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Seeking Structure: A Reconceptualization of Case Management

Case management is an approach to work that inherently emphasizes the client experience and is, therefore, an important paradigm for work in our 21st century services-driven economies. It specifically accounts for unique, contextual information and allows for emergent activity, whereas operational process management places primacy on standardized information and standardized tasks performed in a deterministic sequence. As a result, case management has been characterized as involving “unstructured” processes and data, in contrast to process management of “structured” processes and data. Referencing information systems research on process management and organizational research on work and routines, I argue that this conceptualization of case management obscures the real nature of the work and inhibits design of information systems to support that work. Drawing on studies of various casework settings, I propose a framework highlighting the underlying structure of casework and revealing new possibilities for combining human expertise and digital technology in case management.