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2.1. STRATEGY OF DEVELOPMENT

Organizations, including government entities, develop expert systems because they expect these systems to have an impact on the success of the organization. The organizational strategy process may be modeled with six steps, as shown in Figure 1. This process usually involves an assessment of the state of the organization and a recognition that the organization (or some part of it) can be or must be improved. Expert systems are then developed and used as a part of the organization's strategy for changing itself. Characteristics of the organization, such as technology orientation, may impact the development of expert systems. Ultimately, the development and use of expert systems affect the state of the organization, creating a positive change, such as improved productivity. To illustrate this process, the organizational strategy process that resulted in the MAGIC system of Merced County, California, is described in Table 1.

There are a few examples of measuring results of the reinvention efforts (Kellam, 1995). For example, Sunnyvale, California, measures performance to reward successful managers. A manager can receive up to a 10% bonus when his/her program exceeds its objectives for quality and productivity. The state of Oregon sets benchmarks to judge how it is doing in such areas as reducing the crime rate, improving basic student skills, etc. While few expert systems include detailed performance measurements, such measurements are vital to governments to assess whether individual expert systems in government have been or will be a success.


FIGURE 1 Organizational strategy process.


TABLE 1
The Relationship Between Organization, Strategy, and Expert System Development
 
The MAGIC Expert System
 
1 The state of the organization is assessed in light of the organization's strategy Merced County's (California) Human Services Agency (HSA) delivers social services, which include welfare, food stamps, medicaid, and foster care. The services must be delivered while numerous rules and policies are followed.
2 Change is desired in the state of the organization HSA desired to improve the delivery of these social services while at the same time reduce their costs.
3 Expert systems are developed MAGIC (Merced Automated Global Information Control) was developed.
4 Expert systems used in the organization's strategy MAGIC is used by agency workers to determine client eligibility at the first interview.
5 The organization impacts the expert systems Pressures on HSA to cut costs and improve service quality and timing impacted the design of the MAGIC expert system.
6 The expert systems impact the state of the organization Use of the MAGIC expert system has resulted in a 28% reduction in staff, an 85% reduction in the time needed to process an application, and $1.5 million in cost savings in the first year alone.


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