Management Perspective: Scopes and Tasks of Managing Health Information Systems

Abstract Management of information systems can be divided into strategic, tactical, and operational management. Strategic management of information systems deals with the information processing of a healthcare facility as a whole. It comprises the planning of the information system’s architecture and of the organization of information management. The tasks of strategic management are planning an information system and its architecture, directing its establishment and its operation, and monitoring its development and operation with respect to the planned objectives. The strategic information management plan represents the long-term planning of the information system of a healthcare facility. Tactical management of information systems deals with particular functions, application components, or physical data processing systems that are introduced, removed, or changed. Usually, these activities are done in the form of projects. Operational management of information systems is responsible for operating the components of the information system. It ensures the smooth operation of the systems in accordance with the strategic information management plan of the healthcare facility. IT governance deals with the organizational structures for decision-making in the management of information systems. Typical organizational structures include the role of a chief information officer who focuses on the strategic management of information systems, an information management board, and a department of information management in charge of the strategic, tactical, and operational management. Management of information systems must find a balance between often conflicting goals, for example, between homogeneity and heterogeneity of the information system architecture or between functional leanness and functional redundancy.