Application:
Step 3:
Analyze Costs and Benefits
Step 4:
Evaluate Risks and Contingencies
Set-up: Same
groups as breakout session 1
Resources: Results of step 1 and step 2, your collective knowledge and
experience, binder materials, and supplemental materials
Timeframe:
45 minutes
30
minutes (breakout groups)
15
minutes (full session)
Exercise Directions
- Use
the same Child Welfare functional area and emerging technology from
breakout session 1
1. Identify
3 to 5 distinct costs and benefits of the emerging technology options in the
functional area
2. Identify
3 to 5 critical success factors for an emerging technology implementation in
the functional area
§
What factors
will most affect expected costs and benefits?
§
What have been
critical success factors on past projects?
3. List 3 to
5 risks associated with the implementation of the emerging technology in the
functional area
4. List
contingencies that you would use to address critical success factors and risks
Exercise
example:
1. Identify 3 to 5 distinct costs and benefits
of the emerging technology options in the functional area
a.
Mobile and Wireless Option 1: PDAs
i.Costs: purchase of PDAs, support costs, application
development
ii.Benefits: electronic capture of investigation data,
real-time system updates, better organization of investigation information,
searching capabilities
2.Identify 3
to 5 critical success factors for an emerging technology implementation in the
functional area
a.
Ability to provide on-going support, user acceptance
and training
3. List 3 to
5 risks associated with the implementation of the emerging technology in the
functional area
i.Security and confidentiality, loss, damage
4.List
contingencies that you would use to address critical success factors and risks
i.Policies around PDA use, early and on-going training
using super users
Common
cost categories
(Reference: Treasury Board of Canada Creating and Using a
Business Case for Information Technology Projects)
The main
categories of direct up-front costs are:
- Hardware and peripherals;
- Packaged and
customized software;
- Initial data
collection or conversion of archival data;
- Telecommunications
equipment;
- Facilities upgrades,
including site preparation and renovation;
- User specification;
- Design and
programming;
- Office accommodations,
furniture and related items;
- Initial user training;
- Workforce adjustment
for affected employees;
- Transition, such as
costs of running parallel systems or converting legacy systems; and
- Quality assurance and
post-implementation reviews.
The main
categories of direct operational costs are:
- Salaries for IT staff;
- Software maintenance
and upgrades;
- Computer supplies;
- User support;
- Ongoing training;
- Telecommunications;
and
- Reviews and audits.
Indirect
costs include the following factors:
§
Initial loss of productivity
§
Corporate IT support
§
Corporate overheads
§
Human resources
Enterprise
and Stakeholder Costs
Common
Benefits (tangible and intangible)
(Reference:
Treasury Board of Canada Creating and Using a Business Case for Information
Technology Projects)
Comparative
advantages
- Replace low-value
staff activities with high-value work (e.g. a lawyer might spend less time
on paperwork and more time dealing with legal issues)
- Improve decision
making by providing timely, integrated, comprehensive and accurate information;
- Reduce errors,
duplication and needless work;
Service-Level
advantages
- Less paperwork for
clients (e.g. taxpayers can file their returns electronically);
- Less time spent
getting information or services (e.g. single-window kiosks can be shared
by several departments or even by different levels of government);
- Extended hours or
increased service locations (e.g. banks provide 24-hour service at
automated teller machines in service stations and convenience stores);
- Faster service and
increased quality or quantity of service or information.
Common risk factors and examples include:
(Reference: Office of Management and Budget)
--
Degree of alignment
between project objectives and agency goals
-- Clarity of defined project
outcomes
-- Degree of commitment of senior
management
- Technology
/ Infrastructure Risks
-- Dependency on other systems
-- Project team knowledge of the
technical environment
-- Ability to maintain and upgrade
key technologies
--
Experience and ability of existing staff to support the new
system
-- Impact of system failure on
organization
-- Number of business units
impacted
-- Ability to implement security
controls
-- Security awareness and training
-- Contingency planning and
disaster relief
-- Experience of project
management team
-- Project size and complexity
-- Existence of work plan and
schedule
-- Length of time for project
implementation
-- Staffing resources
-- Amount of overall expenditure
-- Complete cost benefit analysis
with clearly defined and documented results
-- Assessment of current budget
performance