The evaluation of a web-based decision support system for healthcare project appraisal

A web-based decision support system for healthcare project appraisal was developed. Its main objective focuses on assisting decision-makers in examining different function program alternatives and their associated budgets for public healthcare projects in the United Arab Emirates. In order to test its main functions, a prototype was constructed for the proposed system. An evaluation strategy was developed with the main aim being to verify and validate the prototype as well as to assess its potential users’ satisfaction. It was implemented on three assessment levels: technical verification, performance validation, and subjective evaluation. The prototype was presented to a set of healthcare industry experts in two different workshops for review and assessment. A questionnaire survey was employed during these workshops in order to evaluate the prototype and to assess its potential user satisfaction. The outputs of the evaluation validate the major aspects of the prototype and its performance. This paper describes the proposed strategy and focuses on its implementation.