Öppen källkod för insikter i datakänsliga tillämpningar : Utvärdering och implementering av verktyg för observerbarhet inom hälso- och sjukvårdssektorn

Observability provides understanding of internal states of an application, a fresh concept in software development. This project looks at how open-source software can be used to achieve observability in data-sensitive applications, mainly within the healthcare sector. A lot of developers are unfamiliar with the observability concept and selecting the perfect tool can be a difficult task. This becomes amplified if there is a risk of breaching laws and regulations regarding sensitive data and user privacy. The problem investigated is what criteria the open-source observability software has to fulfill to be viable as an observability tool in data-sensitive applications. To solve this problem, an assessment model for the evaluation of open-source software was defined. In addition to that, a qualitative approach was taken through a survey, to gain further insight into the necessary criteria. Since the healthcare industry is one of the sectors that handles sensitive data, the target population was IT professionals in the healthcare sector. Through a case study, this project also looks at one of the potential options for open-source observability software: OpenTelemetry. The assessment model consists of three primary categories, namely product attractiveness, software quality, trustworthiness, and an added user privacy criterion. The survey shows that some of the primary factors that concern IT professionals in the IT industry are performance, usability, and scalability. Through the case study, it is shown that OpenTelemetry fulfills many of the criteria defined in the assessment model and offers functionalities that can simplify handling of sensitive data. One criterion that was not investigated in the case study, is performance. The performance overhead of an observability tool depends not only on the tool but also on the application and the implementation itself. Collaboration with the healthcare industry or a project focusing on the performance criterion can be of great interest for future work.