Technical Specialist
- Career Category: Computer - General, Computer - Networking, Health/Medical, Advisor / Individual Consultant
- Schedule:Full-time
- Salary: Negotiable
Based Location: Ministry of Health in Phnom Penh, with travel to the provinces as needed
Expect Start Date: As soon as possible
Consultant Fees: Negotiable
Travel Cost: Follow the Government DSA rate
Position Summary:
The Technical Specialist is responsible for operationalizing and scaling up the DHIS2 configuration. This position will be located at DPHI and report to the DPHI director, and work closely with the CHAI team.
This role ensures that the system is fully configured according to the organization’s needs, including both technical and functional configurations, and is the key person for metadata management in DHIS2.
The Technical Specialist works with all other members within the DHIS2 implementation team, external advisors and contractors, in particular HISP, and across departments and programs within the Ministry of Health to understand the system requirements and develop solutions to meet them.
As the system is already in rollout phase, this includes upgrading the overall system configuration, adding additional functionality, integrating new programs, modifying routines to incorporate DHIS2, and supporting users in using the application. To ensure sustainability of the system, the technical specialist will be in charge of developing processes and procedures to maintain the integrity of the DHIS2 system to operate efficiently over an extended time period, defining a data governance framework, upgrading procedures, and managing metadata
The technical specialist will also consider how DHIS2 fits into the overall health information architecture defined by the Department of Digital Health and optimize interoperability with other systems, focusing on the type of data needed and what processes or agreements may facilitate this exchange, in coordination with HISP which will define structural and functional specifications for data exchange, as well as implement data exchange pipelines. This encompasses in particular coordinating with DHIS2 core team members on technical topics.
- Oversee HISP activities, including:
- Definition of DHIS2 configuration upgrades
- Continuous configuration changes of the system (creation and management of Organizational Units, data elements, data entry forms, indicators, and dashboards). All data elements, data entry forms, and indicators should be presented both in Khmer and English in the user interface, requiring translation from the Technical Specialist
- Systems documentation, defining how configurations and programmatic workflows have been implemented within DHIS2
- Implementing interoperability with other systems
- Upgrade of the system to meet with the EA blueprint standards
- Maintenance and troubleshooting of DHIS2
- Support DPHI in coordinating with national programs and departments to facilitate interoperability and implement data exchange capability with other information systems.
- Organize user testing and put in place feedback loops with end users, work with departments and health programs to gather feedback from stakeholders about the DHIS2 system to ensure that it meets expectations, make adjustments, and improve the system further.
- Support DHIS2 cascade training by providing coaching to PHDs and ODs and participate in some targeted trainings as needed.
- Oversee data quality during transition period from HMIS to DHIS2, ensuring that national, subnational levels and end users effectively apply new SOPs on data review to improve data quality.
- Support DPHI in providing helpdesk, with a strong focus on the transition period to ensure that end users effectively use DHIS2 and apply procedures.
- Create data visualization tools, including dashboards, to support the ministry (national and subnational levels) in using DHIS2 data for decision-making.
- Provide the M&E committee of the ministry with monthly data analytics to support decision-making on a regular basis.
- Ensure effective knowledge transfer to DPHI and the DHIS2 core team to promote long-term sustainability of the system.
- Documentation oversight and implementation:
- Create and maintain a data dictionary by overseeing the semantic structure of the data in line with clinical experts.
- Data governance framework, including the definition of user groups and roles (rights to write, edit, or read data), as well as data validation mechanisms.
- Refer to DHIS2 best practices, guidance and standard operating procedures and determine how to implement, sustain and evaluate these locally
- Define and implement standard operating procedures/processes including user guidelines
- Support and building capacity of DPHI staff on DHIS2 and other relevant technical areas, including data analysis with DHIS2.
- Regularly liaise with HISP, the DHIS2 core team, and other implementing partners to monitor implementation progress and address emerging challenges.
- Provide support for system bugs, including help desk assistance
- Provide inputs into long-term capacity building plans
- Regularly liaising with development partners and technical advisors on requirements
- Other tasks as requested by the director
- Bachelor's Degree in or Master’s degree in Information Technology, Public Health, Policy, Science or a related field.
- Strong knowledge in metadata management, data validation, and quality control.
- Experience with data governance frameworks.
- Understanding health data exchange standards (FHIR, HL7, JSON, XML, APIs).
- Experience in developing system documentation, SOPs.
- Experience in public health informatics, HMIS (Health Management Information Systems), or digital health.
- Knowledge of SQL, PostgreSQL, and scripting languages.
- Experience in the configuration and customization of open source digital health technologies (DHIS2, OpenMRS, OpenLMIS, OpenSRP, ODK et cetera)
- Ability to gather and analyze user requirements and translate them into system configurations.
- Strong stakeholder engagement skills
- Excellent problem-solving and project management skills.
