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One System For Nine Counselling Centres

A web-based information system for voluntary and confidential counselling and testing at the Institut za javno zdravlje Crne Gore: anonymous client records, the full DPST testing workflow and national reporting across nine counselling centres, replacing spreadsheets and paper files.

The DPST control panel showing this month's new clients, tests, positive results and referrals

Project snapshot

Location
  • Montenegro
Industry
Services provided
Development period
  • Feb 2026 – ongoing

About the project

The Institut za javno zdravlje Crne Gore runs Montenegro's voluntary and confidential counselling and testing services for HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and syphilis. The service operates through nine counselling centres across the country, with the main centre in Podgorica, and works under a strict confidentiality protocol: clients are counselled and tested without their names ever being collected.

We were selected through a public tender to design, build and deploy the information system that runs this service. The engagement covers business analysis, UX/UI design, software development, database implementation, testing and the transition to production infrastructure.

The challenge

Counselling and testing records lived on paper forms and in spreadsheets, kept separately at each of the nine centres. There was no shared client record, no way to see activity across the network and no way to produce a national report without collecting and merging files by hand.

The data is among the most sensitive a public institution handles, so any system replacing the paper had to preserve the protocol's core guarantee: full case records with no personal identifiers, and access limited to exactly the people who need it.

Tests recorded per counselling centre in the demo dataset
Counselling centreHIVHBVHCVSyphilis
Podgorica153120108100
Nikšić10411580107
Kotor59819254
Budva47655542
Berane38374145
Bijelo Polje18252116
Tests recorded per counselling centre. Figures are the demo dataset the system ships with, not IJZCG case records.

One national network, scoped access

Nine cities. Three roles. Each sees exactly what they should.

Counsellors work with clients at their own centre. National coordinators see data across all nine centres, read-only. Administrators manage users, roles and configuration. Every login requires two-factor authentication. Sensitive public health data is visible to exactly the people the protocol allows, and no one else.

Anonymous client records

A full case history. No name attached.

Every client is registered under a code built from fragments of their name, birth date and gender, following the DPST protocol. No names or personal identifiers enter the system. Behind each code sits the complete case file: every counselling session, test, result and referral in one timeline. Counsellors open one record instead of searching through paper files, and the client stays anonymous end to end.

The clients list, where each row is a client code with only gender, age group and residence beside it

Nine filing cabinets became one record nobody has to chase.

The client record open on the pre-test counselling step, with testing, results, post-test and referral waiting in the same flow

1 / 10Pre-test counselling

Pre-test counselling form asking whether counselling was conducted, what it covered and whether risk reduction was discussed

2 / 10Pre-test counselling form

The testing step of the record, listing the sessions recorded against this client code

3 / 10Testing

Testing form capturing the date, sampling time, protocol number, the four tests and where the testing was done

4 / 10Testing form

The results step of the record, listing results entered against each test

5 / 10Results

Results form restricting each of the four tests to positive, negative or not tested

6 / 10Results form

The post-test step of the record, listing the post-test counselling sessions

7 / 10Post-test

Post-test counselling form recording what the client was told and the materials handed over

8 / 10Post-test form

The referral step of the record, listing referrals made from this case

9 / 10Referral

Referral form covering diagnosis confirmation, treatment status, retesting after the window period and referral to support services

10 / 10Referral form

The ten steps of the DPST protocol, as the counsellor works through them.

The complete testing workflow

Pre-test, test, result, post-test, referral. One flow.

What used to be a stack of separate paper forms is now one guided flow. The counsellor records pre-test counselling, the testing session with protocol number and risk assessment, results for HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and syphilis, post-test counselling and any referral to further diagnostics or support services. Results are restricted to positive, negative or not tested; the system accepts nothing else. A result form prints on demand, and treatment status is tracked when a diagnosis is confirmed.

The statistics module with a date range, test type and population filters above per-centre and key-population breakdowns

Statistics on demand

Pick the indicators. Pick the period. Export.

Coordinators choose any combination of indicators for any date range: tests performed, people tested, results by test type, activity by centre, breakdowns by key population. The system merges the data and exports to Excel, PDF or CSV, formatted for print. A national report that used to mean collecting spreadsheets from nine cities is now a filter and a click.

Codebooks the institute controls

The protocol changes. The system keeps up. No developer needed.

Testing reasons, risk categories, key populations, referral options and distributed materials are all codebooks the administrator maintains. New values can be added at any time; outdated ones are deactivated, never deleted, so historical records stay intact. When the protocol or reporting requirements change, the institute updates the system itself.

The settings screen listing the codebooks an administrator maintains, from testing reasons to ICD-10 diagnoses

The national picture used to take weeks of collating. Now it takes a date range and a click.

Population groups panel breaking a month's tests down across MSM, PWID, sex workers and others

Links

The client says...

Custom Software Development, Other app platformMontenegro

They've maintained a collaborative approach.

5.0
Branko DujovicIT Department Head, Institute for Public Health Montenegro
Read more from Branko Dujovic

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