January 3, 2003
UNOS Technology, Organ Center Relocation a Successful "Non-Event"
Over the week of Christmas, when many people were more concerned with shopping, travel, feasting, or over-excited children, UNOS was busy transferring key technology and lifesaving services to its brand-new headquarters building in downtown Richmond, Va. The switchover was virtually unnoticed by the outside world -- and that is just what UNOS planners hoped to accomplish.
"It was really a non-event, which is good," said UNOS' Director of Information Technology Berkeley Keck. "If it didn't happen smoothly, it could have been horrid. Even a few minutes of down time might have put the lives of transplant candidates in danger."
Planning for the technological aspects of the move began about 18 months ago, soon after UNOS had committed to build its new headquarters in the Virginia Bio-Technology Research Park. The building, funded in large part by charitable contributions, accommodates all UNOS staff (for several years, UNOS maintained two separate rented offices) and is designed to better meet current and future information technology needs.
UNOS operates the national Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) under contract with the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The OPTN maintains information on nearly 81,000 people awaiting organ transplants nationwide and helps match candidates with available organ offers. The OPTN also manages scientific data on all organ donations and transplants that have occurred in the United States since late 1987. The OPTN links the efforts of 257 transplant hospitals and 59 active organ procurement organizations nationwide.
In anticipation of the move, UNOS ordered all new production servers and configured them in advance. The servers were delivered to the new building and brought into operation on Sunday, Dec. 22. This was purposely scheduled for an off-peak time for usage of UNetsm, UNOS' Internet-based system for organ matching and transplant data management.
"The switchover was practiced 10 or 15 times until the staff could probably do it in their sleep," Keck said. About 50 UNOS staff members and several consultants were involved in various stages of configuring, testing, and moving the servers.
The UNOS Organ Center transferred its operations the morning of Thursday, Dec. 26. Assistant Director of Technology Services Chris Williams noted that extensive preparation was made to ensure that UNOS' remote backup site could have been used by the Organ Center if any significant problems occurred.
To Organ Center Quality Manager Jim Creger, this move marked the fifth time the UNOS offices and technology have been relocated in his more than 20 years of experience. However, he found this the most intricate. "Because technology has advanced so much, each move has become more complex," he said. "This was our largest move, and the first we've done in an Internet environment. The intent was for members never even to notice the change."
At the time of the transfer, teams of Organ Center staff were located in both the old and new facilities. The actual transition took only a split second as the Organ Center's toll-free number was switched from one location to the other, providing a transfer of service with no down time to UNOS members. The UNOS Technology Help Desk was ready to address any problems encountered by members using UNet, but no problems were reported that related directly to the move.
"Our goal was to make this move transparent to users, and we believe we accomplished it well," Williams said.
The move has also afforded UNOS an opportunity to upgrade its technology. The number of servers devoted to UNet has increased from three to four, providing increased speed and redundancy while allowing greater user accessibility during peak demand times. In addition, the Organ Center includes an expanded work area that increases the number of workstations from five to six, and two new multifunction fax machines that include several advanced transmission features.
"The technological capabilities of our new site will allow us to meet the needs of our members even better than before," Williams said.
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