ABSTRACT

This chapter analyzes a team's effort to improve information quality by understanding interdependencies between corporate information and organizational processes. The chapter focuses on membership cancellation information and related processes in a managed health-care organization. It sets a foundation for future research on analyzing root causes of information-quality problems. A Case-Cancellation Process is primarily made up of information about a customer and its employees and their dependents, policies, contracts, and transactions and processes between the customer and the managed care organization (MCO). The case-cancellation process contained manual processes such as data entry even in systems that were supposed to be electronic. The time between when the cancellation notification was received from the customer and that information reached the Claims Processing system was out of sync. To improve information quality, organizations must understand and address how business processes impact related information processes and the quality of information.