Background:

A flexible data model of DHIS2 platforms for years has allowed implementers and developers to customize DHIS2 to fit a variety of use cases. This has made DHIS2 an important central system for most developing countries. However, despite its flexible data model based mostly on data entry and analysis, there are some use cases that need a little extension of the model. The DHIS2 arbitrary data model (Datastore) was put in place to allow developers to develop use cases using their custom data models. Through the datastore API, developers can create any data structure in JSON format so that it can be used in one custom app. In most cases, developers work in a development or staging environment and later on move the needed configuration to the live system for the app to operate. However, this process is limited by the manual recreation of the same configuration in another instance, something that is time-consuming and potentially leads to misconfigurations. 

It is for this reason that the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) DHIS2 Lab developed a Datastore import/export application to allow developers and implementers to smoothly migrate datastore content from one instance to another through import and export strategies. A standard app for importing and exporting data that focuses on standard data models was a big inspiration for this innovation.

Methodology:

Following extensive research by the UDSM DHIS2 Lab  team on the possibility of extending  the existing  DHIS2 import/export data structure and data store manager so as it could accommodate the custom-based use cases. The team was able to come up with the simplified standard import/export app to suit the purpose.

Results:

The Datastore import/export application has been used in the implementation of Bottleneck Analysis, Scorecard, and customized program dashboard configurations in national HMIS, Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Information System (MNIS), and District Case Monitoring System (DCMS) in Tanzania and is also frequently used by the team during the migration of metadata configurations from development/training instance to the live systems.

Conclusion:

With standard practices of developing and configuring applications and metadata in the development environment to be tested before migrating to the live system, the datastore import/export app is very useful in simplifying metadata configuration from one DHIS2 instance to another without causing misconfigurations. The app is openly available in repositories for other implementers to use in metadata migration that is use case specific and cannot be generalized.