Down in the (Data)base(ment): Supporting Configuration in Organizational Information Systems

Abstract

We present a case study of a project to introduce a new organization-wide, inte- grated information system within the UK healthcare sector that we conducted as part of a wider, socio-technical exploration of factors influencing the dependabil- ity of computer-based systems. We report in detail on the problems of working with and evolving a standardized classification of work procedures that is central to the organizational purpose of the new IT system, and the responses of both us- ers and of the project team to these problems. These have important implications for the usability of computer-based systems and for the dependability of the in- formation they contain. Drawing insights from sociological studies of classifica- tion and standardization, we reflect upon the lessons for the development and im- plementation of computer-based systems designed to serve as “common information spaces.”