A Multiple Criteria Approach for Evaluating Information Systems*

An information system can be viewed as a symbiotic relationship between the users of the system and the system itself. Ideally, an information system should be evaluated with equal consideration given to both user constraints and to system constraints. The approach described in this article provides the analyst with a framework for gaining insight into information system performance from both user and system viewpoints by establishing a causal relationship between user goal attainment and system activity. This approach produces not only measures of current performance, but also predictive measures of future performance. The approach is based on a multiple goal programming formulation of the information system design evaluation problem. This article presents an overview of the formulation and its interpretation. The focus is on the analysis of an example system facilitated by this approach. A discussion of the applicability of the approach concludes this article.