Skip to main content
 
Making Smart IT Choices: Understanding Value and Risk in Government IT Investments

Abstract

Introduction

PART ONE: ASSESSING INNOVATIVE USES OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Chapter 1. The risks of IT innovation in government

Chapter 2. The analysis and evaluation process

Chapter 3. Preparing a business case

Chapter 4. Presenting your business case

PART TWO: SMART IT SKILLS, TECHNIQUES, AND TOOLS

Introduction to Smart IT skills, techniques, and tools

Skills for working with groups

Information gathering techniques

Tools for Phase 1 -- Understanding the problem and its context

Tools for Phase 2 -- Identifying and testing solutions

Tools for Phase 3 -- Evaluating and making smart choices
print html versionPrint Chapter (html)
print pdf versionPrint Chapter (pdf)
Chapter 3. Preparing a business case

Alternatives considered

Even though your analysis points to a particular approach, it may have competitors. Detail any acceptable alternative approaches that will achieve your future vision. It is also helpful to describe your decisions about some potential approaches that were considered and discarded.

Sample discussion of alternatives
We considered several document management system designs to assess their ability to improve performance and turnaround time on local requests for assistance. Our analysis showed that none of the systems, no matter how powerful they were technically, would generate much improvement without first making significant changes in our underlying information and records management policies and in our business processes and practices. We therefore moved away from a technical solution as the first step, and will implement a system after the needed policies and process improvements are in place.