Page 322 - Using MIS

290 Chapter 7 Processes, Organizations, and Information Systems

resulted in always-changing, inconsistent direction to soft- Alas, when, in January 2013, The Oregonian asked Rocky
ware developers. 16 King, the director of Cover Oregon, whether the system would
19
Further, unlike Access CT, OHA did not hire a supervising work, he responded, “I haven’t the foggiest idea.” Sadly,
contractor for the project, but instead decided itself to take an when the fog cleared, the exchange failed.
active role in the software’s development. Unfortunately, the
agency suffered high employee turnover and had difficulty hir- Questions
ing and keeping qualified personnel. OHA did hire the services
of a professional software development company to create ma- 7-11. Summarize the purpose and intended benefits of a
jor software components. However, of the three finalists for this healthcare exchange.
work, two dropped out at the last minute, and the winner by 7-12. Explain why a healthcare exchange requires an interor-
default, Oracle Corporation, became in essence a sole source ganizational information system.
vendor. Consequently, Oracle was able to negotiate time and
materials contracts rather than contracts for specific deliver- 7-13. Using knowledge from this chapter, summarize the
ables at specific prices. Later, when problems developed, Oracle difficulties and challenges of developing interorganiza-
was paid tens of millions of additional money for change orders tional information systems.
on that same time and materials basis. OHA also attempted to 7-14. Healthcare exchanges must utilize personal and con-
do much of its own programming, but the team had no experi- fidential data about their users. Write a one-paragraph
ence with Oracle and lacked both developers and managers. 17 policy that stipulates responsible processing and stor-
Ironically, because of prior problems with technology proj- age of this data.
ects, the Oregon legislature required the state to hire a quality
assurance contractor, Maximus Corporation, to oversee the 7-15. Explain what you believe are the reasons for the Access
project. From the project’s start, Maximus reported significant CT success.
problems involving divided control, lack of clear requirements, 7-16. Read the Executive Summary of the First Data report
inappropriate contracting methodology, lack of project plan- located at www.oregon.gov/DAS/docs/co_assessment.
ning, and lack of progress. It is unclear to whom those reports pdf. Summarize the report’s findings.
were delivered or what was done with them. In January 2013,
when the head of the OHA project received another negative 7-17. Using the facts described in this case and your answer
report in a long string of such negative reports, she threatened to question 7-16, list five key learnings you can take
to withhold Maximus’ payment. 18 from the Access CT and Cover Oregon projects.

MyMISLab ™

Go to mymislab.com for Auto-graded writing questions as well as the following
Assisted-graded writing questions:
7-18. Using the patient discharge process in Figure 7-7, explain how the hospital
benefits from an ERP solution. Describe why integration of patient records has
advantages over separated databases. Explain the value of an industry-specific
ERP solution to the hospital.
7-19. Consider the PRIDE system. Describe the information silos that exist prior
to the implementation of PRIDE. Summarize problems caused by these silos.
Explain how PRIDE eliminates information silos.

16 Nick Budnick, “Cover Oregon: Health Exchange Failure Predicted, but Tech Watchdogs’ Warnings Fell on Deaf Ears,” The Oregonian, January 18, 2014,
accessed May 25, 2014, www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2014/01/cover_oregon_health_exchange_f.html.
17 Nick Budnick, “Oregon Health Exchange Technology Troubles Run Deep due to Mismanagement, Early Decisions,” The Oregonian, December 14, 2013,
accessed May 25, 2014, www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2013/12/oregon_health_exchange_technol.html.
18 Budnick, “Cover Oregon: Health Exchange Failure Predicted.”
19 Ibid.