Designing an Architectural Model of Crisis Management Information System for Natural Disasters in Iran

Introduction: The crisis management information system (CMIS) is a mission-critical system that enables the crisis management team for understanding, diagnosing, interpreting, analyzing, structuring, and making decisions faster by providing timely and high-quality information at the right time. The purpose of this research is to provide an architectural model of a CMIS for managing natural disasters in the process of finding trapped victims and relieving them. Materials and Methods: This applied study was conducted in 2020 in two stages. First, data on CMIS used in selected countries were collected from electronic resources and digital libraries and were then analyzed. Next, a preliminary model of CMIS architecture including three aspects of informational content, applications, and technological requirements, was prepared using these systems and experts’ interviews. Finally, the architectural model of CMIS validated by the Delphi technique and the focus group. Results: The analysis of experts in three rounds of Delphi test for three aspects of informational content, applications and technological requirements in the architectural model was performed with the presence of experts at the national level and the consensus rate over 75% was obtained for 7 modules and 28 proposed components of the CMIS. Conclusion: The architecture of information systems has a direct impact on the performance of these systems. Using an appropriate architecture for CMIS can be an effective step towards reducing the costs and consequences of crises in Iran and countries with similar conditions and have a significant impact on saving human lives in emergency situations.