A stakeholder's communication approach for balancing hospital information systems investment priorities

The Stakeholders Communication Approach is aimed at supporting the decision process in the choice of information systems (IS) applications at the start of a hospital IS planning cycle. It promotes discussion among senior management, key stakeholders, IS Department management, end users and the Accounting Department using specific tools and a negotiation process. The IS applications portfolio profile allows visualizing the hospital's strategic position and directions for development of IS. End users' responses to a questionnaire give a measure of "user functional value added" (UFVA) to inform management about the effectiveness and usefulness of the systems implemented. Stakeholders' evaluation of recently completed IS applications uses UFVA and cost, both separately and combined, along with assessment of strategic changes, to edify the priority-balancing process for deciding on investments in further IS applications.