Hi, Tim & Jim are both pointing out what I think is a fundamental truth about Health Information Systems: The Health Sector is to an extreme extent an OPEN system, where it is next to impossible to pre-specify all components and solutions on beforehand. Diseases, treatments, organisations, professions, health infrastructures - they are all in constant change as the world is striving to cope with everything from spiralling costs of medical inputs to ageing populations to virus mutations.
So system developments MUST incorporate strong elements of learning and prototyping - development methodologies that fit Big IT and their Wall Street masters very poorly. It does not mean that long-term specification & standardisation work is a waste of time - but it DOES mean that such long-term "deepthought" projects run a risk of being incompatible with the installed base when they finally arrive. Intermediate products emanating from such long-term projects might also "open up" the project to developers that have a more practical approach or those that need something NOW to satisfy immediate needs. This creates new alliances, and as we all know political/professional alliances are as or more important than technical excellence in determining winners and losers. Best regards Calle ********************************************* Calle Hedberg 3 Pillans Road, 7700 Rosebank, SOUTH AFRICA Tel/fax (home): +27-21-685-6472; Cell: +27-82-853-5352 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *********************************************
