Introduction for the central level
This section is for the central level: national health information staff responsible for the system as a whole rather than for one province, local level or facility.
What the central level is responsible for
- Metadata and standards — data elements, indicators, data sets, program stages and validation rules are defined once, centrally, so that data from every facility means the same thing. See Configure metadata.
- National aggregation and reporting — routine reporting forms (including HMIS 9.3 and 9.4) are compiled from data recorded at the point of service.
- System-wide data quality — completeness, timeliness and validation rule analysis across all reporting units.
- Interoperability — exchanging structured data with other national systems using standards-based interfaces. See the FHIR platform for how Amakomaya approaches this.
- Governance — user roles, sharing settings, release and upgrade planning, and the audit trail behind changes.
Why metadata discipline matters
Every change to national metadata propagates to every facility using the system. Changing a data element mid-year without a plan breaks comparability of the series that decisions are based on. Metadata changes belong to a release cycle, with communication to provincial and local levels before they take effect.
Where to look next
- Implementation Guide — metadata, users, scheduling, data administration and release notes.
- System administration — installation, hosting and monitoring.
- Provincial Government and Local Government — the levels that supervise and use the data day to day.