Information Technology Evaluation Methods and Management

Rating:
Summary: Specialized collection of papers for specialized audience
Review: The collection of papers in this book represent the collective knowledge of a diverse group of international experts. While this book has wide appeal to academic readers, it is also an invaluable source of material, case studies and approaches for consultants who specialize in IT management and/or strategic planning and operational reengineering.

There are five topic areas, each with two or more papers:

(1) Benefits Realization, which addresses how to assess and quantify IT investment benefits. This topic area will be of interest to program management offices, governance committees, CIOs and anyone who is trying to develop a portfolio-based approach to IT investments that shows a clear ROI.

(2) Evaluation and Research Methods. This is an extension of the previous topic area, and focuses on after-the-fact evaluation of investment decisions.

(3) Alternatives to Traditional Evaluation, which is one of the more interesting topic areas. Each of the four papers are excellent, although I'd been exposed to the mechanics of each of the approaches from previous works.

(4) Evaluation of New Technologies. This topic area's three papers are each worth reading. My favorite was by Murphy and Simon, titled "Using Cost Benefit Analysis for Enterprise Resource Planning Project Evaluation: A Case for Including Intangibles". What made this paper a favorite is the fact that cost-benefit analysis is a questionable technique for defining IS benefit because intangibles are difficult to quantify. The authors tackle this problem and give what appears to be a workable solution.

(5) Evaluation Through Balanced Scorecard. I'll confess that this topic area is why I bought the book in the first place. I wasn't disappointed and felt that the five papers in this topic area justified, in my opinion, the cost of the book.

This isn't a book for the casual reader, nor does it give an end-to-end approach for evaluating IT investments and methods. If you're seeking that kind of book I recommend and of Dan Remenyi's books, especially "The Effective Measurement and Management of IT Costs and Benefits". However, if you are a consultant that works in any of the topic areas you'll find the material within to be thought provoking and informative.

Rating:
Summary: Specialized collection of papers for specialized audience
Review: The collection of papers in this book represent the collective knowledge of a diverse group of international experts. While this book has wide appeal to academic readers, it is also an invaluable source of material, case studies and approaches for consultants who specialize in IT management and/or strategic planning and operational reengineering.

There are five topic areas, each with two or more papers:

(1) Benefits Realization, which addresses how to assess and quantify IT investment benefits. This topic area will be of interest to program management offices, governance committees, CIOs and anyone who is trying to develop a portfolio-based approach to IT investments that shows a clear ROI.

(2) Evaluation and Research Methods. This is an extension of the previous topic area, and focuses on after-the-fact evaluation of investment decisions.

(3) Alternatives to Traditional Evaluation, which is one of the more interesting topic areas. Each of the four papers are excellent, although I'd been exposed to the mechanics of each of the approaches from previous works.

(4) Evaluation of New Technologies. This topic area's three papers are each worth reading. My favorite was by Murphy and Simon, titled "Using Cost Benefit Analysis for Enterprise Resource Planning Project Evaluation: A Case for Including Intangibles". What made this paper a favorite is the fact that cost-benefit analysis is a questionable technique for defining IS benefit because intangibles are difficult to quantify. The authors tackle this problem and give what appears to be a workable solution.

(5) Evaluation Through Balanced Scorecard. I'll confess that this topic area is why I bought the book in the first place. I wasn't disappointed and felt that the five papers in this topic area justified, in my opinion, the cost of the book.

This isn't a book for the casual reader, nor does it give an end-to-end approach for evaluating IT investments and methods. If you're seeking that kind of book I recommend and of Dan Remenyi's books, especially "The Effective Measurement and Management of IT Costs and Benefits". However, if you are a consultant that works in any of the topic areas you'll find the material within to be thought provoking and informative.