Topic > Measuring Success in Information Systems - 902

SERVQUAL offers a good insight into managing which and how services are offered, user satisfaction with them and which service needs improvement. One point in favor of service quality measures is that, according to Gartner Group (2012), application support is one of the spending trends. However, it relies on questionnaires and scales on a very limited part of what constitutes an IT department, mostly leaving out the technical and financial aspects. Furthermore, Van Dyke et al. (1997), citing Teas (1993), expresses three possible interpretations of “expectation”, what could cause problems with the results. Carman (1990), by Van Dyke et al. (1997), questions the ability of the model to be valid across multiple industries with notable modifications. The ISO (International Organization for Standardization) has various quality standards for software, IT and IS. One standard used to measure success in IS is ISO/IEC 9126-1. This 2001 standard was initially developed to measure software quality, but its framework has also been used in IS and IT measurement. As defined by ISO in 2001, the six characteristics and 27 subcharacteristics: • Functionality: the ability of the system to provide functions that satisfy stated and implied needs when the software is used under specified conditions; • Reliability: the ability of the system to sustain a declared level of performance when used under specified conditions;• Usability: the aptitude of the system to be understood, learned, used and attractive to the user, when used under specified conditions;• Portability : the ability of the system to be transferred from one environment to another; • Maintainability: The ability of the system to be modified in the form of… half of the document… is focused on the technical aspect but other areas are not covered. The Palmius model is very broad and covers the most important topics, but does not take into account connections and quality of service. The best approach is probably to use each model to make the most of its features. Like SERVQUAL for service quality, ISO for the technical part, DeLone & Mclean for user satisfaction and net benefits and the Palmius model for a holistic view, for example. However, when accessing the quality or success of an IS, a simple method of goal setting could go a long way. Setting specific and not far-fetched goals, maintaining continuous and frequent verification of the system along with KPIs (key performance indicators) can help measure the success and improve the performance of the information system without any special framework in every company. Using all of these methods together, each based on its strength, seems to be the best approach.