A Cluster is a HIFIS 4 term that can be defined as a sub-grouping within the HIFIS 4 database.
Each Cluster is a group of Service Providers with a shared pool of Clients.
Each Cluster contains one or more Service Providers. This Cluster of Service Providers has a shared pool of Clients. Service Providers belonging to this Cluster can see and interact with Clients in this shared pool.
However, Service Providers belonging to a Cluster are not even aware of the existence of Clients in other Clusters. That also means that Service Providers within a Cluster cannot detect the activities of Service Providers within other Clusters. There is no crossover between Clusters.
In general, the state of Clustering within a HIFIS 4 installation can be described in one of three ways:
A fully integrated system comprises of only one Cluster.
A partially integrated system comprises of at least two Clusters, and at least one of those Clusters contains at least two Service Providers.
A fully isolated system comprises of multiple Clusters, each containing only one Service Provider.