Machines
Approving a new machine, choosing what it is for, the hub, and retiring one that has gone.
3 min read
Approving a new one
When Fikacare is installed on a machine it enrols itself and waits. It cannot open the hospital's records until somebody approves it in the portal.
You approve it and choose what it is for — Reception, Consulting, Laboratory, Pharmacy, Finance, Administration, and so on. That choice decides which records the machine holds and which modules it runs.
Choose narrowly. A machine only carries the records its work needs, so a reception machine holds no laboratory data at all. A machine set up for everything is a machine that holds everything, which is the thing you do not want walking out of the building.
The hub
One machine is the hub: the one that stays on, usually in the office. It holds everything and is what the other machines sync to over your own network — which is why the hospital keeps working together when the internet does not.
The hub is a role, not special hardware. If it stops, another machine takes the role over and the hospital carries on. When the old hub returns it learns it is no longer the hub and catches up like anybody else. You do not have to do anything.
Give the role to a machine that is actually left on, is plugged into a UPS, and is not the one somebody carries home.
Changing what a machine is for
Changing it signs out whoever is using it, because the machine must close and reopen its records under the new set. That is unavoidable — but it is also visible, and the person sees a notice saying an administrator changed the machine. See I was signed out.
Do it outside clinic hours where you can.
Retiring one
A machine that has gone — sold, replaced, dead, or stolen — should be retired in the portal.
A retired machine cannot sync and cannot open the hospital's records. It is not merely blocked from connecting: nothing on it decrypts without a valid lease, and retiring it means it will never get another one.
If a machine is stolen, retire it immediately. That is the action that matters, and it does not require getting the machine back.
Watching them
System / Devices on any machine, and the portal for the whole hospital: what exists, what each is for, and when each was last heard from. The daily brief counts the ones out of touch. See A machine has not been heard from.