Factors of a Successful Information System Value Chain in Public Sector

With an increased focus on sound financial management, public sector organisations invest extensively in the systems that direct decision-making activities. To maintain sound financial management practices, public sector organisations rely on the information from the systems in operation for decision-making activities. Information systems (IS), like value chains (VC), aim to create value in the form of information through a series of activities. To support their decision-making activities, public sector organisations invest extensively in successful IS VCs. This paper explores and articulates the attributes and CSFs of a successful IS VC in the public sector of a developing nation. The study was undertaken as a case in a public sector organization and through 20 qualitative interviews. The research study found that successful IS VCs in public sector organisations should consist of 15 attributes and should realise the seven critical success factors confirmed by the participants in the research study. Regarding attributes, three themes emerged: infrastructure, operational, and usability. The infrastructure theme consists of the attributes, namely hardware, software, and telecommunications network. The operational theme consists of four attributes, namely data, people, process, and information. The usability theme consists of seven attributes, namely reliability, relevance, accuracy, completeness, correctness, accessibility, and timeliness. Regarding critical success factors, two themes emerged: value contributors and success measures. The value contributor theme consists of the CSFs of VC quality and overall value. The success measure theme consists of the CSFs, namely IS quality, information quality, service quality, holistic benefit, and user satisfaction. The findings were articulated into a framework that aims to facilitate the design and implementation of IS VCs.