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File Checker User’s Guide

Introduction

To enable their research and quality improvement missions, the Multicenter Perioperative Outcomes Group (MPOG)

provides its members with a software framework for loading and managing their clinical data. This framework is called

Import Manager. Data is loaded into Import Manager through the use of flat text files. In order to be accepted, these files

must adhere to a strict specification. This specification defines the acceptable structure and formatting for the files as well

For more information on how to get started generating files for this application, please refer to the file specification and

Import Manager playbook documents (included separately).

Disclaimer: File Checker is only a first pass of validation

While it will detect many potential issues, File Checker cannot find or predict every problem that may arise. As such,

files that pass all tests are not guaranteed to be accepted by the Import Manager framework. With that said, using

this application will drastically reduce development time by allowing quicker iteration.

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Who are You?

There are two main types of users of File Checker: those responsible for all files and those responsible for a subset of files.

Which type you are can affect how you will use this application, as explained below.

I am only responsible for creating a subset of files

Examples: third-party billing vendors, report writers for supplemental extracts

If you were asked to develop only a subset of file extracts, you will likely not have access to the full set of files during your

testing. Therefore, certain checks within the application will not be available to you (e.g. whether identifiers between files

match). However, File Checker will still be able to verify other elements of the specification such as number of columns

and data types. Also, you can safely ignore any failures from the “required file types are included” test.

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How to Use

Setup

File Checker is a stand-alone executable that does not need to be installed. Simply double-click on the File Checker icon

to open it. When the application opens, File Checker will appear blank as no files have been loaded. To begin, you will

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2. In the open file dialog, navigate to the folder containing the data files for MPOG. Select the file(s) you wish to test.

Open File Dialog

3. Click the Open button. The application will immediately begin scanning files.

The file currently being scanned is indicated in the bottom-left corner.

Note that you can either test one file at a time, or groups of files at once. Checking one file can be useful for quicker

iteration for a particular extract. However, it is recommended to test groups of files whenever possible as File Checker can

cross-check identifiers between files (e.g. a Case ID used in PeriopObservations is the same Case ID used in Cases). When

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The Open File Dialog uses standard Windows file selection methods, such as:

Warning: Do not load large files

Due to memory limitations, do not generate files with more than one month’s worth of data.

Furthermore, it is strongly recommended to begin testing using files that contain only one day’s worth of data. Doing

so will allow both the extracts and File Checker to run more quickly, leading to faster iteration.

Reading the Results

The application lists all tests it performs on the left side of the application window. Each test in the list belongs to a

category. These categories reflect the different file types found in the specification. Additionally, there is a “Global”

category which are tests that apply to all files.

Once the application has finished scanning files, each test will display a summary result which reflects the most severe

issue the test encountered. Clicking on a test in the list will bring up more detailed information regarding that test’s results.

The test detail area contains the test name (bold text), a brief description of what the test checks for and a list of individual

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A test will only report only up to ten failures/warnings per file. Files may contain additional suspect rows even though

they are not listed.

Tests can return a variety of result types, which are described in the table below.

Type Description

Passed The test found no issues in the file.

Warning

The test found suspect data in the file. This type of result does not necessarily

indicate the file is incorrect, but the specified elements warrant investigation.

Failed

The test found a violation of the file specification or a data trend that is very likely

While testing a file extract you may overwrite an existing file with a new one with corrected data. If you already have the

file you’d like to test selected in File Checker, you can either 1) re-load the files as described earlier or 2) click the “Re-run

Tests” button in the top right corner of the application window. This will cause all tests to scan the previous selection of

files again without having to use the “Browse” window.

Button to re-evaluate currently loaded files

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Generating a result report

In order to easily share the results generated by File Checker, the application has the ability to export a summary report.

Click on the “Export Results” button in the top right corner of the application window and save the report to the desired

location. You can then share this report either internally or with your MPOG support contact.

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What to Do Next?

Now that you have feedback on your data files and how well they adhere to the MPOG specification, the next steps will

depend on the results returned by File Checker.

types are necessary to proceed. File types not listed here are optional and it is acceptable to have results of “Skipped” in

these categories. Such file types are crosswalk and payer files.

Encountered Warnings

You may encounter warnings if the data scanned is suspect. This can happen when match rates are on a borderline

threshold, or if the test is not able to confirm a violation of the specification. Any warnings should be investigated for data

accuracy. Please document the cause for a given warning as well.

Encountered Failures

Failures indicates violations of the file specification or high-certainty data inaccuracies. Any failures will prevent the Import

Manager framework from accepting the files and therefore must be resolved before proceeding to the MPOG setup phase.

Encountered Errors

The application should be able to evaluate a set of files well within five minutes, so reach out to your MPOG support

contact if you are encountering poor performance.