Designing a quality health information system: Case study analysis of maternal and child health in Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea (PNG) is facing what must seem like an insurmountable challenge to deliver quality healthcare servicesfor women living in both rural and urban areas. Glo bal governing bodies and donor agencies including WHO and UN have indicated that PNG does not have an appropriate health information system. Although there are some systems in place, to date, little research has been conducted on improving or resolving the data integrity and integration issues of the existing health information systems and automating the capture of women and newborns information in PNG. This current research study concentrates on the adoption of eHealth, as an innovative tool to strengthen the health information systems in PNG to meet WHO standards. The research targets maternal and child health focussing on child birth records asan exemplar...

Firms’ information system characteristics and management accounting adaptability

This study explores the relationship between the qualities of an information system and management accounting adaptability (MAA) and effectiveness in firms. Design/methodology/approach I develop and empirically test a model where the qualities of the information system and management accounting effectiveness are mediated by MAA. Findings Information system flexibility (ISF) and shared knowledge had a significant and positive correlation with MAA, which in turn had a positive and significant correlation with management accounting effectiveness. There was also a moderation effect of ISF on the correlation betweeen information system integration and MAA. Research implications Information system integration may not lead to management accounting stability, but the lack of flexibility of a system and a lack of cooperation between the stakeholders might lead to its stagnation. Practical implications Organizations are advised to implement solutions that are relatively flexible and modular, as well as encourage cooperation between stakeholders to fully leverage and improve the existing and future systems. Originality/value The study extends the discourse on the interaction between management accounting and information systems by exploring the role of a number of factors that drive MAA.

Organizational competencies and dynamic Accounting Information System capability: Impact on AIS processes and firm performance

Accounting information systems (AIS) capture and process accounting data and provide valuable information for decision-makers. However, in a rapidly changing environment, continual management of the AIS is necessary for organizations to optimise performance outcomes. We suggest that building a dynamic AIS capability enables accounting process and organizational performance. Using the dynamic capabilities framework (Teece 2007) we propose that a dynamic AIS capability can be developed through the synergy of three competencies: a flexible AIS, having a complementary business intelligence system and accounting professionals with IT technical competency. Using survey data, we find evidence of a positive association between a dynamic AIS capability, accounting process performance, and overall firm performance. The results suggest that developing a dynamic AIS resource can add value to an organization. This study provides guidance for organizations looking to leverage the performance outcomes of their AIS environment.

Reasoning about discontinuance of information system use

While many studies have explored conditions and consequences of information systems adoption and use, few have focused on the final stages of the information system lifecycle. In this paper, I develop a theoretical and an initial empirical contribution to understanding individuals’ intentions to discontinue the use of an information system. This understanding is important because it yields implications about maintenance, retirement, and users’ switching decisions, which ultimately can affect work performance, system effectiveness, and return on technology investments. In this paper, I offer a new conceptualization of factors determining users’ intentions to discontinue the use of information systems. I then report on a preliminary empirical test of the model using data from a field study of information system users in a promotional planning routine in a large retail organization. Results from the empirical analysis provide first empirical support for the theoretical model. I discuss the work’s implications for theory on information systems continuance and dual-factor logic in information system use. I also provide suggestions for managers dealing with cessation of information systems and broader work routine change in organizations due to information system end-of-life decisions.

The impact of the built environment on health across the life course : design of a cross-sectional data linkage study

Introduction: The built environment is increasingly recognised as being associated with health outcomes. Relationships between the built environment and health differ among age groups, especially between children and adults, but also between younger, mid-age and older adults. Yet few address differences across life stage groups within a single population study. Moreover, existing research mostly focuses on physical activity behaviours, with few studying objective clinical and mental health outcomes. The Life Course Built Environment and Health (LCBEH) project explores the impact of the built environment on self-reported and objectively measured health outcomes in a random sample of people across the life course. Methods and analysis: This cross-sectional data linkage study involves 15 954 children (0–15 years), young adults (16–24 years), adults (25–64 years) and older adults (65+years) from the Perth metropolitan region who completed the Health and Wellbeing Surveillance System survey administered by the Department of Health of Western Australia from 2003 to 2009. Survey data were linked to Western Australia's (WA) Hospital Morbidity Database System (hospital admission) and Mental Health Information System (mental health system outpatient) data. Participants’ residential address was geocoded and features of their ‘neighbourhood’ were measured using Geographic Information Systems software. Associations between the built environment and self-reported and clinical health outcomes will be explored across varying geographic scales and life stages. Ethics and dissemination: The University of Western Australia's Human Research Ethics Committee and the Department of Health of Western Australia approved the study protocol (#2010/1). Findings will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at local, national and international conferences, thus contributing to the evidence base informing the design of healthy neighbourhoods for all residents.

Decision support system architecture for consultant selection

Decision Support System (DSS) has played a significant role in construction project management. This has been proven that a lot of DSS systems have been implemented throughout the whole construction project life cycle. However, most research only concentrated in model development and left few fundamental aspects in Information System development. As a result, the output of researches are complicated to be adopted by lay person particularly those whom come from a non-technical background. Hence, a DSS should hide the abstraction and complexity of DSS models by providing a more useful system which incorporated user oriented system. To demonstrate a desirable architecture of DSS particularly in public sector planning, we aim to propose a generic DSS framework for consultant selection. It will focus on the engagement of engineering consultant for irrigation and drainage infrastructure. The DSS framework comprise from operational decision to strategic decision level. The expected result of the research will provide a robust framework of DSS for consultant selection. In addition, the paper also discussed other issues that related to the existing DSS framework by integrating enabling technologies from computing. This paper is based on the preliminary case study conducted via literature review and archival documents at Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) Malaysia. The paper will directly affect to the enhancement of consultant pre-qualification assessment and selection tools. By the introduction of DSS in this area, the selection process will be more efficient in time, intuitively aided qualitative judgment, and transparent decision through aggregation of decision among stakeholders.

Open and trusted information systems/health informatics access control (OTHIS/HIAC)

Information and Communications Technologies globally are moving towards Service Oriented Architectures and Web Services. The healthcare environment is rapidly moving to the use of Service Oriented Architecture/Web Services systems interconnected via this global open Internet. Such moves present major challenges where these structures are not based on highly trusted operating systems. This paper argues the need of a radical re-think of access control in the contemporary healthcare environment in light of modern information system structures, legislative and regulatory requirements, and security operation demands in Health Information Systems. This paper proposes the Open and Trusted Health Information Systems (OTHIS), a viable solution including override capability to the provision of appropriate levels of secure access control for the protection of sensitive health data.

Engaging students in programming

Poor student engagement and high failure rates in first year units were addressed at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) with a course restructure involving a fresh approach to introducing programming. Students’ first taste of programming in the new course focused less on the language and syntax, and more on problem solving and design, and the role of programming in relation to other technologies they are likely to encounter in their studies. In effect, several technologies that have historically been compartmentalised and taught in isolation have been brought together as a breadth-first introduction to IT. Incorporating databases and Web development technologies into what used to be a purely programming unit gave students a very short introduction to each technology, with programming acting as the glue between each of them. As a result, students not only had a clearer understanding of the application of programming in the real world, but were able to determine their preference or otherwise for each of the technologies introduced, which will help them when the time comes for choosing a course major. Students engaged well in an intensely collaborative learning environment for this unit which was designed to both support the needs of students and meet industry expectations. Attrition from the unit was low, with computer laboratory practical attendance rates for the first time remaining high throughout semester, and the failure rate falling to a single figure percentage.

Key organizational elements for effective information and knowledge management

Effective information and knowledge management (IKM) is critical to corporate success; yet, its actual establishment and management is not yet fully understood. We identify ten organizational elements that need to be addressed to ensure the effective implementation and maintenance of information and knowledge management within organizations. We define these elements and provide key characterizations. We then discuss a case study that describes the implementation of an information system (designed to support IKM) in a medical supplies organization. We apply the framework of organizational elements in our analysis to uncover the enablers and barriers in this systems implementation project. Our analysis suggests that taking the ten organizational elements into consideration when implementing information systems will assist practitioners in managing information and knowledge processes more effectively and efficiently. We discuss implications for future research.

Assessing information systems success models : empirical comparison (Research in Progress)

Information System (IS) success may be the most arguable and important dependent variable in the IS field. The purpose of the present study is to address IS success by empirically assess and compare DeLone and McLean’s (1992) and Gable’s et al. (2008) models of IS success in Australian Universities context. The two models have some commonalities and several important distinctions. Both models integrate and interrelate multiple dimensions of IS success. Hence, it would be useful to compare the models to see which is superior; as it is not clear how IS researchers should respond to this controversy.

Evaluating information systems

The book within which this chapter appears is published as a research reference book (not a coursework textbook) on Management Information Systems (MIS) for seniors or graduate students in Chinese universities. It is hoped that this chapter, along with the others, will be helpful to MIS scholars and PhD/Masters research students in China who seek understanding of several central Information Systems (IS) research topics and related issues. The subject of this chapter - ‘Evaluating Information Systems’ - is broad, and cannot be addressed in its entirety in any depth within a single book chapter. The chapter proceeds from the truism that organizations have limited resources and those resources need to be invested in a way that provides greatest benefit to the organization. IT expenditure represents a substantial portion of any organization’s investment budget and IT related innovations have broad organizational impacts. Evaluation of the impact of this major investment is essential to justify this expenditure both pre- and post-investment. Evaluation is also important to prioritize possible improvements. The chapter (and most of the literature reviewed herein) admittedly assumes a blackbox view of IS/IT1, emphasizing measures of its consequences (e.g. for organizational performance or the economy) or perceptions of its quality from a user perspective. This reflects the MIS emphasis – a ‘management’ emphasis rather than a software engineering emphasis2, where a software engineering emphasis might be on the technical characteristics and technical performance. Though a black-box approach limits diagnostic specificity of findings from a technical perspective, it offers many benefits. In addition to superior management information, these benefits may include economy of measurement and comparability of findings (e.g. see Part 4 on Benchmarking IS). The chapter does not purport to be a comprehensive treatment of the relevant literature. It does, however, reflect many of the more influential works, and a representative range of important writings in the area. The author has been somewhat opportunistic in Part 2, employing a single journal – The Journal of Strategic Information Systems – to derive a classification of literature in the broader domain. Nonetheless, the arguments for this approach are believed to be sound, and the value from this exercise real. The chapter drills down from the general to the specific. It commences with a highlevel overview of the general topic area. This is achieved in 2 parts: - Part 1 addressing existing research in the more comprehensive IS research outlets (e.g. MISQ, JAIS, ISR, JMIS, ICIS), and Part 2 addressing existing research in a key specialist outlet (i.e. Journal of Strategic Information Systems). Subsequently, in Part 3, the chapter narrows to focus on the sub-topic ‘Information Systems Success Measurement’; then drilling deeper to become even more focused in Part 4 on ‘Benchmarking Information Systems’. In other words, the chapter drills down from Parts 1&2 Value of IS, to Part 3 Measuring Information Systems Success, to Part 4 Benchmarking IS. While the commencing Parts (1&2) are by definition broadly relevant to the chapter topic, the subsequent, more focused Parts (3 and 4) admittedly reflect the author’s more specific interests. Thus, the three chapter foci – value of IS, measuring IS success, and benchmarking IS - are not mutually exclusive, but, rather, each subsequent focus is in most respects a sub-set of the former. Parts 1&2, ‘the Value of IS’, take a broad view, with much emphasis on ‘the business Value of IS’, or the relationship between information technology and organizational performance. Part 3, ‘Information System Success Measurement’, focuses more specifically on measures and constructs employed in empirical research into the drivers of IS success (ISS). (DeLone and McLean 1992) inventoried and rationalized disparate prior measures of ISS into 6 constructs – System Quality, Information Quality, Individual Impact, Organizational Impact, Satisfaction and Use (later suggesting a 7th construct – Service Quality (DeLone and McLean 2003)). These 6 constructs have been used extensively, individually or in some combination, as the dependent variable in research seeking to better understand the important antecedents or drivers of IS Success. Part 3 reviews this body of work. Part 4, ‘Benchmarking Information Systems’, drills deeper again, focusing more specifically on a measure of the IS that can be used as a ‘benchmark’3. This section consolidates and extends the work of the author and his colleagues4 to derive a robust, validated IS-Impact measurement model for benchmarking contemporary Information Systems (IS). Though IS-Impact, like ISS, has potential value in empirical, causal research, its design and validation has emphasized its role and value as a comparator; a measure that is simple, robust and generalizable and which yields results that are as far as possible comparable across time, across stakeholders, and across differing systems and systems contexts.

Life in the 'real world': a profile of Queensland University of Technology Library and Information Science graduates.

A graduate destination survey can provide a snap shot in time of a graduate’s career progression and outcome. This paper will present the results of a Queensland University of Technology study exploring the employment outcomes of students who had completed a library and information science course from the Faculty of Information Technology between 2000 and 2008. Seventy-four graduates completed an online questionnaire administered in July 2009. The study found that 90% of the graduates surveyed were working and living in Queensland, with over three quarters living and working in Brisbane. Nearly 70% were working full-time, while only 1.4% indicating that they were unemployed and looking for work. Over 80% of the graduates identified themselves as working in “librarianship”. This study is the first step in understanding the progression and destination of QUT’s library and information science graduates. It is recommended that this survey becomes an ongoing initiative so that the results can be analysed and compared over time.

Sensitivity of the lane change test as a measure of in-vehicle system demand

The Lane Change Test (LCT) is one of the growing number of methods developed to quantify driving performance degradation brought about by the use of in-vehicle devices. Beyond its validity and reliability, for such a test to be of practical use, it must also be sensitive to the varied demands of individual tasks. The current study evaluated the ability of several recent LCT lateral control and event detection parameters to discriminate between visual-manual and cognitive surrogate In-Vehicle Information System tasks with different levels of demand. Twenty-seven participants (mean age 24.4 years) completed a PC version of the LCT while performing visual search and math problem solving tasks. A number of the lateral control metrics were found to be sensitive to task differences, but the event detection metrics were less able to discriminate between tasks. The mean deviation and lane excursion measures were able to distinguish between the visual and cognitive tasks, but were less sensitive to the different levels of task demand. The other LCT metrics examined were less sensitive to task differences. A major factor influencing the sensitivity of at least some of the LCT metrics could be the type of lane change instructions given to participants. The provision of clear and explicit lane change instructions and further refinement of its metrics will be essential for increasing the utility of the LCT as an evaluation tool.