AUR Synthetic Data Set Validation

The Antimicrobial Use Synthetic Data Set (AU SDS) and Antimicrobial Resistance Synthetic Data Set (AR SDS) are test data that NHSN AUR Module implementers can use to validate their AU Option and AR Option data compilation and aggregation methods comply with the NHSN AUR Module protocol’s requirements.

The AU SDS and AR SDS are not intended for testing conformance to CDA file structure. For validating CDA conformance, please use a Schematron Validator.

Synthetic Data Set

To use either AU or AR data set, the SDS should be loaded into the implementer’s database, processed just as they would their own real data, and uploaded to a CDC hosted web application for validation. The web application will return the validation results, which will consist of descriptive error feedback on incorrect rows and values.

The test data are provided in both CSV and MySQL formats.

Detailed instructions, the SDS, database schema, and other helpful documents are available in the applicable zip files below.

Process for using the Synthetic Data Set

The SDS validation process is completed outside of NHSN. The vendor will download the synthetic data set and process it through their vendor system to appropriately compile and aggregate the data. The results should be output to an Excel file. For AU SDS, there is one Excel output file informally referred to as the AU Summary SDS Excel file. For AR SDS, there are two Excel output files referred to as the AR Summary (or AR Denominator) SDS Excel file and the AR Event (or AR Numerator) SDS Excel file. The vendor will then upload the applicable SDS file(s) into the NHSN web service tool to validate the data against the answer key. The vendor should continue to upload and retest the Excel output files until no errors are present. Once the vendor’s Excel output file(s) passes through the web service with no errors, the file can be sent to NHSN as outlined below.

NHSN Confirmation of Successful SDS Validation

Vendors may send the NHSN Team the passing SDS Excel file in order to receive confirmation of successful SDS validation. Once ready for the NHSN Team to confirm that an SDS Excel file has passed SDS Validation, send the following to NHSNCDA@cdc.gov:

• Excel output file(s) (For AR SDS Validation both AR Excel files are required at the time of submission)
• Vendor (Application) OID (instructions for obtaining OID)
• Vendor Name
• Vendor Software Name
• Vendor Software Version
• Technical Point of Contact (one primary person but you may carbon copy others on file submission)
• Vendor Website (optional)

In the subject line, please use AU SDS Validation Submission or AR SDS Validation Submission as applicable. Do not include both AU SDS and AR SDS in the same email. If any of the information above is missing, the NHSN Team will not be able to process your request.

Upon receipt of the above items, the NHSN Team will test the SDS Excel file to confirm it passes SDS Validation.

If the file(s) passes, an email will be sent to the vendor containing the SDS Validation ID to be included in the author section of the vendor’s CDA files. Additionally, the vendor name, software name and software version will be published to a public-facing NHSN webpage to highlight successful SDS validation. Further, if the URL to the Vendor Website is provided, it will be included as a hyperlink attached to the Vendor Name within the table shown on the public-facing NHSN webpage.

If the file fails, an email will be sent to the vendor indicating that the file failed, and next steps will be provided.

CDA Author Section

A vendor that has passed SDS Validation will include vendor information in the author section of all production AU and/or AR CDA files. Below is an example of the XML coding of the author field.

The ID root value must contain the Vendor (Application) OID. The extension value must contain the SDS Validation ID. Vendor name, vendor software name, software version and release are currently optional fields, but having this information will streamline the troubleshooting of issues.