European and Mediterranean Conference on Information Systems (EMCIS) 2006, July 6-7 2006, Costa Blanca, Alicante, Spain PROCESS BASED INFORMATION SYSTEMS SUCCESS MODEL: ASSESSMENT OF THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FUNCTION IN THREE HEALTHCARE ORGANISATIONS Sevgi Özkan, Department of Information Systems, Informatics Institute, Middle East Technical University, Turkey sozkan@ii.metu.edu.tr Abstract The effective use of information technology (IT) has the potential to solve problems efficiently, creating significant gains in performance and productivity. The medical sector is considered to be low level investors in IT when compared to other sectors. Many international comparisons look at the sums spent on health IT as a basis for determining how effective the IT systems are. However, this study supports the idea that this is a poor measure and a systematic approach needs to be taken when evaluating success of an IT system. A number of approaches for the evaluation of success of IT systems have been examined, and a novel model of IS effectiveness has been proposed. A process based assessment method (PB-ISAM) based on the proposed effectiveness model have been evaluated via three case organizations in the medical sector. Specific implications have been drawn concerning the applicability of an IS assessment approach in the context of the health sector. Keywords: Information systems effectiveness, information systems evaluation, information systems success, information system process maturity, information technology management in medical sector. 1 INTRODUCTION One of the top ten issues of information systems management is measuring and improving information systems (IS) effectiveness (Earl, 1989; Chang and King, 2005; DeLone and McLean, 2003, 2004; Myers, 2003; Seddon, 2002). In fact, information systems effectiveness has proven practically impossible to define and measure (Niederman, Brancheau and Wetherbe, 1991). There are many possible explanations for this difficulty. Evaluation, by its nature, is a very subjective undertaking which cannot be separated from human intellect, history, culture and social organization. The role of the information system in organisational performance can be subtle and difficult to differentiate from other factors (Nolan and McFarlan, 2005; Crowston and Treacy, 1986). Evidence suggests that poor performance of the information system is a serious inhibitor to good organisational performance. In addition, empirical research has shown that high information systems effectiveness is associated with high organizational performance (Chang and King, 2005). In that, assessment is an essential requirement of a feedback loop for continuous improvement of the information system and such improvement relates directly to the overall performance of the organization as measured by effectiveness. "Just as a human being needs a diversity of measures to assess his or her health and performance, an organization needs a diversity of measures to assess its health and performance" (Drucker, 1989). Systematic measurements are needed to guide action. "What gets measured gets attention" (Eccles, 1991). In parallel, DeLone and McLean (2003, 2004) emphasize the need for a validated measuring instrument of information systems effectiveness, which could provide a standardized evaluation mechanism enabling comparisons across departments, systems, users, organizations. They additionally assert that such a measurement will help building a cumulative research tradition which could clarify effectiveness measures. It is clear that information systems assessment is vital to organizations. Furthermore, organizations need a comprehensive framework for assessment to aid them in developing an information systems evaluation approach. Sevgi Özkan Process Based Information Systems Success Model: Assessment of the Information Technology Function in three Healthcare Organisations 1