Summary: |
In a number of surveys (both national and international) it has been highlightedthat companies from the construction industry have difficulties with evaluating ITinvestments (Andresen 1999;CICA and CIRIA 1995). The reasons for this are manybut one of the major ones is the poor adoption of IT evaluation methods. This paperfocuses on how companies can choose between the many available IT evaluationmethods by presenting a framework for how to choose a matching method. Theprimary objective of the paper is to present the findings of a completed Ph.D.project, but also importantly to discuss why this topic is relevant for companies inthe construction industry by highlighting the benefits of increased knowledge of thevalue of companies' IT investments.The framework has been developed on the basis of both theoretical and empiricaldata collection and analysis of the available methods, a questionnaire survey andfive case studies. Firstly, 82 IT evaluation methods have been identified in aliterature review (and the list is not complete), from which a number ofcharacteristics have been derived, and this has enabled a categorisation of theidentified methods. Secondly, a national survey was completed investigating thesophistication of the Danish companies' IT evaluation practice. This was done inorder to establish an overview of current IT evaluation practice. Thirdly, five casestudies were completed in which four different methods were tested according totheir usefulness in real-life IT evaluations.The presented framework consists of (a) 21 parameters (which can be used todescribe the characteristics of different IT evaluation scenarios), (b) a weightingsystem (allowing putting a higher emphasis on certain parameters) and (c) a set ofprocedures for identifying a matching IT evaluation method. The framework'soutput has been validated by comparing these with the experience gained in thecase studies. |