Exploring the Potential of an IT Capability in its Bootstrap Phase from a Task Driven Onboarding Perspective : Insights toward Information Infrastructure in Healthcare

Abstract: Digitalization is changing most organizations and businesses in order to increase efficiency and improve safety. Within healthcare, different departments have specialized needs and therefore a myriad of different systems have been created, which has compromised interoperability. openEHR is a potential solution to this issue. It facilitates standardization of both data and clinical models which provides interoperability. This paper discusses the task of evaluating a new formbuilder based on openEHR, and the process of developing in this formbuilder. The perspectives of onboarding and information infrastructure are used in order to give insight into the challenges of such a new system. An autoethnographic method was conducted, which found three themes in the data: the formbuilder’s maturity, the uncertainties regarding the task and what sources of knowledge were used to complete the task. In the analysis, it was found that the formbuilder was in a deficiency of functionality, that the task’s objectives were often modified due to uncertainty and also the role of knowledge sources such as documentation and mentors was highlighted. In the discussion, a challenge found was having to gain users without functionality, but still provide enough functionality to show the formbuilder’s potential. A relationship between openEHR and the formbuilder was found, where the formbuilder has a potential to contribute with a positive network effect as new products adopt openEHR standards and gain users to their coherent solutions. The paper concludes that the onboarding process is resource-intense and it is important to facilitate learning as efficiently as possible in order to gain users. In the scope of the task, both onboarding and information infrastructure gave answers about the challenges of a system in a bootstrap phase, and worked well together in order to evaluate the formbuilder.