A socio-technical framework for quality assessment of computer information systems

The emergence of total quality management and the ISO 9000 suite of standards has allowed a re-think of how (and why) the post-implementation evaluation of computer systems is to be carried out. Traditional performance measurement, modeling and analysis techniques - while not discredited - have been tempered with a more holistic ideology. This article recommends a sociotechnical approach to determining the quality of a computer information system. In this context, two postulates have been proposed and tested by field survey of expert systems in the insurance industry in North America. Postulate one focuses on a multidimensional concept of IS quality comprising the characteristics of task, technology, people and organization. Postulate two deals with differences in assessments of these characteristics according to stakeholder groups: managers, developers, and users. Summarizes the key findings of these postulates in the context of the TQM and ISO 9000 philosophies.