Frequently Asked Questions: Information Technology

Introduction

Brillians is a stand-alone Windows application. It has been used in VHA since 2006. Currently, it is installed in many VAMCs/VISNs. It does not require any changes to the existing hardware and software configuration in the VAMC. Specifically:

• It does NOT require any changes to CPRS setup or how providers use CPRS.
• It does NOT require any changes to the VAMC’s VistA system or MUMPS code.
• It is NOT a web-based App. No web servers or databases. No dashboards. Nothing to maintain.
• It does NOT require any new hardware, or any changes to the existing hardware.
• Brillians does NOT write anything to VAMC’s VistA system. Therefore, it poses no risk to integrity of the VistA database. Any user generated data (e.g., a progress note) is copied to CPRS and is saved by CPRS, not by Brillians.
• Brillians works just like CPRS! It reads data from VAMC’s VistA system using EXACTLY the same RPCs (remote procedure calls) that CPRS uses. Therefore, it introduces no new complexities and poses no risk to integrity of the VistA database.
• Brillians will run fine on any hardware device which can run CPRS. Both applications are written in the same programming language (Delphi) and are Windows 32-bit applications.
• No changes to Windows setup or Windows registry. Brillians does not store anything in Windows registry. It is not affected by re-imaging the workstation’s hard drive.
• No software is installed on the end-user workstations.
• Brillians is safe and secure. It follows VHA’s information security and HIPAA guidelines. See: Information Security FAQ   https://www.brillians.com/faq-info-sec/

Installation: Where and How is Brillians Installed?

Brillians (formerly, SupraVISTA), a stand-alone Windows application, consists of a few executables, support files and configuration files. The installation process consists of copying supplied files to a folder on a Network drive.

Users run the application via a CPRS Tools menu item or a desktop link that points to Brillians.exe in the “X:\SupraVISTA\” folder as explained below.

1. Create a folder on a network drive (e.g., “X:\SupraVISTA”)
2. Copy all thesupplied files into this folder.
3. Create two Active Directory groups to control access for App Admins and the end-users.
4. Further guidance about setting folder permissions is provided at the time of installation.
5. You are done!