Information systems and other capital investments: evaluation practices compared

Abstract

Reports on the findings of two surveys which examined the way organisations evaluate information systems/technology and other capital of investments. The issues addressed include the following: the extent of evaluation; the extent to which evaluation depends on organisational factors, such as project cost and level of organisational turnover; the existence of formal procedures of evaluation; the financial and other criteria used to evaluate investments, and their importance; and the problems organisations face when evaluating both types of investment. In addressing the above issues the study serves two objectives: first, the findings provide valuable insights regarding the way both types of investments are evaluated, which is currently lacking in both the information systems and the accounting and finance literature, and second, the findings enable confirmation or refutation of some of the popular myths which exist in the information systems literature that such investments are different, are therefore evaluated in a "different" way and present "different" problems when compared to other types of organisational investment.Information systems and other capital investments

Information systems evaluation: navigating through the problem domain

“…Regardless, Ballatine and Stray [3,4], and Lefley [38] report the use of traditional appraisal techniques during the evaluation of IT although, argue that such methods have become obsolete and inappropriate. In doing so, discouraging long-term strategically important projects that typically offer intangible and non-financial benefits.…”

Understanding Formality and Informality in Information System Pre-evaluation (ISIE) Process: Examining Case Research from an Actor Network Theory ANT Perspective

“…It is challenging for managers when they have to choose the most appropriate evaluation approach to use, but it is essential that stakeholders' opinions are considered and that decisions are not made entirely from a traditional financial perspective. Ballantine et al (1999) found that half of the organizations that they investigated had no formal evaluation procedures. Gunasekaran et al (2001) argue that there are few commonly acknowledged strategies for IS investment evaluation, with much research finding that many organisations have no formal IS evolution process and lack adequate auditing techniques by which project goals can be evaluated (Primrose & Leonard, 1987;Kumar, 1990;Kennedy & Mills, 1992;Lin & Pervan, 2003;Sims et al, 2015).…”

A Conceptual Framework for Evaluating E Government Systems Success: A Service Ecosystem Approach

“…Traditional economic evaluation techniques, such as Return on Investment, Internal Rate of Return, Net Present Value and Payback approaches, are the most commonly used methods to evaluate e-government initiatives in public sector organisations [58]. These techniques are typically based on conventional accountancy frameworks that are explicitly designed to assess the 'bottom-line' financial impact of investments.…”