Design guidelines for a digital information exchange system

Abstract

In the public healthcare sector of Västra Götalandsregionen (VGR), there are hundreds of ongoing innovation projects. These projects form the foundation for innovation work in the region. Besides the members of innovation projects, several other actors are involved in the innovation activity of VGR. These are for example innovation leaders, innovation coaches, innovation managers, heads of (medical) departments, support functions and people at other strategic positions. An obstacle for all these actors, including members of innovation projects, is the difficulty to access information about all the innovation projects that are or have been conducted in the sector, which complicates their work in various ways. The aim of this study was to explore the needs of each user group regarding accessing and contributing to collective information about innovation projects in the healthcare sector of VGR. The objective was to design a concept of how to meet these needs. The research study undertook an exploratory approach, including a user and context study comprising of 20 interviews, one focus groups and two surveys. Data from these activities created the foundation for mapping experiences and needs of each user group, which formed the basis for the design concept. Three design goals for a digital information exchange system were stated, based on identified core needs of the user groups. These were: • Facilitate for the user in finding projects that are potentially useful to know about in their innovation activities. • Contribute to lowering the barrier for innovators to interact and share experiences with each other. • Provide an overview of innovation projects with the purpose to facilitate leading and strategic work. The design concept developed in this study consists of visualised design guidelines for a digital information exchange system. The system comprises three parts, each serving one of the design goals. Main features were outlined for each system part, along with system user processes for to each user group