DHIS2 Aggregate

One of the first things you’ll need to do is identify the specific DHIS2 data set that you plan to implement. You’ll need a list of all the data elements on that data set, a detailed understanding of how each is calculated, the frequency in which the data set is submitted (weekly, monthly, etc…), and for which organisation units the data set applies. You’ll also want to identify and engage the appropriate DHIS2 stakeholders to get access to DHIS2 metadata, test environments, and discuss workflows. The DHIS2 documentation site provides additional background and advice here.

Design Considerations

There are a few very important considerations related to how you design workflows and set up your CHT application to make sure you will be able to integrate with DHIS2. The main areas are:

1. Hierarchies
2. Fields and calculations
3. Workflows and user access.

These considerations are summarized below.

Hierarchies

The CHT relies on your Place hierarchy to determine how data should be aggregated for DHIS2. As such, it’s important that you consider how organization units are configured in the DHIS2 instance that you need to integrate data into. If your CHT Place hierarchy does not align with the DHIS2 organisation unit structure, the CHT will not be able to aggregate data in the way DHIS2 needs it.

See Also: Hierarchies

Fields and calculations

It’s important to understand each data element on the DHIS2 data set you want to integrate data into and how each data element is calculated. When you are designing your forms in the CHT, you will need to make sure you are capturing information in your forms so that every data element on the chosen DHIS2 data set can be calculated within the CHT.

See Also: Forms

Workflows and User Access

The aggregate data workflow is really designed around 3 key user personas. You’ll need to make sure that your context can support those assumptions and will be able to have access to the appropriate features in the CHT and DHIS2.

Moving data from the CHT to DHIS2 can be done in three main ways.

1. Manually downloading from the CHT
2. Building an app in DHIS2 and calling an API in the CHT
3. Orchestrating the steps using an interoperability layer such as OpenHIM, OpenFn, etc…

Configuration

Once you have designed your hierarchies, forms, calculations, and workflows, there are a few key configurations that need to be made.

Data sets

For the CHT to be able to export the file for DHIS2, it needs to know the specific name and ID of the data set in DHIS2. You will need to obtain the ID from the test or production DHIS2 environment.

Configure the data set in app_settings.json.

See Also: DHIS2 in App Settings

Organisation units

Aggregation in the CHT is based on your Place hierarchy. As mentioned in the Hierarchies Design Considerations above, your Places must align with DHIS2 organisation units. You will need to specify the DHIS2 organisation unit’s ID on the Place document in the CHT.

See Also: Contact Forms

{
  "_id": "my_place",
  "type": "health_center",
  "dhis": {
    "orgUnit": "HJiPOcmziQA"
  }
}

Data elements

Calculations for DHIS2 indicators are done using CHT Target functionality. For each DHIS2 data element, you will need to configure a corresponding CHT Target and specify the ID of the DHIS2 data set and data element. If you do not include the data set, this data element will be included in every data set.

See Also: Targets

module.export = [
  {
    id: 'births-this-month',
    type: 'count',
    icon: 'icon-infant',
    translation_key: 'targets.births.title',
    subtitle_translation_key: 'targets.this_month.subtitle',
    goal: -1,
    appliesTo: 'contacts',
    appliesToType: ['person'],
    appliesIf: contact => !!contact,
    date: (contact) => contact.contact.date_of_birth,
    dhis: {
      dataSet: 'VMuFODsyWaO',
      dataElement: 'kB0ZBFisE0e'
    }
  },
];

Users

For the HRIO role, create a new user role and a new user with that role; or update an existing user role. To export DHIS2 metrics, users need to have the following permissions: can_configure, can_export_all, and can_export_dhis.

See Also: Users

User experience

Once your CHT project is configured to integrate with DHIS2, follow these steps to export the data from CHT and import it into DHIS:

Export data

1. Login to the CHT instance using a user account with the required permissions. You should be automatically navigated to the Admin Console.
2. Select “Import & export data” from the side
3. Select “DHIS2” from the header along the top
4. Select the data set, org unit, and time period that you’d like to send to DHIS2. Click “Export”
5. A file should download in your browser. This file contains a dataValueSet with aggregated user’s data.

Import data

1. Login to DHIS2 using a user account with permission to manage the relevant dataset and organisation units.
2. Select the “import/export” application inside DHIS2. Select “import data”.
3. Upload the file you downloaded in Step 5.
4. Click “Import”

Check the UI for any errors. If you get errors you don’t understand or are unable to resolve an error, you can always ask for assistance on the CHT Forum. If there are no errors, you can review the numbers that resulted by reviewing the data set in DHIS2.

Known limitations

• Data for each user is aggregated based on the contents of the user’s target document. Note that if your users don’t login and synchronize, their data won’t be represented in the exported data.
• Integrations are limited to monthly DHIS2 data sets.
• Integrations are limited to numeric data-types. To support other data types, consider making a DHIS2 App for your project.

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