Abstract

Context: In the public health domain, there is no shortage of failed Information Systems projects. Aside from overblown budgets and elapsed deadlines (ad nauseam), technical issues exist. These include poor usability, instability, system performance, and data inconsistency issues. These issues relate to software engineering, and specifically software architecture. However, the enquiries and analyses of these failed Information Systems projects have focused on the perspective of stakeholders (e.g., government ministers and health practitioners) and project managers. Project failure or success does not emanate from these roles exclusively. Aim: To bring to bear and address public sector health Information System failure from the software architecture perspective. Method: A literature survey was conducted to ascertain the perceived failure and success factors within the public health domain. Results: We observed that the available literature on health Information Systems appears to lack success factors which have been noted in the software engineering and software architecture literature. Software architecture appears to be an understudied area within the public health domain. Contribution: To bring awareness to the public health domain that the Information System's success requires multi-faceted perspectives and actions. Specifically, perspectives and actions involving software architects and software engineers are required to successfully address the quality attributes of the proposed systems during development.

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