Preparing strategic information management plans for hospitals: a practical guideline: SIM plans for hospitals: a guideline

OBJECTIVES:: Systematic information management in hospitals demands for a strategic information management plan (SIM plan). As preparing a SIM plan is a considerable challenge we provide a practical guideline that is directly applicable when a SIM plan is going to be prepared. METHODS:: The guideline recommends a detailed structure of a SIM plan and gives advices about its content and the preparation process. It may be used as template, which can be adapted to the individual demands of any hospital. RESULTS:: The guideline was used in several hospitals preparing a SIM plan. Experiences showed that the SIM plans could be prepared very efficiently and timely using the guideline, that the proposed SIM plan structure suited well, that the guideline offers enough flexibility to meet the requirements of the individual hospitals and that the specific recommendations of the guideline were very helpful. CONCLUSIONS:: Nevertheless, we must strive for a more comprehensive theory of strategic information management planning which - in the sense of enterprise architecture planning - represents the intrinsic correlations of the different parts of a SIM plan to a greater extent.