Modelling information flow for surgery management process

Abstract

Mapping information flows is an important aspect of Information Quality (IQ). This research modifies a process mapping technique known as IDEF0 and uses the principle of another technique referred to as Design Structure Matrix (DSM) in order to map information flows within the Surgery Management (SM) process. In addition to input and output, the research recognises that information flow has three additional elements; guidance, constraint and feedback. These additional elements form the 'governance information', which manages, regulates and controls the implementation of the activities. The paper stresses that identifying governance information elements and their interdependencies is the first step towards improving process variation in terms of reduction in delays and disruptions. With the help of a case study, the paper describes the modified technique and the resulted matrices.