Information Technology Failures Research Articles

Acute care disruptions due to information technology failures in the Netherlands from 2000 to 2020

Background and aimHealthcare organizations are becoming increasingly dependent on Information technology (IT) for the provision of routine services. IT failures within hospital systems can impact acute patient care, including emergency department (ED) closure operating room (OR) stops.. The aim of this study is to gain insight into the impact of hospital IT failures in the Netherlands on acute care delivery and to provide recommendations for improved IT failure preparedness and hospital resilience during such an event. MethodsThis is a systematic scoping review of major acute care disruptions in Dutch hospitals between 2000 and 2020. Incidence of etiology, duration, ED diversion, and closure of multiple locations was evaluated. IT failures were included when associated with the closure of hospital departments and/or evacuations. ResultsThirty-nine IT failures resulting in acute care disruption were identified. The majority occurred between 2010 and 2020 (n = 37, 95 %). Of the 39 events, 33 (85 %) were primary IT failures and were mainly caused by computer network and/or hospital software failure. Secondary events predominantly resulted from power failure. Most events (n = 36, 92 %) were resolved within minutes to hours. All events were associated with an ED closure, 27 (69 %) with an operating room (OR) stop and two (5 %) with external hospital evacuation of one or more patients. Furthermore, 17 incidents (44 %) involved multiple hospital locations, and seven (41 %) of these involved closure of multiple locations with an ED. ConclusionThe impact of IT failures on acute care disruptions in the Netherlands has considerably increased since 2010. This stresses the urge to improve IT security and business continuity in today's hospitals.

Analysis of Information Technology Governance at the Office of Communication and Information (Diskominfo) using the Cobit 4.1 Method

good Information Technology (IT) governance is needed . Ineffective IT governance can cause unexpected cost losses, suboptimal service, low quality of IT use and failure of IT to provide value to the organization. Analysis of IT governance in the Office of Communication and Informatics (Diskominfo) in Lima Puluh Kota Regency aims to measure the maturity level and determine the extent of IT governance in the Diskominfo Office in Lima Puluh Kota Regency using the Cobit 4.1 framework . The Cobit 4.1 method is an information system audit method used by IT Governance. COBIT 4.1 functions to bring together all control needs and technical issues, besides that COBIT is also designed to be a tool to solve problems by managing risks and relationships between information resources. Based on the results of calculating the maturity level that has been achieved by each process domain PO1, PO4 , AI3, AI4, DS3, DS5, ME1, ME2, the maturity level results are obtained currently the analysis of IT governance in the Fifty Cities District Diskominfo Office is at level level 4 with a value of 3.95 . This shows that the analysis of IT governance at the Fifty Cities District Office of Communication and Information has implemented IT standards throughout the agency environment

Proposed Business Continuity Plan Information Technology using ISO 22301 And ISO 27031

Majority of organizations have a high dependence on the role of information technology (IT). IT has a very important role for a business, so IT implementation needs to be protected from various threats and disruptions to avoiding IT failures and the occurrence of IT risks that will poor impact to business activities of the organization. To ensure the sustainability of the business, an organization needs to have a business continuity planning (BCP) document. BCP is a complete set of procedures to respond to the disruption of business operations effectively and efficiently, so that business can continue continuously. During all this time, not many organizations have awareness to the importance of good BCP implementation. It is caused by the lack knowledge how to design BCP document with comprehensive, included business impact analysis and prioritize critical business processes. Organizations without BCP implementation, would potentially loss profit, because they did not have any preparation in case of disaster related to information technology which has crusial role in business organizations. This indicated that BCP is important to be implemented throughout the organization for business to continue continuously as it reduces the negative impact of business interruptions. The output of this research is the proposed BCP in the oil and gas industry using ISO 22301:2012, ISO 27031:2011 references related to business continuity in information technology, and previous research on BCP elements.

Procurement maturity and IT failures in the public sector

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate disastrous failures in high-value, high-risk IT procurement among US public agencies. The goal is to understand the cause of the failures and explore the role of procurement in IT public investments.Design/methodology/approachThe establishment of the maturity model is based on the relevant literature review and IT procurement failures at four different US public agencies. The data is gathered through multiple sources, including documents, archival records and interviews.FindingsThe findings add to the public procurement literature and highlight the catalyst role of procurement maturity in the success of IT public procurement. They also call for public agencies to grow procurement maturity and increase procurement impact throughout the procurement process.Research limitations/implicationsThe proposed model was primarily based on four Information Technology (IT) procurement failures. Investigations on IT procurement successes and on a larger scale are necessary to further validate and expand the model.Practical implicationsThe proposed model can help public agencies identify where they are in their IT procurement journey and formulate plans to reduce the likelihood of IT procurement failure.Social implicationsThe proposed model helps public agencies achieve IT procurement success, which leads to timely policy implementation, huge federal savings and better use of taxpayer money.Originality/valueThis paper provides an effective framework for public agencies seeking to overcome high-value high-risk IT procurement challenges and achieve IT procurement success.

In search of a rational foundation for the massive IT boom in the Australian banking industry: Can the IT boom really drive relationship banking?

Information technology (IT) is meant to improve bank performance by lowering operational costs and improving the process of financial intermediation of banks. However, the empirical evidence has failed to reach a consensus on the precise effects of IT on bank performance as some find evidence to concur with the Solow Paradox, while others contradict this paradox. The heterogeneity in the quality of banking services is partly responsible for the inconsistency in the findings. To sidestep the issue of heterogeneity, we consider the top-tier Australian banks for which the quality of banking services is homogeneous. Applying the dynamic panel data methodology, i.e., panel autoregressive distributed lag (panel ARDL) and cross-sectionally augmented panel ARDL (CS-ARDL) models, we investigate the effect of IT on the cost and profit efficiency frontiers of the top-tier Australian banks during 2000–2019. We unequivocally establish that the frontiers of bank profits rise due to the adoption and diffusion of IT investment, contradicting the assumed failure of IT to adequately collect soft information in the banking industry. Furthermore, we find that the cost frontiers have risen, driven by the IT boom. Hence, there is evidence that despite increases in operational inefficiency, IT has shifted the profit frontiers up by enhancing relationship banking in Australia.

Critical Infrastructure - Perspectives on the Role of Government in Cybersecurity

Since the end of the cold war era (1945 - 1989), the United States government (USG) has been gradually reduced, and in some cases eliminated direct support for the development of critical infrastructure. The reduction of public investment, and the subsequent transfer of critical infrastructure from public to private ownership, has significantly increased the risk not only to critical infrastructure, but to the entire nation. The use of non-isolated, public communication and information technology, without any contingency or emergency backups is a national disaster waiting to happen. The USG must vigorously support - both financially and through active management, policy and regulation - the creation of isolated, secure, and resilient communications and information technology infrastructures, that provide non-public redundancy, thereby ensuring that public communication and information technology failures, as a result of man-made attacks or natural events, do not result in catastrophic outcomes to not only other critical infrastructure sectors, but to the nation at large. This paper surveys historical and contemporary government roles in the development of critical infrastructure, particularly, communication and information technologies, and provides recommendations for how the US government can significantly improve the security and resilience of its current critical infrastructure systems.

The effects and preventability of 2627 patient safety incidents related to health information technology failures: a retrospective analysis of 10 years of incident reporting in England and Wales

The use of health information technology (IT) is rapidly increasing to support improvements in the delivery of care. Although health IT is delivering huge benefits, new technology can also introduce unique risks. Despite these risks, evidence on the preventability and effects of health IT failures on patients is scarce. In our study we therefore sought to evaluate the preventability and effects of health IT failures by examining patient safety incidents in England and Wales. We designed our study as a retrospective analysis of 10 years of incident reporting in England and Wales. We used text mining with the words "computer", "system", "workstation", and "network" to explore free-text incident descriptors to identify incidents related to health IT failures following a previously described approach. We then applied an n-gram model of searching to identify contiguous sequences of words and provide spatial context. We examined incident details, recorded harm, and preventability. Standard descriptive statistics were applied. Degree of harm was identified according to standardised definitions and preventability was assessed by two independent reviewers. We identified 2627 incidents related to health IT failures. 2557 (97%) of 2627 incidents were assessed for harm (70 incidents were excluded). 2106 (82%) of 2557 health IT failures caused no harm to patients, 331 (13%) caused low harm, 102 (4%) caused moderate harm, 14 (1%) caused severe harm, and four (<1%) contributed to the death of a patient. 1964 (75%) of 2627 incidents were deemed to be preventable. Health IT is fundamental to the delivery of high-quality care, yet there is a poor understanding of the effects of IT failures on patient safety and whether they can be prevented. Failures are complex and involve interlinked aspects of technology, people, and the environment. Health IT failures are undoubtedly a potential source of substantial harm, but they are likely to be under-reported. Worryingly, three-quarters of IT failures are potentially preventable. There is a need to see health IT as a fundamental tenet of patient safety, develop better methods for capturing the effects of IT failures on patients, and adopt simple measures to reduce their probability and mitigate their risk. The National Institutes of Health Research Imperial Patient Safety Translational Research Centre at Imperial College London.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SYSTEM FAILURE AND VALUE OF AIRLINES: A CASE STUDY OF AIRLINES IN 2016

ABSTRACT Technology is a critical component of a firm’s operations. Technology failures can cause widespread problems in airlines. These failures cause disruptions in flight schedules, cause passengers to be stranded at airports and also increase airline operating costs. The objective of this study is to measure an effect of information technology failures on the firm value of passenger airline companies during the year 2016. In that year, there were cases involving delays and cancellations associated with JetBlue, Southwest, Delta, American, and Virgin America that received significant media coverage. Using the event study methodology, this study finds that the intensity of failures does not seem to affect the firm value as much as the time taken to address it and the presence of other compounding effects. The system failure case provides us with an insight into the effect on market value of airlines especially when they address their issues quickly and efficiently. Keywords Event Study, Airline Industry, Stock Returns

Using Rapid Improvement Event Methodology for Disaster Planning Improvement During Information Technology Failures

Using Rapid Improvement Event Methodology for Disaster Planning Improvement During Information Technology Failures

An Investigation in IT Projects Failure within Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq

The importance of information technology (IT) system has extremely become crucial for governments to reduce routines, improve transparency, systemize governmental processes, easy internal communications and enhance productivity. For these reasons, most developed countries are extremely relying on increasing IT projects to provide better services for their citizens and to enhance collaboration between their directories. The aim of this paper is to identify primarily causes of several IT projects failures with Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and comparative with several other IT projects success and failure within developed countries such as Turkey, UAE and Estonia. Although, we are aiming to introduce and draws the gaps between IS design in KRG-IT projects factors in terms of culture, social, political and lack of experts were they have had a vital impacts on the KRG-IT projects failure. In This paper we have proposed a qualitative research approach to analysis the results and discover the reasons behind the failures. Furthermore, this study attempts to provide better solutions and recommendations to emphasis high-risk prototypes that affected IS in developed countries. General Terms Your Information Systems, Management of Information Systems, Information Technology, IT project Failure.

The Application of an Extended Hierarchy Theory in Understanding Complex Organizational Situations: The Case of FIReControl

Hierarchy theory is a fundamental systems approach that offers rich perspectives in understanding the flow of matter and information between different levels of control. This paper offers an extended view of hierarchy theory, which can be used to illuminate complex organizational environments. Firstly, the characteristics of a hierarchy are explored, and the flow of information and resources, the perception of space and time and changing purposes and perspectives are explored. Secondly, the importance of networks, nodes and hubs is examined as a necessary element of understanding hierarchies. Thirdly, the properties of boundaries, which act as filters both maintaining the hierarchy and enabling effective organizations, are discussed. A context for exploring the application of extended hierarchical theory is provided in an exploration of a large‐scale information technology failure in the UK government. The failure of FIReControl, a project which was to provide a nationwide system to manage disasters and terrorist attacks, is explored using the range of extended hierarchy theory concepts. The paper offers an iterative process for applying extended hierarchy theory and calls for a greater attention in systems research to boundaries, filters and networks. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

External reputational penalties for CEOs and CFOs following information technology material weaknesses

Information Technology (IT) serves as the foundation for an effective internal control system. Deficiencies in internal controls related to IT (as evidenced by SOX 404 IT internal control material weaknesses (ITMW)) can diminish the quality of financial reporting and lead to the dismissal of executives. We investigate if the labor market penalizes executives for publicly announced IT failures. Specifically, we examine the employment opportunities that CEOs and CFOs receive following their termination from a firm reporting an ITMW. We find that executives who lose their jobs due to an ITMW are less likely to find an equivalent job compared to executives dismissed for material weaknesses not related to IT. We also determine that this is especially true for the CFO, perhaps suggesting that firms hold the CFO more responsible for IT failures, particularly as it relates to financial reporting and internal controls.

Bridging the CIO-CEO gap: It takes two to tango

Despite the growing importance of information technology (IT) in organizations, chief executive officers (CEOs) and top management teams exhibit an alarming degree of distrust toward IT and chief information officers (CIOs). This CIO-CEO gap can be explained by several factors including failure of IT to deliver value, poor understanding of IT by business executives, lack of a clear vision with respect to IT, different worldviews of business executives and technology specialists, lack of a shared vision in relation to IT, poor relationship skills of CIOs, and criticism of IT by so-called experts in the popular and academic press. These factors stand in the way of a good CIO-CEO relationship, IT alignment with organizational goals, and improvement in organizational performance with the help of IT. Bridging the gap requires a set of joint and independent actions by the CIO, the CEO, and the entire top management team. Recommendations for both CIOs and CEOs include communication, knowledge sharing, and developing a shared vision in relation to IT. CIOs are advised to focus on business value and develop managerial, leadership, and political skills. CEOs should establish an appropriate reporting structure for the CIO, educate top managers regarding IT, and increase personal involvement in and support of the IT function and the CIO.

Adoção de Tecnologia da Informação pelas Micro e Pequenas Empresas do Setor Hoteleiro de Sergipe

Grandes empresas do setor de turismo fazem o uso intensivo de Tecnologia da Informação (TI), também denominada Tecnologia da Informação e Comunicação (TIC), na promoção de seus produtos ou serviços e essa tendência também tem sido incorporada pelas micro e pequenas empresas (MPE) do setor hoteleiro. Para melhor compreender tal fenômeno, este estudo tem o objetivo de analisar os fatores que afetam a adoção de TI pelas MPEs do setor hoteleiro do estado de Sergipe. Possui abordagem qualitativa e utiliza como estratégia de pesquisa a de estudo de casos múltiplos. Verificou-se que as empresas hoteleiras que participaram do estudo possuem computadores e todos são conectados à Internet. Verificou-se também que a indisponibilidade da TI tem impacto negativo nos negócios. Identificou-se diferentes perfis de gestores e observou-se que o conhecimento em informática dos funcionários é indispensável. As limitações deste estudo são inerentes à estratégia de estudos de caso.

IT Governance in Open Distance Learning institutions: a case of Zimbabwe Open University

Many organisations are now opting to using Information Technology(IT) in order to improve their businesses. The problem comes when the Board or top management does not associate itself with important issues pertaining to IT due to fear of accountability of IT failures. It seems most organisations, both parastatals and the private companies, are not implementing IT governance. This study therefore sought to evaluate the status of IT governance as well as to assess the level of IT governance implementation at an Open Distance Learning(ODL) institution. The study looked at strategic issues, risk issues, internal control issues, decision making issues and performance issues. The research findings showed that the status of IT governance at ZOU is better and the level of IT governance implementation is at middle level due to minimal implementation. The study finally recommended ZOU to continue implementing IT governance and that it should conduct workshops for helping its staff to fully understand IT governance.

An Adaptive and Preemptive Theory for Improving Systemic IT Project Failure Trends (“AdaPIT” Theory)

Information Technology (IT) systems have become an important competitive element across the great majority of industries, and technology projects are entrenched within all domains becoming larger and encompassing cross functional components. This increased technological dependency and transformation also increases the risk to organizations as a whole if something goes wrong. Pragmatically things often do go wrong and despite the evolution and sophistication of project management frameworks and methodologies a great percentage of IT projects are still failing. Although multiple actions have attempted to address this costly and prevailing trend, they have yet to positively and/or consistently impact it, even though it has caused additional management burdens and costly compliance requirements along the way. As the projections for IT investment increase by a magnitude of 3.5% (annual average) and IT project failures report losses in the billions (Gartner, 2011), this trend has become ever steeper over time. It is likely that the rates are even higher than the industry reports because individuals and organizations fear back lash when identifying and communicating perceived failures. The alarming (and increasing) rates of IT Project Failure 4 are strong indicators that this systemic trend has not yet been addressed from a causal perspective. The authors hence conducted extensive research in order to enable the assessment of this pervasive and costly issue through a unique approach and leveraged the social “lens” (one of the three fundamental research methodology pillars). Hypothesizing that the underlining key factors associated with this costly and pervasive trend could be traced to “soft factors” an extensive (multi-method) research effort based on three fundamental pillars (Grounded Theory, System Dynamics an Social Theory) has been conducted and has unveiled a new theoretical model promising greater understanding of IT (and potentially other) programs and projects. The IT project construct is looked upon by the researchers as “mini organizations” characterized by multiple changes and natural disruptions to the Social Order over time. The philosophical research framework was then operationalized by means of a four phased multi-method approach promoting a root cause identification of key factors driving IT project success and/or failures as well as their interdependencies and impacts. This paper presents the outcomes of this research (emerging theory), its key challenges and how they were overcome and discusses the Adaptive and Preemptive IT Theory (“AdaPIT”). In essence the “AdaPIT” Theory does not replace any existing IT project Management framework: it simply incorporates the identified Intangible Soft Factor (“ISF's”) into the applicable project construct. The main theory unveiled has been modeled and presented through multiple views that will be discussed in this paper. A summary analysis of the research findings will also be provided. It encompasses the author's representation from all data points collected throughout this investigation inclusive of their own experiences (“all is data”) as well as the review and feedback from industry practitioners, Grounded Theory subject matter experts and other technical and/or managerial personnel. The summary outcome (AdaPIT Theory) encompasses the data collection, analysis and hypotheses support process within the multi-method research framework.

Characteristics of health IT outage and suggested risk management strategies: An analysis of historical incident reports in China

BackgroundThe healthcare industry has become increasingly dependent on using information technology (IT) to manage its daily operations. Unexpected downtime of health IT systems could therefore wreak havoc and result in catastrophic consequences. Little is known, however, regarding the nature of failures of health IT. ObjectiveTo analyze historical health IT outage incidents as a means to better understand health IT vulnerabilities and inform more effective prevention and emergency response strategies. MethodsWe studied news articles and incident reports publicly available on the internet describing health IT outage events that occurred in China. The data were qualitatively analyzed using a deductive grounded theory approach based on a synthesized IT risk model developed in the domain of information systems. ResultsA total of 116 distinct health IT incidents were identified. A majority of them (69.8%) occurred in the morning; over 50% caused disruptions to the patient registration and payment collection functions of the affected healthcare facilities. The outpatient practices in tertiary hospitals seem to be particularly vulnerable to IT failures. Software defects and overcapacity issues, followed by malfunctioning hardware, were among the principal causes. ConclusionsUnexpected health IT downtime occurs more and more often with the widespread adoption of electronic systems in healthcare. Risk identification and risk assessments are essential steps to developing preventive measures. Equally important is institutionalization of contingency plans as our data show that not all failures of health IT can be predicted and thus effectively prevented. The results of this study also suggest significant future work is needed to systematize the reporting of health IT outage incidents in order to promote transparency and accountability.

Involve Users or Fail

Repeated surveys, and most notably those by the Standish Group, suggest that a substantial proportion of Information Technology (IT) projects fail. The literature suggests that this is in part due to a lack of user involvement in the project. The authors’ research describes the case study of a major IT system implementation project in East Africa. The paper reports on the results of both an online questionnaire and interviews with key participants. The authors’ findings suggest that the subsequent failure of this project was in large part attributable to a lack of user involvement in the definition of requirements and implementation of the system. There did not appear to be an organisational culture that recognised the significance of such participation in the project. Although there are issues of definition raised, such as the definition of success and failure, this work supports previous findings that user involvement is a key factor in IT project success and failure.

Towards safe electronic health records: A socio-technical perspective and the need for incident reporting

Health information technology is widely accepted to increase patient safety and reduce medical errors. The widespread implementation makes it evident that health information technology has become a complex socio-technical system that is health care. Design and implementation may result in a failure; even health information technology can lead to adverse events instead of mitigating them. This paper seeks to outline the complexity of health information technology as a part of a socio-technical system, describes two failures at different organizational levels, and presents a model of how risks can occur. This research extends our knowledge on health information technology failure and potential adverse effects, which contributes to the many anecdotal accounts. The IT industry market is highly unregulated and recent reports propose some form of regulation. This paper proposes how, as a first step, proper and mandatory reporting can lead to better knowledge of failures of health information technology as part of a socio-technical system and improve deployment in the coming years.

Book Review: Book Review of Managers as Designers in the Public Services: Beyond Technomagic

Information Technology (IT) has become increasingly pervasive in public administration, but despite its acceptance, has also been accompanied by spectacular failures. This book attributes many of the problems in the adoption of IT by public agencies to “magical” thinking (that it can work wonders) and to isolating IT from other organizational and management processes. The author uses case studies from the United Kingdom to explain how organizational design, evidence based management, and re-engineering can be used by managers to integrate IT projects successfully into their organizations. While the book focuses on management, neglecting some key policy issues, it provides useful insights into IT failures and newer directions in IT implementation.