Management of information technology evaluation ‐ the development of a managerial thesis

Abstract

The aim is to address the approach and identify the assessment of the effectiveness of IT investment used by organisations, to develop a thesis of good practice in this area; and to test this thesis by reference to a focus group consisting of practitioners.The research began using the case study method to collect evidence and then content analysis was employed to analyse this evidence to identify empirical generalisations and thus develop a theory of IT investment, IT investment evaluation and IT benefit identification. Correspondence analysis was used on the case study data as one step in establishing the theory. A focus group was used to present the relevant theory and the models that were created. Finally, the practical management guidelines suggested by the research and the models and content analysis figures were presented to practitioners as a cross-validation process and the results reported. The results of this research are an objectively developed theory of how IT investments are formulated and evaluated and how IT investment benefits are identified.

IT project evaluation: Why more formal evaluation is not necessarily better

“…Longstanding difficulties with evaluating IT projects are also exacerbated by a rapidly changing business environment and a high degree of uncertainty regarding IT project outcomes ( Patel and Irani, 1999 ;Melville et al, 2004 ). The result is that IT projects continue to experience high failure rates ( Lubbe and Remenyi, 1999 ;Love et al, 2005 ).In an effort to gain a better understanding of which IT evaluation methodologies and practices are being used today, their relative effectiveness, and what value they bring, a series of 36 case studies was conducted in three industries in Australia. The research question was as follows:…”

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

“…It is clear that decisions on unstructured and complex problems are based on sense or instinct (Bannister & Remenyi, 1999). Lubbe and Remenyi (1999) concur, reporting that in practice informal methods are used. Many studies of IS investment evaluation and decision making practices have found that managers frequently relied on procedures which cannot be regarded as rational decision making when it comes to very complex situations.…”

“…The use of formal evaluation methods may cause incorrect IT investment decisions without considering the intangible benefits (Anandarajan & Wen, 1999;Lubbe & Remenyi, 1999;Irani, 2002;Law & Ngai, 2005;Moretto et al, 2014). describe that organizations would prefer to achieve long-term strategic benefits, however, this can't be realised by applying traditional evaluation techniques and would deemed to be inappropriate.…”

Evaluating Hotel Electronic Channels of Distribution: The Corporate Perspective

“…Analysis of the literature suggests that information technology related proj ects should be evaluated either from a financial or from a strategic perspec tive (Lubbe and Remenyi 1999). According to Avison and Horton (1988), the most common technique used to evaluate information systems projects in general is cost-benefit analysis.…”