Using computing to facilitate the quality improvement process: The IRS-Minnesota project

In quality improvement programs, managers and employees meet in small teams to identify problems and to chart out methods for solving problems and implementing positive change. Most quality programs have not relied on decision support systems. The University of Minnesota and the Manhattan District Office of the Internal Revenue Service have designed, tested, and implemented a set of group problem-solving and documentation tools. These tools have been used within a large-scale quality improvement program that is a collaboration between the management of the Internal Revenue Service and the National Treasury Employees Union.