This paper investigates vertical IS standardisation initiatives from an Actor Network Theory (ANT) perspective. It describes the standardisation process as a series of translations of interests. The ANT lens provides an insight into how participating organisations attempt to align the interests of other organisations. The contributions of this paper are: (i) a deeper understanding of the vertic...

Internet standardisation bodies such as the IETF have relied heavily on experience gained in early prototype implementations to ensure that ratified standards are robust and effective. Moreover, as the benefits of open standards have become widely recognised, many companies have offered the results of their work, including reference implementations, for standardisation through international sta...

BACKGROUND Comparison of outcomes between populations or centres may be confounded by any casemix differences and standardisation is carried out to avoid this. However, when the casemix adjustment models are large and complex, direct standardisation has been described as "practically impossible", and indirect standardisation may lead to unfair comparisons. We propose a new method of directly st...

INTRODUCTION Information Technology (IT) has the potential to significantly support skill-mix change and, thereby, to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of integrated care. THEORY AND METHODS IT and skill-mix change share an important precondition: the standardisation of work processes. Standardisation plays a crucial role in IT-supported skill-mix change. It is not a matter of more or ...

There is strong pressure to achieve greater uniformity, standardisation and application of best practices in the service professions, a sector which is growing in presence and importance. At the same time, there is a conflicting demand for the delivery of high-quality (or highly priced or 'knowledge intensive') specialised or localised services. Our paper analyses information systems’ embedded ...