"The survey gives you a score for each of four aspects: the impact of the IT system on the individual user, the impact on the organization, the quality of the system, and the quality of the information from the system."

Professor Gable said the survey also yielded an overall aggregate score which was valuable for comparing the same system across time and, ultimately, across the whole sector.

"Comparison of scores from different levels and divisions of the organization, across time and across systems, can yield valuable insights that point to problems and successes which organizations can then investigate further," he said.

"The IS-Impact approach can be used as a decision support tool for management as it identifies impacts on the organization to date and also assesses quality, which is the best predictor of future impacts from the system.

"The approach means the effort for organizations is minimized, as it is very straightforward and low cost."