Organisational Data Service (ODS) reconfiguration toolkit

This toolkit is designed to support those undergoing a reorganisation to:      

• reconfigure their ODS codes or organisational information
• complete other required ODS-related activities

It also provides signposts to specialised areas to assist with system migration activity.

A reorganisation includes organisational mergers, acquisitions, and dissolutions. 

A reconfiguration refers to the process of updating and changing the ODS codes and associated information within the NHS England Digital system. It’s a critical step for maintaining the integrity of data across the healthcare system and ensuring systems that rely on ODS codes continue to operate.

We strongly recommend that you review this toolkit and the accompanying reconfiguration checklist. This will help you to: 

• prepare 
• create a plan 
• assess impact 
• test
• implement successful change   

This toolkit contains useful information to assist decision-making. It also includes a section called 'Activities to complete' which lists the required activities and tasks that should be completed by the changing organisations after a change has been confirmed.    

The accompanying reconfiguration checklist includes:

• a checklist – covering key systems, services, and reporting platforms commonly affected by ODS code changes (though not exhaustive)
• a glossary of common ODS terms

This toolkit is split into phases:

Phase 1: Discovery – Initial phase when an organisation is deciding to change or not and what the future structure will look like. During this phase, you need to understand ODS timescales, business rules and recommendations. You also need to inform us of a potential change at least 5 months before the proposed new legal date.    

Phase 2: Prepare for go-live – The phase after a change has been approved. During this phase, we will expect you to have agreed your future structure and you will need to complete a set of tasks to enable successful change of ODS information. The tasks will need to be completed at least 4 weeks before the new legal date.  

Phase 3: Go live – The phase refers to the day before, and the day of, the legal change date. We will update our systems and publish the new organisational information.  

Phase 4: Post go live – Following go-live, you will need to complete the migration of your systems to the new ODS details. We will then operationally close relevant ODS codes. This should be done within 6 months after the go-live date.

Appendix 2 explains the process for legally creating a changed organisation.