DSS Advanced Prosthetics Acquisition Tool (APAT)

General Information

Technologies must be operated and maintained in accordance with Federal and Department security and privacy policies and guidelines. More information on the proper use of the TRM can be found on the TRM Proper Use Tab/Section.

Website:	Go to site
Description:	DSS Advanced Prosthetics Acquisition Tool (APAT) integrates with Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) and is designed to automate purchasing workflows and streamline the acquisition of prosthetics, orthotics, and other sensory aids by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals and medical centers. APAT assists users in expediting the bidding process for the prosthetics department and supports secure electronic document management by helping users scan, index, and retrieve purchasing information. APAT enables electronic bid process and purchase order management, provides a full-color Graphical User Interface (GUI), tracks comprehensive workflow throughout the process, and allows access to standard and ad-hoc reporting capabilities for ongoing order improvement. This technology utilizes a Microsoft Structured Query Language (SQL) Server database. Documents are scanned into APAT, and the user stores those documents pointers locally in the APAT database. Also, all purchase orders, quotes, and stock issues are stored in APAT`s database for future reference, if needed in the event of an audit.
Technology/Standard Usage Requirements:	Users must ensure their use of this technology/standard is consistent with VA policies and standards, including, but not limited to, VA Handbooks 6102 and 6500; VA Directives 6004, 6513, and 6517; and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards, including Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS). Users must ensure sensitive data is properly protected in compliance with all VA regulations. Prior to use of this technology, users should check with their supervisor, Information Security Officer (ISO), Facility Chief Information Officer (CIO), or local Office of Information and Technology (OI&T) representative to ensure that all actions are consistent with current VA policies and procedures prior to implementation.
Section 508 Information:	This technology has not been assessed by the Section 508 Office. The Implementer of this technology has the responsibility to ensure the version deployed is 508-compliant. Section 508 compliance may be reviewed by the Section 508 Office and appropriate remedial action required if necessary. For additional information or assistance regarding Section 508, please contact the Section 508 Office at Section508@va.gov.
Decision:	View Decisions

Decision Source:	TRM Mgmt Group
Decision Process:	One-VA TRM v22.11
Decision Date:	11/01/2022 at 15:15:01 UTC
Introduced By:	TRM Request
Vendor Name:	Document Storage Systems, Inc (DSS)

Vendor Release Information

The Vendor Release table provides the known releases for the TRM Technology, obtained from the vendor (or from the release source).

Version	Release Date	Vendor End of Life Date	Vendor Desupport Date
1.9.2.1	01/15/2015
1.9.x	04/30/2015
2.0.x	07/10/2016
2.2.x	07/17/2017
2.3.x	03/17/2020
2.4.x

Current Decision Matrix (10/18/2022)

Users must ensure their use of this technology/standard is consistent with VA policies and standards, including, but not limited to, VA Handbooks 6102 and 6500; VA Directives 6004, 6513, and 6517; and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards, including Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS). Users must ensure sensitive data is properly protected in compliance with all VA regulations. Prior to use of this technology, users should check with their supervisor, Information Security Officer (ISO), Facility Chief Information Officer (CIO), or local Office of Information and Technology (OI&T) representative to ensure that all actions are consistent with current VA policies and procedures prior to implementation.

The VA Decision Matrix displays the current and future VA IT position regarding different releases of a TRM entry. These decisions are based upon the best information available as of the most current date. The consumer of this information has the responsibility to consult the organizations responsible for the desktop, testing, and/or production environments to ensure that the target version of the technology will be supported. Any major.minor version that is not listed in the VA Decision Matrix is considered unapproved for use.

Legend:

White	Approved: The technology/standard has been approved for use.
Yellow	Approved w/Constraints: The technology/standard can be used within the specified constraints located below the decision matrix in the footnote[1] and on the General tab.
Gray	Unapproved: This technology or standard can be used only if a POA&M review is conducted and signed by the Authorizing Official Designated Representative (AODR) as designated by the Authorizing Official (AO) or designee and based upon a recommendation from the POA&M Compliance Enforcement, has been granted to the project team or organization that wishes to use the technology.
Orange	Divest: VA has decided to divest itself on the use of the technology/standard. As a result, all projects currently utilizing the technology/standard must plan to eliminate their use of the technology/standard. Additional information on when the entry is projected to become unapproved may be found on the Decision tab for the specific entry.
Black	Prohibited: The technology/standard is not (currently) permitted to be used under any circumstances.
Blue	Planning/Evaluation Constraint:The period of time this technology is currently being evaluated, reviewed, and tested in controlled environments. Use of this technology is strictly controlled and not available for use within the general population. If a customer would like to use this technology, please work with your local or Regional OI&T office and contact the appropriate evaluation office displayed in the notes below the decision matrix. The Local or Regional OI&T office should submit an inquiry to the TRM if they require further assistance or if the evaluating office is not listed in the notes below.

Release/Version Information:

VA decisions for specific versions may include a ‘.x’ wildcard, which denotes a decision that pertains to a range of multiple versions.

For example, a technology approved with a decision for 7.x would cover any version of 7.(Anything) - 7.(Anything). However, a 7.4.x decision would cover any version of 7.4.(Anything), but would not cover any version of 7.5.x or 7.6.x on the TRM.

VA decisions for specific versions may include ‘+’ symbols; which denotes that the decision for the version specified also includes versions greater than what is specified but is not to exceed or affect previous decimal places.

For example, a technology approved with a decision for 12.6.4+ would cover any version that is greater than 12.6.4, but would not exceed the .6 decimal ie: 12.6.401 is ok, 12.6.5 is ok, 12.6.9 is ok, however 12.7.0 or 13.0 is not.

<Past

CY2020

CY2021

CY2022

Future>

Release

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

1.9.2.1

Unapproved

1.9.x

Unapproved

2.0.x

Divest
[4, 8, 9]

Unapproved

2.2.x

Divest
[4, 8, 9]

Divest
[4, 9, 10]

Unapproved

2.3.x

Approved w/Constraints
[4, 8, 9]

Approved w/Constraints
[4, 9, 10]

Approved w/Constraints
[4, 10, 11, 12]

Divest
[4, 10, 12, 13]

2.4.x

Unapproved

Approved w/Constraints
[1, 4, 10, 11, 12]

Approved w/Constraints
[4, 10, 12, 13]

Decision Constraints


[1]	This Technology is currently being evaluated, reviewed, and tested in controlled environments. Use of this technology is strictly controlled and not available for use within the general population.

[2]	Presence of this software on the One-VA TRM does NOT equate to being designated as what historically has been referred to as Class 1 VA Software, which results from a series of approvals by multiple VA offices, after having been confirmed to follow all VISTA programming and integration standards.

[3]	Veterans Affairs (VA) users must ensure VA sensitive data is properly protected in compliance with all VA regulations. All instances of deployment using this technology should be reviewed by the local ISO (Information Security Officer) to ensure compliance with VA Handbook 6500.

[4]	Technology must remain patched and operated in accordance with Federal and Department security policies and guidelines in order to mitigate known and future security vulnerabilities.

[5]	This product is Class 2 or Class 3 VA-designed and built Local Software OR is a commercially-licensed software product purchased or leased that will run in a VA VISTA environment or integrate with Class 1 National VISTA Software. Presence of this software on the One-VA TRM does not equate to designation as a Class 1 National Software product and MUST NOT be assumed to comply with all VA programming standards, namespacing and interface control agreement standards, data management standards, documentation standards, information assurance standards, security standards and 508 compliance standards. As a Class 2 or Class 3 product, it MUST NOT be assumed to having been released into production through all OI&T product release and sustainment process controls for project management; requirements, development and testing management; and configuration, change, and release management necessary to satisfy OI&T process and product compliance. The OI&T Enterprise Program Management Office does not endorse nor support Class 2 and Class 3 products and does not support data usage or application programmer interfaces (APIs) between Class 1 National Software products and Class 2 or Class 3 products. Class 2 or Class 3 products must restrict their interfaces to Class 1 National Software to use of publicly-supported APIs ONLY. VA Directive 6402, Modifications to Standardized National Software, dictates the policy for Class 2 and Class 3 products and modifications to Class 1 National Software products. Local enhancements to, or modifications of, Class 1 Protected National Software (as listed in the Directive), in part or in whole, is PROHIBITED. Local enhancements to, or modifications of, Non-Protected Class 1 National Software is allowed ONLY with an approved waiver by the Software Modification Waiver Committee (SMWC). Class 2 and Class 3 software that does not modify the Class 1 National Software in any way must still adhere to namespacing and interface control agreement standards as well as National Field Operations Processes.

[6]	Per the May 5th, 2015 memorandum from the VA Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) FIPS 140-2 Validate Full Disk Encryption (FOE) for Data at Rest in Database Management Systems (DBMS) and in accordance with Federal requirements and VA policy, database management must use Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-2 compliant encryption to protect the confidentiality and integrity of VA information at rest at the application level. If FIPS 140-2 encryption at the application level is not technically possible, FIPS 140-2 compliant full disk encryption (FOE) must be implemented on the hard drive where the DBMS resides. Appropriate access enforcement and physical security control must also be implemented. All instances of deployment using this technology should be reviewed to ensure compliance with VA Handbook 6500 and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards. It is the responsibility of the system owner to work with the local CIO (or designee) and Information Security Officer (ISO) to ensure that a compliant DBMS technology is selected and that if needed, mitigating controls are in place and documented in a System Security Plan (SSP).

[7]	Per the May 5th, 2015 memorandum from the VA Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) FIPS 140-2 Validate Full Disk Encryption (FOE) for Data at Rest in Database Management Systems (DBMS) and in accordance with Federal requirements and VA policy, database management must use Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-2 compliant encryption to protect the confidentiality and integrity of VA information at rest at the application level. If FIPS 140-2 encryption at the application level is not technically possible, FIPS 140-2 compliant full disk encryption (FOE) must be implemented on the hard drive where the DBMS resides. Appropriate access enforcement and physical security control must also be implemented. All instances of deployment using this technology should be reviewed to ensure compliance with VA Handbook 6500 and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards. It is the responsibility of the system owner to work with the local CIO (or designee) and Information Security Officer (ISO) to ensure that a compliant DBMS technology is selected and that if needed, mitigating controls are in place and documented in a System Security Plan (SSP).

[8]	Veterans Affairs (VA) users must ensure VA sensitive data is properly protected in compliance with all VA regulations. All instances of deployment using this technology should be reviewed by the local ISO (Information Security Officer) to ensure compliance with VA Handbook 6500.

[9]	Users must ensure that Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE), Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word and Microsoft Structured Query Language (SQL) Server are implemented with VA-approved baselines. (refer to the ‘Category’ tab under ‘Runtime Dependencies’)

[10]	Veterans Affairs (VA) users must ensure VA sensitive data is properly protected in compliance with all VA regulations. All instances of deployment using this technology should be reviewed by the local ISO (Information Security Officer) to ensure compliance with VA Handbook 6500.

[11]	Users must ensure that Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE), Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, Google Chrome, Firefox and Microsoft Structured Query Language (SQL) Server are implemented with VA-approved baselines. (refer to the ‘Category’ tab under ‘Runtime Dependencies’) Users must Divest the use of Internet Explorer with this technology. Other approved internet browsers are available. See Category Tab for details. This technology requires using a Universal Service Bus (USB) technology to transfer data into the records. As such, proper precautions need to be taken to protect data.

[12]	Per the May 5th, 2015 memorandum from the VA Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) FIPS 140-2 Validate Full Disk Encryption (FOE) for Data at Rest in Database Management Systems (DBMS) and in accordance with Federal requirements and VA policy, database management must use Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-2 compliant encryption to protect the confidentiality and integrity of VA information at rest at the application level. If FIPS 140-2 encryption at the application level is not technically possible, FIPS 140-2 compliant full disk encryption (FOE) must be implemented on the hard drive where the DBMS resides. Appropriate access enforcement and physical security control must also be implemented. All instances of deployment using this technology should be reviewed to ensure compliance with VA Handbook 6500 and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards. It is the responsibility of the system owner to work with the local CIO (or designee) and Information Security Officer (ISO) to ensure that a compliant DBMS technology is selected and that if needed, mitigating controls are in place and documented in a System Security Plan (SSP).

[13]	Users must ensure that Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, Google Chrome, Firefox, Adobe Acrobat Document Cloud (DC), and Microsoft Structured Query Language (SQL) Server are implemented with VA-approved baselines. (refer to the ‘Category’ tab under ‘Runtime Dependencies’) Users must utilize approved internet browsers, as Microsoft Internet Explorer has reached End of Life status. See Category Tab for details. This technology requires using a Universal Service Bus (USB) technology to transfer data into the records. As such, proper precautions need to be taken to protect data.

Note:

At the time of writing, version 2.4.2 is the most current version and was released 10/15/2022. Note: Version 2.5.x is in evaluation and is not yet commercially available.

References

The following reference(s) are associated with this entry:
Type	Name	Source	Description
There are no references identified for this entry.

Technology Components

Note: This list may not be complete. No component, listed or unlisted, may be used outside of the technology in which it is released. The usage decision for a component is found in the Decision and Decision Constraints.
Name	Description
No components have been identified for this entry.

VA Categories View the VA Categorization Framework

Domain Area	Category	Customer Guidance	Category Locked By ELT Date
Collaboration and Electronic Workplace Productivity Software	Accounting and Finance
Health Care Administrative	Health Delivery Support

Operating Systems Supported by the Technology

Windows Client - Approved w/Constraints
Windows Server - Approved w/Constraints

Technologies/Standards Relationships

Runtime Dependencies:

Comparable Technologies:

Companion Technologies/Supported Standards:

General Analysis

Adoption Benefits

At the time of writing, no National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) vulnerabilities had been reported and no VA Cyber Security Operations Center (CSOC) bulletins had been issued for the latest versions of this technology.
This technology may improve productivity for specific staff whose responsibilities include patient care by fostering the exchange of medical data.
This is a mature technology.

Adoption Risks

There is limited publicly available technical documentation for this technology.
Due to the rapid release schedule of this technology, the VA may be unable to update to the most recent patch and may require a deployment model requiring the use of specific versions.
Microsoft Internet Explorer, a dependency of this technology, is in End of Life status and must no longer be used.
This technology involves the use Universal Serial Bus (USB) connections and proper security precautions must be taken when used.
The potential exists to store Personally Identifiable Information (PII), Protected Health Information (PHI) and/or VA Sensitive data and proper security standards must be followed in these cases.

Architectural Benefits

This technology supports interoperability through the use of standards such as Health Level Seven (HL7), allowing for the transfer of information to another device like an Electronic Medical Record (EMR).
This technology can be fully integrated with the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA).

Architectural Risks

This technology is not portable as it runs only on Windows platforms.

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Current Decision Matrix (10/18/2022)

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VA Categories View the VA Categorization Framework

Operating Systems Supported by the Technology

Technologies/Standards Relationships

Runtime Dependencies:

Comparable Technologies:

Companion Technologies/Supported Standards:

General Analysis

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Architectural Benefits

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