374 Human Resources Management for Public and Nonprofi t Organizations
Computers and technology now play a major role in the redesign of
traditionally routine jobs and are expected to be a major contributor to
productivity in the future. North Carolina ’ s Department of Health and
Human Services and eighty - fi ve autonomous local health departments
collaborated on a statewide enterprise health information system. Besides
transmitting data to the state and doing Medicaid billing, local health
departments will use the system to determine patient eligibility, capture
patients ’ personal data and medical histories, schedule appointments, and
run a variety of management reports tailored to their own needs. Hosted
by the state ’ s Offi ce of Information Technology Services, the health infor-
mation system (HIS) will include a central database with records for any-
one who visits one of the local health clinics. All patient information will
become available to anyone with the security credentials to view it. For the
health departments, a unifi ed database will reduce data entry, saving labor
and decreasing error rates. For patients, it will mean better continuity of
care because public health department clients often are a transient popula-
tion. As a Web - based system, the HIS will let health department employees
enter data from any location with Internet access. “ Right now, most of
our health departments have one to fi ve people who do nothing but enter
information into the current system. If the health department lab does a
test, it will write those results down on paper, and it still goes to the data
entry person ” (Douglas, 2006, p. 48). The system will be integrated with
other medical databases that health departments use, such as the state ’ s
immunization registry, so employees no longer have to enter the same data
twice. State and local users will also be able to generate a broad range of
reports, designing them as needed.
When we think of public organizations and large nonprofi ts, we think
of a hierarchical, centralized structure of specialists who typically rely on
a fi xed set of standard operating procedures. Today, agencies are fl atter
and decentralized. These new organizational structures rely on networks
of teams and individuals to establish goals and ensure the effective delivery of
services. Advances in information technology have assisted in making
this possible. In a knowledge - and information - based economy, informa-
tion technology and systems take on greater importance. Computers and
information technology are also being used to design and manage public
sector programs. Not only is information technology being used to auto-
mate routine tasks, but it is increasingly being used to restructure and
integrate service delivery procedures and programs.
The Stanislaus County Superior Court, California, developed a Web -
based information system to coordinate efforts of court personnel by