The Harvard Medical community has been fortunate over the years in being the site of a number of large scale medical computing developments. Yet these have occurred in a decentralized environment without the benefit of overall planning. Current developments are now forcing the need for strategic planning for integrated academic information services, among them the growth of computing capabilities at all levels of the community. This has been largely a consequence of the spread of personal computing capability, and has been accompanied by demand from these new users for new services. Another major impetus is the New Pathway program, a curriculum development effort at Harvard which is prompting the need for an unprecedented systemic look at the role of information systems in medical education and practice. As a consequence, the Harvard Medical community, consisting of its professional schools, library, and affiliated hospitals, proposes to develop a strategic planning framework for meeting the challenge of providing an integrated academic information management system (IAIMS). This effort will be coordinated by an Office for Academic Information Systems Planning and supported by an institutionally broad Steering Committee, by a Working Committee of those individuals who are either responsible for providing services or who represent the spectrum of user needs, and by consultants where necessary. A central feature of this proposal will be its use of a planning methodology known as the """"""""incremental approach,"""""""" in which critical success factors are identified, achievable goals selected, and, based on experience in reaching these goals, the plan is updated and refined. The traditional tasks of planning will be carried out in a framework where the overall system is iteratively approximated, and successful outcome of initial efforts will be used to build confidence in future steps.
| Barnett, G O; Greenes, R A; Zielstorff, R D (1988) IAIMS development at Harvard Medical School. Bull Med Libr Assoc 76:226-30 |
