Approach

Our approach to developing health information systems puts the logical before the physical. We engage our customers, the stakeholders in public health information systems, in answering a series of questions in order to develop a comprehensive, shared understanding about the health problem to be solved and how information systems can help. The following questions guide this process:

How does the work get done?

How can information systems infrastructure improve health outcomes?

What are the requirements for the system?

How will success be measured?

We work intensively with health agency staff to understand diverse stakeholder perspectives and information needs. Together, we analyze functions, workflow, and business processes. We facilitate the development of requirements and design specifications—all before decisions about technology are made. Using performance measures, we then evaluate the performance of an existing system to answer the bottom-line question: Does it work?