iPROLEPSIS digital ecosystem's architecture

One of the main objectives of the iPROLEPSIS project is to provide a digital health ecosystem to support healthcare professionals in disease screening, monitoring, and treatment while empowering individuals with/at risk of Psoriatic Arthritis with personalised insights and preventive interventions.

In September 2023, the project’s technical partners introduced the first version of the iPROLEPSIS ecosystem architecture, including the initial technical specifications and product backlog.

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Amalia Ntemou from Netcompany-Intrasoft, consortium partner leading technical specification, system architecture and product backlog task within iPROLEPSIS, shares insights on the latest updates on the iPROLEPSIS ecosystem architecture.

The first version of the iPROLEPSIS ecosystem's architecture and technical specifications has been defined.  Can you explain the importance of this achievement in the project's development process?

One of the main objectives of the iPROLEPSIS project is to provide a digital health ecosystem to support healthcare professionals in disease screening, monitoring, and treatment, while empowering individuals with/at risk of PsA with personalised insights and preventive interventions.

The design of the architecture and the definition of functional and non-functional requirements are essential for the successful implementation of the iPROLEPSIS ecosystem as it constitutes a clear and comprehensive guide for partners’ development efforts.

Various systems’ elements, components, connectors, processes and interactions are illustrated thereby enabling common understanding among project’s partners and adherence to common approaches and specifications that promote effective collaboration and delivery.

A well-defined architecture with clear functional and non-functional requirements can be the basis for delivering sustainable solutions.

What are the main components of the iPROLEPSIS digital ecosystem to be developed?

The initial conceptual architecture of the iPROLEPSIS ecosystem consists of the miPROLEPSIS patient mobile app (including the embedded subcomponent/feature biAURA), the iPROLEPSIS healthcare professionals (HCP) web app, the cloud-based Data Management System, the AI-driven Lifestyle Recommendation Engine, the xAI-driven Models Engine and the Serious Games Suite. Finally, the operation of the entire system is supported by the Orchestration and Monitoring component.

For whom is the iPROLEPSIS ecosystem specifically intended, and how does it cater to their unique needs?

Patients are the primary users of the miPROLEPSIS patient app which is the tool for personalised disease monitoring. The miPROLEPSIS patient app operates as a tool for capturing data from sensors and wearable devices, as well as communicating feedback from the recommendation engine  to the user. The miPROLEPSIS patient app incorporates additional applications/features (e.g., biAURA, keyboard etc.) for further monitoring of patients’ conditions, interventions and engagement hooks.

Via the miPROLEPSIS HCP app, doctors and health care professionals are able to track their patients’ health status, review projections of the PsA progression, and utilise recommendations of optimised personalised suggestions towards a better management of PsA. Aggregated patients’ data about their health status, and outcomes of the xAI Models Engine are displayed intuitively and informatively to HCPs through dashboards. Doctors can monitor patients’ adherence to medical, dietary, and physical activity plans and issue warnings and notifications or adjust treatment regimens. In this way, accurate interventions are supported, while efficient and optimized management of PsA patients’ needs can be achieved and communicated to fellow colleagues and related stakeholders.

What was the main focus while designing the iPROLEPSIS ecosystem architecture?

The iPROLEPSIS digital health ecosystem serves as the enabler for personalised preventive care and the empowerment of citizens, patients and Healthcare Professionals (HCP). This emphasis on personalisation and empowerment guided the collection and definition of functional and non-functional requirements, as well as the internal architecture of components and technical specifications. Ultimately, these efforts led to the design of the ecosystem’s architecture.

Have any methodologies been used in designing the iPROLEPSIS ecosystem architecture, and why is it important to use them?

To organise the design and architecture of the iPROLEPSIS ecosystem, several established frameworks/methodologies were evaluated based on a thorough literature review in order to conclude to a framework that provides a holistic and comprehensive view of a software system’s architecture. Finally, we used a widely known methodology developed in 1995 by Kruchten,  due to its ability to offer a structured approach to the system’s design, enabling multidisciplinary teams to represent different aspects of the system effectively and in detail. Utilising already established methodologies and following best practices, enhances efficiency, reduces risks, leads in better design decisions and contributes to overall success of the project.

As the project progresses, how will the architecture and product backlog be refined and adapted during the development phases of the iPROLEPSIS?

Development and establishment of the iPROLEPSIS digital health ecosystem is an ongoing process that runs approximately until the end of the project. Technical testing and verification of new versions of ecosystem’s components, as well as the monitoring of their performance and stability once released to users, have also been considered. The outcomes of development and monitoring processes will continuously populate the product backlog, representing the changing needs and priorities as the development of the components progresses.  All updates and enhancements will lead to a refined version of the architecture and a fully operational iPROLEPSIS ecosystem.

Stay tuned as we embark on this transformative journey towards a brighter future in Psoriatic Arthritis management!