athenaOne Spring Release Readiness
athenaOne has three large releases per year. There are many resources available to ensure your organization is fully prepared for each one, eliminating significant manual work for your training team.
A key component of release success is ensuring your practice has a point person responsible for release review. This person should review the Release Workspace and Clinicals and Billing Release Centers to gain familiarity with the upcoming roll out. athenahealth typically publishes their Release Centers 3 weeks prior to each major release.
athenahealth Release Workspace:
Within the Release Workspace in the Success Community (must be logged into athenaOne to Access) you will find several helpful tools for a smooth release day -
Release Checklists
PowerPoint training deck
Email templates
Release Notes broken out by role
At Ignite, our favorite resource is the Excel spreadsheet provided within the Release Workspace – it provides a birds-eye view of each feature being released along with its applicable roles, if there are any required permissions and/or tablespace settings, and additional helpful information.
Release Preparation Timeline:
Preparing for a system update is key to ensuring a smooth transition for your team. Use this structured timeline to stay ahead of the upcoming athenahealth Spring Release.
5 Weeks Before:
notify leadership about the upcoming release
review past release notes to anticipate potential updates
4 Weeks Before:
announce the release with preliminary details
distribute official release notes
conduct a comprehensive review of the release notes across all departments
decide if your organization will opt out of any new features
3 Weeks Before:
provide team training using athena materials
ensure managers are ready to support their teams through the transition
2 Weeks Before:
coordinate with your CSM to conduct demos of major changes in a test environment
Release Week:
execute the rollout while ensuring clear communication, support, and real-time monitoring
2-4 Weeks Post-Release:
track impact, collect team feedback, and refine workflows as needed
make necessary adjustments to optimize processes and address any challenges
