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Practice guide

Halo Link overview Security overview Troubleshooting Contact Support

What is Halo Connect?

Halo Connect is an interoperability platform. For practices, our goal is to reduce the costs and risks associated with using PMS integrations, by removing the need for installing multiple local agents on the practice's server. Instead, those integrations can connect to the server via one local agent -- Halo Link -- by sending their queries to our Halo Cloud APIs.

For practices, this means:

  • Simpler IT infrastructure, by reducing the number of local agents running on your practice server.
  • Reduced burden on the server and the PMS database, by consolidating and limiting queries to maintain server health.
  • Streamlined integration setup, by allowing you to enable new integrations with a single click from within your PMS's software. No more contacting your IT provider to install or update a dozen different local agents.
  • Improved safety and security, by limiting the ways integrations can access your data and by using a modern agent built using Microsoft services and hosted on Australian servers. See What to do about a security incident for more information about how we can help.

Halo Link is a local agent which connects your practice server to our cloud services. It's core purpose is to protect your server, by controlling integrator queries via queuing, execution time outs, and various other methods.

When an integration wants to access data in your server's database, they send a query to Halo Cloud, Halo Cloud sends the query to the Halo Link agent on your server, Halo Link tries to run the query, and the result is returned to Halo Cloud then to the integration.

It is also entirely server-based -- installing Halo Link should make no different to practice staff, or require any changes to their workstations. It operates entirely behind the scenes, on your practice's server.

graph LR
    I1[Integration A]
    I2[Integration B]
    I3[Integration C]

    H1(Halo Cloud)

    I1 <--> H1
    I2 <--> H1
    I3 <--> H1

    subgraph Practice
        subgraph PS [Practice server]
            S[(PMS DB)]
            H2(Halo Link agent)
            H2 <--> S
        end

        subgraph Practice staff
            U1[Staff computer]
            U2[Staff computer]
            U3[Staff computer]
        end
        PS <--> U1
        PS <--> U2
        PS <--> U3
    end
    H1 <--> H2
graph LR
    I1[Integration A]
    I2[Integration B]
    I3[Integration C]

    subgraph Practice
        subgraph PS [Practice server]
            S[(PMS DB)]

            A1[Integration A agent]
            A2[Integration B agent]
            A3[Integration C agent]

            A1 <--> S
            A2 <--> S
            A3 <--> S
        end

        subgraph Practice staff
            U1[Staff computer]
            U2[Staff computer]
            U3[Staff computer]
        end
        PS <--> U1
        PS <--> U2
        PS <--> U3
    end

    I1 <--> A1
    I2 <--> A2
    I3 <--> A3

Requirements and installation instructions for Halo Link can be found in the Halo Link installation documentation, including installing as part of Bp Premier.

More general information, such as what to do when migrating servers, can be found in the Halo Link introduction page.

How do I troubleshoot errors?

The Support section of these docs contain a few useful resources:

How do I get support?

Your best contact for different types of issues is:

For issues with... Contact...
PMS database or software PMS vendor
One specific PMS integration Integration vendor
Multiple PMS integrations Halo Connect
Halo Link installation, updates, or performance Halo Connect

If the issue appears to be with Halo Connect, please work through the recommended escalation steps then contact Support.

What to do about a security incident?

If your practice is hit by any kind of security breach, including ransomware, malware, or a DDOS attack, please contact Halo Connect Support immediately.

There are a few steps Halo Connect can take to help quarantine your systems while you work on resolving the issue, such as:

  • Rotating your Halo Connect keys (which is like changing your password).
  • Blocking integrations from accessing your database via Halo Link, to protect you and integrators from malicious actors or data corruption.
  • Monitoring for suspicious activity by integrations connected to your practice via Halo Link.

Once the breach has been resolved, Halo Connect can then work with you to turn your services back on and resume normal operations.

What are your privacy & security policies?

If you would like to know more about Halo Connect's privacy and security policies, and what your responsibilities are with regards to keeping patient data safe, please see the Security guide.

Next steps

Head to the Halo Link introduction next for more information about how Halo Link works.

Next: Halo Link introduction

Version: 24.326.2298