Remote Automated Laboratory System (RALS) Remote Connect

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:	Remote Automated Laboratory System (RALS) Remote Connect (RRC) comprises two software programs intended to run on a Microsoft Windows Personal Computer (PC), making it an RRC Download Workstation. This software is used by the Point of Care Section as a middleware between healthcare devices and the core server. The RRC service uses PC serial or Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports to communicate with a local Point-of-Care (POC) instrument or device on the one side, and the PC Ethernet port on the other side to link the device via the network to a remote RALS server. Data collected by this technology is stored on the user`s local drive until it is uploaded to a patient`s chart through, either unidirectional or bi-directional, Laboratory Information System (LIS). The vendor Abbott, has taken over Alere/ Alere Informatics, and is therefore the new vendor for this technology.
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 been assessed by the Section 508 Office and found non-conformant. 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. Please see reference tab for more information concerning product versions.
Decision:	View Decisions

Decision Source:	TRM Mgmt Group
Decision Process:	One-VA TRM v24.7
Decision Date:	07/15/2024 at 19:06:10 UTC
Aliases:	RALS-Web3, RRC
Introduced By:	SCCM
Vendor Name:	Abbott

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
2.0	08/01/2013
2.1
5.x	09/09/2013
6.x	11/18/2019
7.x	11/12/2021
21.x

Current Decision Matrix (07/01/2024)

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

CY2023

CY2024

CY2025

Future>

Release

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

2.0

Unapproved

2.1

Unapproved

5.x

Unapproved

6.x

Divest
[6, 9, 10]

Unapproved

7.x

Approved w/Constraints
[6, 9, 10]

Approved w/Constraints
[6, 9, 11]

Divest
[6, 11, 12, 13]

21.x

Unapproved

Approved w/Constraints
[6, 11, 12, 13]

Decision Constraints


[1]	Only instances of this technology that have been deployed may continue to use this technology. No further expansion or use of this technology is permitted without a waiver from the Architecture and Engineering Review Board (AERB) and expressed authorization from the Assistant Secretary/Chief Information Officer or the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Information and Technology.

[2]	Known security vulnerabilities must be properly remediated prior to product deployment. Product must remain properly patched in order to mitigate known and future security vulnerabilities. Federal Information Processing Standard, FIPS 140-2, certified encryption must be used to encrypt data in transit if Personal Identifiable Information (PII), Personal Health Information (PHI), or Veteran Affairs (VA) sensitive information is involved or additional mitigating controls must be documented in an approved System Security Plan (SSP). Additionally, the technology must be implemented within the VA production network (not in a Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)) if PII/PHI/VA sensitive information is involved.

[3]	As of April 23, 2015, per the Deputy CIO of Architecture, Strategy and Design (ASD), all technologies in use by the VA require an assessment by the VA Section 508 office. Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998 is a federal law that sets the guidelines for technology accessibility. A VA Section 508 assessment of this technology has not been completed at the time of publication. Therefore, as of April 23, 2015 only users of this technology who have deployed the technology to the production environment, or have project design and implementation plans approved, may continue to operate this technology. In the case of a project that has implemented, or been approved for a specific site or number of users, and that project needs to expand operations to other sites or to an increased user base, it may do so as long as the project stays on the existing version of the technology that was approved or implemented as of April 22, 2015. Use of this technology in all other cases is prohibited.

[4]	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.

[5]	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.

[6]	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.

[7]	Only the current VA TRM-approved version(s) and install package(s) for RALS provided on the user`s VA computer may be used with applications and websites that support the VA-approved standard configuration of RALS. 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.

[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]	Only the current VA TRM-approved version(s) and install package(s) for RALS provided on the user`s VA computer may be used with applications and websites that support the VA-approved standard configuration of RALS. 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. Users must ensure that Firefox and Google Chrome are implemented with VA-approved baselines. (refer to the ‘Category’ tab under ‘Runtime Dependencies’) This technology cannot be utilized with Microsoft Silverlight, as this technology is not approved for use.

[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 ISSO (Information System Security Officer) to ensure compliance with VA Handbook 6500.

[11]	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 ISSO (Information System Security Officer) to ensure compliance with both VA Handbook 6500 and VA Directive 6500.

[12]	Only the current VA TRM-approved version(s) and install package(s) for RALS provided on the user`s VA computer may be used with applications and websites that support the VA-approved standard configuration of RALS. 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. Users must ensure that Microsoft Edge, Firefox, and Google Chrome are implemented with VA-approved baselines. (refer to the ‘Category’ tab under ‘Runtime Dependencies’) This technology cannot be utilized with Microsoft Silverlight, as this technology is not approved for use.

[13]	The Federal Information Processing standards (FIPS) 140-2 certification status of this technology was not able to be verified. This technology will require a 3rd party FIPS 140-2 or 140-3 certified solution for any data containing PHI/PII or VA sensitive information, where applicable. More information regarding the Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP) can be found on the NIST website.

Note:

At the time of writing, version 21.03.0008 is the most current version.

The versioning schema of this technology changed with the release of version 21.

References

The following reference(s) are associated with this entry:
Type	Name	Source	Description

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
Application Technology Integration Software	Device Integration
Health Care Health Services	Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Services

Operating Systems Supported by the Technology

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

Technologies/Standards Relationships

Runtime Dependencies:

InstallShield

Comparable Technologies:

Companion Technologies/Supported Standards:

General Analysis

Adoption Benefits

This technology can interface with a variety of medical devices, including glucose meters and non-glucose devices.
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 has a comprehensive set of documentation.
At the time of writing, there are a limited number of TRM options providing this functionality. The addition of this technology will provide end users with multiple viable options.
There is no licensing fee associated with this technology.

Adoption Risks

This technology involves the use Universal Serial Bus (USB) connections and proper security precautions must be taken when used.
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.
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.
This technology can potentially use Microsoft Silverlight Plug-in, an unapproved technology.
There is no indication based on either the vendor documentation or the Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP) that this technology is Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 compliant.
This technology is available as freeware. As such this technology may be without clearly defined support options which may result in suboptimal enterprise level support.

Architectural Benefits

This technology utilizes Health Level Seven (HL7) integration with pharmacy and hospital information systems.
This technology is compatible with virtual machines, therefore consistent with the enterprise Server Virtualize First Policy (VAIQ 7266972 08-27-2012). (Add Virtualization and Consolidation of Servers (Server Virtualize First) to Supported Standards)

Architectural Risks

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

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General Information

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Current Decision Matrix (07/01/2024)

Decision Constraints

References

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VA Categories View the VA Categorization Framework

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VA Technical Reference Model v 24.7

General Information

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Current Decision Matrix (07/01/2024)

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References

Technology Components

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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