IDENTIFYING REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF MEDICAL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

The management of any information technology system involves the manag ement of social values which are mediated through the system by stakeh olders via resources. Nowhere is this mon critical than in the medical sector. Evidence has shown us that the ability to identify correctly the social values, the stakeholders which mediate the social values, a nd the resources which act as tokens for the social values, is vital i n determining the success or failure of the system. Various medical in formation system failures can be directly attributed to the incorrect identification of stakeholders, and the encapsulation of incorrect soc ial values. Consequently in order to build a manageable medical inform ation technology system we need to identify requirements associated wi th a) the social values that the information system will be required t o mediate, b) the stakeholders who will perform the mediation, and c) the resources that are required by the mediation process. In this pape r I will show how, through the application of a scenario modelling tec hnique, we can identify these requirements.