About OpenLMIS

OpenLMIS

OpenLMIS is a community-focused initiative to create an open source Logistics Management Information System (LMIS) for healthcare supply chains in low-income countries. It is a collaborative project to design, develop, and share open source software, tools and methodologies, from which state-of-the-art, internet-enabled LMIS can be developed and customized for local deployments. Our design goal is for the system to:

1. support real-time management of all health commodities from point of origin to the point of delivery.

2. be adaptable to the unique requirements of each country.

3. be interoperable with other medical information systems (e.g., warehouse management systems, medical record systems, laboratory information management systems).

4. facilitate data collection in low-infrastructure environments for review, aggregation, analysis and forecasting.

####Collaboration

Initial funding for OpenLMIS was provided by the Rockefeller Foundation in Mid-2011. The initial project collaborators included several NGOs actively involved in global health projects: John Snow, Inc. (JSI), PATH, VillageReach and others. In late 2011, OpenLMIS was presented with an opportunity to partner with the Ministries of Health in Tanzania and Zambia, who had launched a joint project to procure a new eLMIS for each country supported by USAID (their project is commonly referred to as the TZM eLMIS project). With this new partnership, the MOHs and OpenLMIS are combining their expertise, experience and resources to collaboratively develop an enterprise-level eLMIS that in its first release will meet the collective needs of Tanzania and Zambia. Additional work will be required on the part of each country to deploy the eLMIS, as explained in the deployment section below.

The project has advanced to the stage where OpenLMIS has engaged ThoughtWorks, a professional software development firm who will begin code development in October 2012. The system design will be based on requirements identified by Tanzania and by Zambia through their independent Common Requirements Development Methodology (CRDM) workshops, plus follow-on joint design workshops. While Tanzania and Zambia will be the first countries where this eLMIS will be deployed, this system will also include design extensions in order to serve a broader user community (i.e., similar MOHs or NGOs managing healthcare supply chains in other developing countries.)

The project has grown in scope and functional sophistication from its original concept as the countries have had the opportunity to fully articulate and document their requirements. As a result, the project schedule and development costs have grown proportionately. Simultaneously, other organizations and programs have taken an interest in OpenLMIS, and have contributed their organizational support and expertise plus additional funding to insure our delivering a complete eLMIS that will include functionality beyond what is desired by Tanzania and Zambia. Those currently involved in the project include: Tanzania Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Zambia Ministry of Health, Rockefeller Foundation, USAID, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, PATH, VillageReach, and JSI.