A general approach to extract the business intelligence requirements of bio-surveillance systems

Abstract

Introduction: A successful surveillance system must consist of business intelligence (BI) modules that refer to applications and technologies used to gather, access, and analyze data. The objective of the current study was to develop a general checklist using a structured method for gathering BI requirements for an antimicrobial resistance surveillance system (AMRSS). Methods: First, a review was conducted to extract BI specific requirements. Final checklist was completed by ten context experts, using a decision Delphi method for two rounds. Items with < 50% agreement were excluded in the first round, and those with more than 75% agreement were included in the first round. Those within the range of 50%-75% were surveyed in the next round. Results: The total number of items was 133. After applying the Delphi method in two rounds, the number of items was reduced to 94. The 94 items were divided into 10 classes of items as follows: goals and vision, data inquiries, data manipulation, data analysis, reporting, graphics, data security, documents, automation, and portability and accessibility. Conclusion: Although our specific problem was the design of an AMRSS, the outcome of this study was a general tool that can be used to capture and gather BI requirements in other fields.