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Embracing System Complexity in a Shared Service Center CollaborationTo cut costs and improve services, public-sector agencies are adopting shared services that require complex interorganizational systems to support them. We describe how a U.S. local government successfully embraced the complexities of aligning the regulated processes of multiple independent departments as it developed a criminal justice court and case management system for a new shared service center. From this cross-agency case, we provide guidelines for managing the complexities of interorganizational system projects in general.Click here for free 2-page executive summary (pdf)Click here for free presentation slides (pptx)
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Addressing Business Agility Challenges with Enterprise SystemsIt is clear that systems agility (i.e., having a responsive IT infrastructure that can be changed quickly to meet changing business needs) has become a critical component of organizational agility. However, skeptics continue to suggest that, despite the benefits enterprise system packages provide, they are constraining choices for firms faced with agility challenges. The reason for this skepticism is that the tight integration between different parts of the business that enables many enterprise systems’ benefits also increases the systems’ complexity, and this increased complexity, say the skeptics, increases the difficulty of changing systems when business needs change. These persistent concerns motivated us to conduct a series of interviews with business and IT managers in 15 firms to identify how they addressed, in total, 57 different business agility challenges. Our analysis suggests that when the challenges involved an enterprise system, firms were able to address a high percentage of their challenges with four options that avoid the difficulties associated with changing the complex core system: capabilities already built-in to the package but not previously used, leveraging globally consistent integrated data already available, using “add-on†systems available on the market that easily interfaced with the existing enterprise system, and vendor provided “patches†that automatically updated the code. These findings have important implications for organizations with and without enterprise system architectures.
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Health Systems Analysis for Better Health System StrengtheningHealth system strengthening and reform
 are often necessary actions to achieve better outcomes. The
 World Bank's 2007 strategy for health, nutrition, and
 population emphasizes the importance of health system
 strengthening for results. This paper proposes 'health
 systems analysis' as a distinct methodology that should
 be developed and practiced in the design of policies and
 programs for health system strengthening. It identifies key
 elements of health systems analysis and situates them in a
 logical framework supported by a wide range of data and
 methods and a sizable global literature. Health systems
 analysis includes evidence on health system inputs,
 processes, and outputs and the analysis of how these combine
 to produce the outcomes. It considers politics, history, and
 institutional arrangements. Health systems analysis proposes
 causes of poor health system performance and suggests how
 reform policies and strengthening strategies can improve
 performance. It contributes to implementation and
 evaluation. Examples from Mexico, Ethiopia, and Turkey
 illustrate the positive contributions health systems
 analysis has made to development of successful health system
 strengthening policies. Health systems analysis should be an
 integral part of good practice in health system
 strengthening efforts, including planning, policy
 development, monitoring, and evaluation. Health systems
 analysis can be conceived in a coherent and logical fashion
 and can be practiced and improved.