In most of filmless hospital projects, the following plans can be identified. They are capacity plan, cost control, backup plan, emergency response plan, and workflow plan.
Capacity Planning
Like other information technology (IT) service, speed, around-the-clock availability, and security are the most common indicators of quality of service of a PACS. Since the design of a PACS varies from a clinic to a hospital, many possible alternative architecture can implement a PACS service. In order to minimize the risk of systems failures, advance planning and preparation are required to ensure the availability of adequate capacity (Dugmore, Lacy, 2006) and resources to deliver the required system performance. Projections of future capacity requirements should be made, to reduce the risk of system overload. The operational requirements of new systems should be established, documented, and tested prior to their acceptance and use (see Table 1).
Table 1| Item | Modalities | Size of
an image
(Mbyte) | Number of
studies per
year (a) | Number of
images per
study (b) | Size of storage
required
(Tbyte) (axb) |
| 1. | CT | 0.5 | | | |
| 2. | MRI | 0.25 | | | |
| 3. | CR | 8 | | | |
| 4. | DR | 10 | | | |
| 5. | Mammo | 15 | | | |
| 6. | US | 0.25 | | | |
| 7. | SXR | 1 | | | |
| 8. | DSA | 1 | | | |
| 9. | OT | unknown | | | |
| Total volume of storage required per year | |
Capacity Planning is the determination of the overall size, performance and resilience of a computer or system. It shall be monitored, tuned, and estimated for future capacity requirements to ensure the required system performance. The detailed components of a Capacity Planning initiative will vary, depending upon the proposed usage of the system, but the following should always be considered:-
The total volume of input data should include: