Delivering Optimal Health Outcomes: Making Sense Of A Business Intelligence Decision In A Notfor-Profit Organisation

In this paper, the researcher reports on an empirical qualitative case study which investigated the extant information systems (IS) in a not-for-profit (NFP) healthcare delivery organisation in Australia. The researcher was exploring the readiness of the organisation for business intelligence (BI) initiatives prior to a decision on the BI project proceeding or otherwise. Shortly after the completion of the case study, the executive managers of the organisation reached an unforeseen negative decision regarding the BI project although BI remains a strategic objective. The sensemaking processes associated with the decision are discussed in this paper with sense making as the over-arching conceptual framework. The study found that, despite some support for BI at the individual level, corporate memory of a recent failed IT project and lack of a committed business sponsor at the organisational level meant that in the quest for meaning, the decision makers had reverted to past patterns of sense making to reject the BI project. The contributions of the study are derived from utilising sense-making concepts with an industry readiness methodology. This paper should be of value to both academics and practitioners worldwide as they work with organisations especially in the NFP sector that are considering embarking on complex and innovative BI projects.