The definition, selection and implementation of a new hospital information system to prepare the hospital for the electronic future: an example of project based education

The software supplier of a large hospital has been taken over. The hospital gets notice that the central hospital information system (HIS) will no longer be maintained, starting next year. This problem, not uncommon in business today, is used as a real life case in a project based course for first year students Business Information Technology (BIT). The students get all basic material that the hospital had at the start of the project but not more than that. They have to construct the case themselves and make a strategic decision: "Do we buy a new system from the same supplier or do we choose something completely new?" Subsequently they have to dig into the hospital information system. When a new central HIS is to be installed, it is not necessary to replace all of the peripheral system in the hospital. How should the overall system be decomposed into subsystems, and how should the communication between new and remaining subsystems be organized? After several weeks of intensive labor, at least the students have learned one thing: "the hospital information system does not have to bother with the millennium problem". But have they learned more? While highlighting how this hospital is getting ready for the next century, we describe the added value of project based education, in particular for the integration project of Business Information Technology.