DHIS2
Your monthly stock form in DHIS2, filled in from OpenBoxes
OpenBoxes Lift fills in the monthly stock form (a DHIS2 data set) on your own DHIS2 server, from the stock figures Lift already keeps. It sends after each month closes, and it is one way: nothing comes back from DHIS2 into OpenBoxes. Included on every plan, with no add-on to buy.
One way, once a month
Lift sends aggregate numbers into DHIS2 once a month, after the month has closed. Nothing ever comes back from DHIS2 into OpenBoxes.
From the daily stock check
The figures come from Lift's once-a-day stock check of your instance, not from OpenBoxes in real time.
Included on every plan
Shared, Dedicated and Enterprise alike. There is no add-on, no extra price and nothing to buy.
What it sends
Only numbers, keyed by DHIS2 identifiers: per OpenBoxes location (grouped into a DHIS2 facility, meaning an organisation unit), per product, per month. No person names, email addresses, lot numbers, prices or money, and no product or location names leave Lift. You match these figures to the columns of your form:
- Opening balance
- Received
- Dispensed
- Losses: expired
- Losses: damaged
- Losses: total
- Positive adjustments
- Negative adjustments
- Net adjustment
- Closing balance
- Days out of stock
- Maximum level
- Minimum level
- Quantity to order
- Average monthly consumption
- Months of stock
Several OpenBoxes locations can share one DHIS2 facility; their figures are added together. Each row has a "Multiply by" factor for converting units, for example 0.01 when the form counts boxes of 100. Transfers between your own locations are not counted by default. You can choose to count transfers in as received and transfers out as dispensed. Average monthly consumption is not sent until there are 3 months of history.
How the month works
Closed months only
Months follow the time zone in Settings > General (US Eastern if none is set). The current month and future months can never be sent.
Provisional on the 1st, Final from the 10th
A month is ready as Provisional after the morning check on the 1st of the next month, and becomes Final from the check on the 10th. Make corrections by the 10th. Entries dated more than 8 days in the past never reach the monthly figures.
Send it yourself, or on a schedule
The account owner picks: only when someone sends it (the default), as soon as the month closes and corrected by the 10th (or before the form's lock date) if a figure changed, or once, on a day of the next month.
Never after the lock date, never over an approved period
Lift never sends after the form's lock date in DHIS2. If a facility's month is already approved or accepted in DHIS2, Lift skips that facility and names it.
Setting it up
In the portal: Integrations, the Connections tab, the DHIS2 tile, then Open DHIS2.
Connect your DHIS2 server
The account owner enters the server address and signs in with a personal access token (recommended) or a username and password. It is stored encrypted and never shown again.
Wait for approval
A DHIS2 server our team has not approved before shows Waiting for approval, and you get an email when it is decided. A server already approved for another account does not wait again.
Choose a monthly form
Only monthly forms that the DHIS2 account can enter data for are listed.
Match facilities, products and columns
Match each OpenBoxes location to a DHIS2 facility (Suggest matches helps), then products and the form's columns. The matches can be downloaded and uploaded as a CSV file.
Preview, dry run, send
The preview shows every value and where it comes from. A dry run lets DHIS2 check everything and save nothing, and Send to DHIS2 needs a passed dry run of the same figures within the last 15 minutes.
Who can do what
- The account owner
- Everything, and the only person who can connect, edit or remove a server, replace its token, turn it off or on, change the schedule and completion, and remove values from DHIS2.
- Teammates with the Admin role
- Choose forms, match facilities and products, preview, run a dry run, send and check.
- Other teammates
- See the connected servers, the forms and the History tab, but not the facility and product matches or the preview.
Before you start
- A DHIS2 server running version 2.40 to 2.43, with the standard (ISO) calendar.
- A monthly form (data set) that the DHIS2 account can enter data for. We recommend a data entry account that can only enter data for the forms being reported on.
- HTTPS with a certificate from a public certificate authority, reachable from the internet over IPv4 on port 443. Servers reachable only over a VPN are not supported.
- A server that only accepts connections from known addresses works once it allows both of Lift's DHIS2 addresses, which the DHIS2 guide lists.
- An active instance. A suspended account sends nothing.
Limits
- Up to 3 DHIS2 servers per account, up to 10 forms per server, and 10 sends a day per account (removing values from DHIS2 counts too).
- The last 12 closed months are offered. Months before Lift's daily stock check started for your account have nothing to preview.
- The first month may be incomplete: it can have no opening balance, and its days out of stock cover only the days Lift checked.
What it does not do
- Nothing comes back from DHIS2 into OpenBoxes.
- No tracker programs or events, no ADX, and no weekly, quarterly or other non-monthly periods.
- It never approves data in DHIS2, and never overwrites a period that is already approved.
- It does not import DHIS2 data into OpenBoxes.
- We do not offer paid mapping help for it, and there is no service level for it.
Questions about DHIS2
Does anything come back from DHIS2 into OpenBoxes?
No. It is one way: Lift sends aggregate numbers into DHIS2 and nothing ever comes back into OpenBoxes. The Check what DHIS2 has button only reads the values back from DHIS2 to compare them.
When are the figures sent?
Only after a month closes. It is ready as Provisional after the morning check on the 1st of the next month and becomes Final from the check on the 10th. The account owner chooses whether someone sends it by hand, it goes as soon as the month closes and is corrected by the 10th, or it goes once on a chosen day.
Which DHIS2 servers can I connect?
Your own DHIS2 server, running version 2.40 to 2.43 with the standard (ISO) calendar, on HTTPS with a certificate from a public certificate authority and reachable from the internet. Servers reachable only over a VPN are not supported, and the public DHIS2 demo servers cannot be used for a real account.
Why does my server wait for approval?
Before Lift contacts a DHIS2 server our team has not approved before, someone on our team approves it. Approval is per server address. The connection shows Waiting for approval until then, and you get an email when it is decided. We do not promise how long approval takes.
Can I import my DHIS2 data into OpenBoxes?
No. Sending figures to DHIS2 and importing from it are separate things, and DHIS2 aggregate data-value exports cannot be imported. Item-level data from the system that feeds DHIS2, such as stock cards or spreadsheets of movements, can be.
Is the capability you need in here?
Ask about any feature: lot tracking, integrations, mobile, reporting. If we don't do something you need, we want to hear that too.
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