A multiple perspective approach to information system quality

Abstract

The motivation for this research is a concern with the high rate of informationsystem failures reported in the academic literature and in practitioner publications. Itis proposed that the adoption of the customer-centred ideals and methods of qualitymanagement in information system development will increase the likelihood of thedelivery of successful information systems. The approach taken in the research is towork with the ideas of multiple perspectives - organizational effectiveness, work-lifequality, and technical artefact quality - and multiple stakeholders.The research approach is to use action research. The fieldwork comprisesthree phases. The first phase involved interviewing system developers and thesecond phase consisted of two case studies of implemented information systems.This preliminary analysis, together with a theoretical investigation of the foundationsof quality, was used to inform the development of a quality approach to informationsystem development. The information system development methodology (ISDM) isbased upon Multiview, a multiple perspective approach to information systemdevelopment, and the total quality management method used is quality functiondeployment. The resultant hybrid methodology is known as ISDM/Q.The ISDM/Q is tested using action research on a live system developmentproject concerned with the development of a wind tunnel control and data collectionsystem. Extensive organizational analysis was conducted to place this softwaredevelopment within a wider organizational context, involving quality requirementsworkshops and quality planning. The outcomes of the research are assessed in termsof the learning recorded with respect to the framework of ideas, the methodology(ISDM/Q) and the domain in which the action research took place. The field workshowed that there were benefits to using a quality metaphor in information systemdevelopment but that this would require a significant change in the culture and styleof information system development organizations. A practical contribution of theresearch is the development of quality function deployment for information systemdevelopment