Good news if you use SQL databases in your part of the NHS: Sheffield’s dataset generator for Gooroo Planner is now available for free download.

As its creator, Andy Bailey at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, says, “It takes a dataset from a SQL server database and loads the data into a program for managers to adjust planning assumptions.  Managers can then use the generator to export those assumptions into a CSV file that’s suitable for upload into the Gooroo Planner System.  Why is the Gooroo Data Generator useful?  In a nutshell, it allows managers to run as many scenarios they like from their desktop without having to ask an information analyst to run the data on their behalf.  In a nutshell: the analyst becomes a bottleneck in the system, the Gooroo Data Generator removes that bottleneck and places the manager firmly in the driving seat.”

Because this software is likely to be useful to other NHS organisations, it is being made available ‘within the NHS family’ as freeware, but before you download it you must agree that:

a) this is not commercial software; it is NHS-created software being shared freely within the NHS;

b) this software is not supported, and in particular neither Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust nor Gooroo Ltd are available to help you install or use it;

c) neither Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust nor Gooroo Ltd make any warranties or accept any liability whatsoever for the contents of the download;

d) Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust have stated that to the best of their knowledge the entire contents of the download may be shared freely without breaching any copyright or other intellectual property rights, and that users should feel free to modify the software to suit local requirements.

Happy with all that? Then go ahead and download the zip file here (registered users only, free to NHS).