This guide is organized to lead you through a careful analytical process that results in a sound business case for investing in a significant IT project. Along the way, we refer you to specific tools and techniques that can assist you. We also offer case illustrations that show the tools in action in the context of specific, real projects.

The analytical process, Part One, has four chapters. The first discusses the risks of IT innovation. The second describes the kinds of problems that are worth the time and effort of careful analysis, and then progresses through a three-stage analytical process that helps you understand the problem and its context, identify and test solutions, and evaluate alternatives and make smart choices.

Chapter three addresses the process of turning your analysis into a business case. Chapter four suggests ways a business case can be presented to various stakeholders, including top management, budget officers, and elected officials, as well as to users and customers.

Part Two describes dozens of tools and techniques that are useful at various stages of analysis and case building. Many of them are well within the skills of any competent manager. Others require the help of an expert. You may already be familiar with many of them. For each, we describe its purpose, strengths, and limitations. We also cite books and articles that go into more detail. In some cases, we also present "how tos" that you can apply on your own.

Illustrations drawn from the following cases are used throughout this guide:

• The Adirondack Park Agency (APA) and its need to manage information and improve both customer service and records management related to land use permits.
• The Internet Services Testbed which involved seven state and local government agencies in a process of defining, designing, and building their very first information services on the World Wide Web.
• The Bureau of Shelter Services and a score of nonprofit service providers and local governments who need to share information in order to evaluate services to homeless people.
• The Municipal Affairs Division and its effort to create a consistent statewide information repository to support regional staff working on the financial affairs of local governments.
• The Council on Children and Families and its 13 member agencies who wanted to offer a wide variety of statistical information about children over the World Wide Web.
• The Office of the State Comptroller and its effort to ground a redesign of the Central Accounting System in a rigorous analysis of stakeholder needs.

We acknowledge, with thanks, the energy and collaboration of the federal, state, local, and nonprofit agency managers and technical staff who have participated in projects at CTG. We also thank the corporate partners and university faculty who contributed their expertise. Without their willingness to experiment with new approaches and their strong commitment to improving government services, the work we describe here could not have been accomplished.

We hope that these lessons and experiences will help other public sector organizations make their own smart IT choices.