Core Alignment and Performance in a Tri-Core Model of Reengineering

Abstract

Reengineering projects have proven difficult to complete on time with satisfactory outcomes. Swanson's (1994) tri-core model of IS innovations suggests that a deficiency in one or more of the cores - the administrative core, the technical (business) core and the IS core - can cause process innovations, such as IT-based reengineering projects, to fail. Using reengineering projects in health care, we study the extent of which each core in the tri-core model explains performance, whether alignment among the cores improves that explanation, and how the cores differ in the dimension of project performance they explain. We find that a set of reengineering issues derived from the literature separates into constructs representing the three cores, indicating that know-how to manage these issues are core specific. Next, we find that together the main effects of the tri-core model do not explain project performance, however core alignment in the form of interactions explains both process and product measures of project performance. The process measure of project performance, the duration of project delay, is explained by the IS core and interactions between the IS core and the other two cores. In contrast, the product measure of project performance, client satisfaction, is explained by the administrative core and interactions with the other cores. Thus, the administrative core responsible for management and coordination know-how, rather than the logical IS unit, is responsible for satisfaction with the reengineered process. Finally, we show that the antecedent to the tri-core model, the dual core model where the IS core is embedded in the other cores, does not explain reengineering project performance even when alignment is considered.