Vocera Analytics

Release Notes - Version 1.2.3

Updated: April 19, 2021

Documentation Announcements for Vocera Analytics Release 1.2.0

Beginning this release, the upgrade and install sections are documented in a separate guide—Vocera Analytics Installation Guide. This new guide provides an installation workflow, a step-by-step installation procedure, and the corresponding configuration information for different scenarios based on your setup.

You can access the Vocera Analytics Installation Guide here: Vocera Analytics Installation Guide.

Note: The Vocera Analytics Administration Guide will no longer include the upgrade and installation sections.

About Vocera Analytics

Vocera Analytics provides a comprehensive view of all interruptions encountered by caregivers. Interruptions include voice calls, text messages, and alarms and alerts from clinical and operational systems. Vocera Analytics enables clinical leaders to review performance metrics, conduct comparisons, measure success rates, and identify areas for improvement. Based on this information, dashboards and reports can be constructed to monitor and drive continuous improvement.

Vocera Analytics comprises the following functionalities:

You can find documentation for this version of the product by clicking the question mark (?) in the header pane on all the pages of the Analytics console.

You can also access the following Vocera Analytics documentation directly from a web browser without being logged in:

Prerequisites

Before you install Vocera Analytics, your environment must contain the necessary prerequisites. The size of your server normally depends on the number of users that reference it and the number of beds at your site.

Vocera Analytics hardware prerequisites:

The details on the hardware requirements for the Vocera Analytics Server database are as follows:

Note: The requirements are different for small, medium, and large servers.

Small Medium Large
Memory 32 GB 64 GB 128 GB
CPU Octa-core Octa-core 12 Core
Disk Space 500 GB HDD (per year) with SSD Cache 1 TB HDD (per year) with SSD Cache 2 TB HDD (per year) with SSD Cache
Operating System
  • Windows Server 2016
  • Windows Server 2012
  • Windows Server 2016
  • Windows Server 2012
  • Windows Server 2016
  • Windows Server 2012
Browser Support Internet Explorer 11, Firefox version 45.0.1.0 or later, Safari 11.1.2 or later, Google Chrome version 70 or later (JavaScript must be enabled).
Database (provided) MariaDB (MySQL) MariaDB (MySQL) MariaDB (MySQL)
Note: To run properly, the Vocera Analytics Agent running on a Vocera Voice Server (VS) / Vocera Platform 6.0 will require 2 GB of RAM when interacting with a small or medium Vocera Analytics Server database and 4 GB of RAM when interacting with a large Vocera Analytics Server database. If the VS does not have sufficient memory to meet the mandated minimum memory for the VS plus the needs of the Vocera Analytics Agent, memory will need to be added to the VS. For example, a VS running version 5.2.3 requires a minimum of 8 GB of RAM. If the Vocera Analytics Agent will be interacting with a large Vocera Analytics Server database requiring 4 GB of RAM, the server running the VS and the Vocera Analytics Agent must have a minimum of 8 + 4 or 12 GB of RAM installed. If it does not, sufficient RAM to meet or exceed the 12 GB requirement should be added. If the VS is running in a virtual environment, Memory Over Subscription is not supported and the Host Server should have sufficient physical RAM to support the memory allocated to the Guest Servers plus the Hypervisor.

Validation Metrics: Performance Expectations

Data Inputs Small Medium Large
Vocera Voice Server Users 450 2000 5000-20000
VMP Users 200 3000 10000
Beds 293 500 1000
Engage users 450 (225 per shift) 1000 (500 per shift) 2000 (1000 per shift)
Clinical Alarms 2200 5000 9500
Nurse Call Alerts 3200 11000 22000
Orders 400 1200 2400
Lab Alerts 24 75 150
VMI Messages 2000 messages/day 10000 messages/day 60000 messages/day
Calls Per Day 2000 calls/day 10000 calls/day 60000 calls/day
VCS Messages 9000 messages/day 40000 messages/day 400,000 messages/day

Vocera Analytics software prerequisites:

To use the Vocera Analytics Server database, you must have the necessary software version available:

Other Considerations

To use Vocera Analytics, you must consider the following product requirements:

Vocera Analytics is the upgrade path for both Vocera Reporting Services and Engage Reporting. It is available for all Vocera systems (Standard or Enterprise License) and includes data migration for both VRS and Engage.

Infrastructure Considerations

To use Vocera Analytics, you must consider the following infrastructure requirements:

New and Enhanced Features

This section summarizes the new features and enhancements in this release.

New and Enhanced Features in Vocera Analytics 1.2.3

Vocera Analytics 1.2.3 is a maintenance release only. It contains no new features.

New and Enhanced Features in Vocera Analytics 1.2.0

This release includes the following features:

New Features

Enhancements

New and Enhanced Features in Vocera Analytics 1.1.0

This release includes the following features:

New Features

Enhancements

New and Enhanced Features in Vocera Analytics 1.0.0

Version 1.0.0 is the initial release of Vocera Analytics. This release includes the following features:

Install Vocera Analytics Remote Agent 1.2.3 HF on the Voice Server

Note: VA 1.2.3 installer is applicable only for Windows machines. VA 1.2.3 installer is not applicable for custom installation.

To install the remote agent on the Vocera Voice Server, perform the following tasks:

Note: The Vocera Analytics Suite installs both the remote agent for Voice Server and Vocera Analytics.

  1. Login to Service Monitor using the link https://:9445/.

  2. On the configuration page, click Stop All Services.

  3. Copy the iso file/installer to the install drive on the Voice Server machine and extract the file.

    Note: Ensure that you perform on both Active and Passive Voice Servers.

  4. Right-click VoceraAnalyticsInstaller.exe> Run as administrator to launch the installer.

    The installer Welcome to the InstallShield Wizard for Vocera Analytics Suite 1.2.3 screen appears.

  5. Click Next.

    The Initialize a Configuration Backup screen appears.

  6. Click Backup Cfg.

    The installer takes a backup and displays the Ready to Install screen.

    Note: Do not close any installer windows that appear during backup.

  7. Click Install.

    The Installation Progress window appears. Do not close any installer windows that appear during installation.

  8. Click Finish.

    The InstallShield Wizard Completed screen appears.

    To validate that the remote agent is upgraded successfully and to check if the service monitor is installed and running, use the services.msc. The slave service monitor installed here is used to interact with the master service monitor of the Vocera Analytics server.

    Note: In case of Voice Server cluster, you must upgrade the flume agent on both nodes (active and standby) in the Voice Server cluster. Perform the above steps to upgrade the flume agent on each node of the cluster.

Install Vocera Analytics 1.2.3 HF on the Analytics Server

Note: Vocera Analytics 1.2.3 installer is applicable only for Windows machines. Vocera Analytics 1.2.3 installer is not applicable for custom installation.

To install the Vocera Analytics Suite on the Vocera Analytics Server, perform the following tasks:

  1. Login to Service Monitor using the link https://:9445/.

  2. On the configuration page, click Stop All Services.

  3. Right-click VoceraAnalyticsInstaller.exe> Run as administrator to launch the installer.

    The installer Welcome to the InstallShield Wizard for Vocera Analytics Suite 1.2.3 screen appears.

  4. Click Next.

    • If VMP pipeline is configured
      • The Select the VMP versions to backup screen appears.
      • Browse to the VMP version that you want to backup.
      • Click Next.
    • If VMP pipeline is not configured
      • The Database Backup Option screen appears.

    Note: This screen appears only on systems that have VMP configured.

  5. Click Next.

    The Database Backup Option screen appears.

  6. Select an option:

    • Backup the database and configuration files—Select this option to backup both the database and configuration files.
    • Backup configuration files only—Select this option to backup only the configuration files.

  7. Click Next.

    The Verifying Disk Space screen appears. The verification may take several minutes depending on the size of your database.

    Note: The installer requires 3 times the space of VoceraAnalytics folder to be available on the installation drive to proceed with the installation.

    This screen appears only when you select Backup the database and configuration files option.

  8. Click Next.

    The Initialize a Database Backup screen appears.

  9. Click Backup DB.

    The installer takes a backup and displays the Ready to Install screen.

    Note: Do not close any installer windows that appear during backup.

  10. Click Install.

    The Installation Progress window appears. Do not close any installer windows that appear during installation.

  11. Click Finish.

    The InstallShield Wizard Completed screen appears.

    Upon successful installation, the ServiceMonitor service automatically restarts and launches the Service Monitor Dashboard page.

  12. From the downloaded media extract, right-click VA_1.2.3_template_patch_7.exe and select Run as administrator.

    The installer is launched, and the installer Vocera Analytics Server 1.2.3 template_patch screen appears.

  13. Click Yes to install the patch.

    The patch is installed and a command window appears.

  14. Type Y to view the logs.

  15. Upon completion, go to Service Monitor on Vocera Analytics server and click Start All Services after both Vocera Analytics server and Voice Server are upgraded.

Troubleshooting Vocera Analytics 1.2.3 HF

If the VA 1.2.3 hot fix installer is still running and the machine reboots abruptly, then perform the following:

  1. Uninstall Vocera Analytics suite completely.

  2. Install Vocera Analytics 1.2.0 version.

  3. Restore the backup.

  4. Upgrade to VA 1.2.3 hot fix again.

Install Vocera Analytics 1.2.1 HF on Vocera Platform

When you upgrade from VA 1.2.0 to VA 1.2.3 version, you must apply the VA 1.2.1 hot fix manually on the Vocera Platform server by using the following steps.

Note: If you are already using VA 1.2.1 version, the following steps are not required.

To install the Vocera Analytics Suite on Vocera Platform, perform the following tasks:

  1. Copy VA1.2_HF_1 hot fix.

  2. Stop Service Monitor service using the command:

    sudo systemctl stop va-monitoring

  3. Browse to <VS_Install_Drive>/VoceraAnalytics/servicemonitor/conf/, open the appliation.conf file, and add the following line at the end:

    monitor.pipeline.autoRecoveryCount = 3

  4. Save and close the file.

  5. Open the terminal and change the directory to hotfix directory.

  6. Change the file permission for the file VA1.2_HF_1.sh by executing the following command:

    chmod 755 VA1.2_HF_1.sh

  7. Run the hotfix VA1.2_HF_1.sh by executing the following command:

    sudo sh VA1.2_HF_1.sh

  8. Start the Service Monitoring service by running the following command

    sudo systemctl start va-monitoring

Fixed Issues

The following list contains fixes and improvements made to the Vocera Analytics in this release.

Fixed Issues in Vocera Analytics 1.2.3

The following issues are fixed in Vocera Analytics 1.2.3:

Fixed Issues in Vocera Analytics 1.2.0

The following issues are fixed in Vocera Analytics 1.2.0:

Fixed Issues in Vocera Analytics 1.1.0

The following issues are fixed in Vocera Analytics 1.1.0:

Known Issues

This release includes the following known issues:

Vocera Analytics Release 1.2.3

The following list is specific to Vocera Analytics 1.2.3:

Vocera Analytics Release 1.2.0

The following list is specific to Vocera Analytics 1.2.0

Vocera Analytics Release 1.1.0

The following list of known issues are existing from Vocera Analytics 1.1.0

Vocera Analytics Release 1.0.0

The following list of known issues are existing from Vocera Analytics release 1.0.0

Vocera Analytics has a few limitations. For more information, refer to Vocera Analytics Limitations.