Systems development is replete with projects that represent substantial resource investments but result in systems that fail to meet users' needs. Evidence-based development is an emerging idea intended to provide means for managing customer-vendor relationships and working systematically toward meeting customer needs. We are suggesting that the effects of the use of a system should play a prominent role in the contractual definition of IT projects and that contract fulfilment should be

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... ed on the basis of evidence of these effects. Based on two ongoing studies of home-care management and electronic patient records for diabetes patients, this paper reports research in progress regarding the prospects and pitfalls of evidence-based development.