Managing HL7 Data Retention

Message data from an HL7 feed accumulates in the CTS database, and over time it affects the performance of the system. You can manage this performance impact by configuring purge criteria for the data retrieved by each HL7 connection.

The purge criteria specify the maximum number of days of HL7 message data to preserve in the database (Patient Data Expires After) and the frequency with which the system checks for expired data (Data Expiration Check Interval). You establish values for both criteria when you add or edit an HL7 connection; consequently, the settings may have independent values for each HL7 connection that you have in use, and you may maintain independent ranges of data for each connection.

The purge mechanism has an "offset" value that takes effect whenever the system is restarted; it prevents a purge from running while the system is still initializing. By default, the offset value is set to 5, providing a 5-minute buffer for the restarting system to stabilize before allowing a purge to run. If necessary, you can change this default value by updating the hl7.purgeTask.startupOffsetMinutes property of the system_configuration table in the MySQL Database.

Purged data is removed from the CTS database immediately; however, the data persists in the log files. If you need to restore an older range of data that has been purged from the database, you can use an HL7 "player" to re-play the original range of messages; the Vocera Care Team Sync application then receives the messages again and stores them in its database. Contact Vocera Customer Support for more information if you need to perform this procedure.