We're building the HealthVault platform incrementally, and part of that process is the creation or modification of data types on the platform.

We're revising how we handle that process, and part of the revision involves providing more information to partners about what we're planning so they can give input ahead of time. There are two times when we're looking for input.

The first is when we're just starting to think about creating or modifying a type, which we're calling the requirements phase. When we start that phase, we'll do a requirements post with a high-level overview of the type. If you have comments about the desirability of the type or think it applies to one of the scenarios you care about, you can add a comment to the post and/or contact us directly to provide input into the requirements stage. We're going to limit the comment period to a week so that we can keep the process going, so if you comment after that, your input may not make it into the requirements.

After we're done with requirements, we'll spend some time designing the type (or types).

When that is done, we'll do a second post where we will provide a lot more detail about the type, at which point you can offer your comments, once again during a one-week period.

After that, we'll make any revisions to the design, do all the implementation, and then deploy it out, at which point we'll do a third post announcing the availability of the new type.