H2 runs complex DHIS2 tracker configurations. For most implementations, these configurations are downloaded into phones and tablets running DHIS2 android. Quality supervisors, the main users of the H2 solucion, work offline for some of the assessments. Hence changes to the metadata should be carefully conducted on a separate environment to production, carefully tested, and then deployed with appropriate communications to all quality supervisors.
We normally recommend for organizations using DHIS2 to follow best practices and use the following environments:
Development | Testing/ Staging | Production | |
|---|---|---|---|
Purpose | Prototyping of new features. Can change at any time: unstable environment. | Configurations ready for testing, small limited pilots, or training | User-ready, real-time information system |
used for testing, pilots or training | Never | Full testing cycle Limited pilots | Never - this server stores all ‘live’ assessments |
Data preservation and quality | Inconsistent, incomplete data, not appropriate for analysis | Complete datasets appropriate for short-term analytics prototyping, but not the actual system of record | the system of records |
PCA use | Yes - all programs should be designed here | Yes - all programs should be edited and tested here | No - you should never edit a H2 program in a production server directly (with PCA or via D2 maintenance). Instead edit in testing or staging, and when all test pass, move to production. |