadly speaking, two types of tooling support exists:
- Combination of browsing functionality and simple spreadsheets or database system
- Dedicated reference set management tools with extended features
The extend of sophistication of the tool required depends on various factors, and the combination of those factors:
- Type and size of reference set
- Simple reference sets with few members
- Large reference sets of various types
- Simple reference sets with few members
- Use of reference set
- Local vs. distributed
- Dependencies (Editions, versions)
- Maintenance of reference set
- Cycle
- People
Functionalities
Relevant functionalities for reference set creation and management include:
- Creation of both extensional and intensional reference sets
- Services for browsing and displaying SNOMED CT content for manually selecting reference set members
- Services for manual and intensional expansion of reference set (inclusion of reference set members)
- Services for manual and intensional exclusion of reference set members
- Create reference sets according to a specific reference set pattern
- Create customized reference sets
- Version management of created reference sets
- Computation of the effect of a related SNOMED CT edition and version on a reference set
- Workflow support
- Mechanism for approval of reference set before publishing
- Facility for external feedbackand request for change
- Searching existing reference sets, as well as entries about reference sets that may be available elsewhere
- Distribution services
Considerations Related to using Spreadsheets to Manage Reference Sets
Generally, it is not recommended to use a spreadsheet approach for managing reference sets, because there is a dependency between the reference set and the core content of SNOMED CT. The SNOMED CT release files are important for interpreting the components referenced by the reference set, for example:
- Description file: Access to the descriptions are required to display the terms of the components referenced by the reference set.
- Concept file: Access to the concept file is required to assess whether the components referenced by the reference set are active or inactive
However, in some situations spreadsheets (supported by a browsing facility) may be feasible, for example,
- If the reference set only consists of a few members
- If the reference set is only used locally
- If only one person is responsible for managing the reference set
If a spreadsheet approach is chosen it is recommended to create a human-readable version of that reference set to support interpretation of the identifiers used in the reference set.
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