Return on Software: Maximizing the Return on Your Software Investment

Decision Analysis in Government and Nonprofit Organizations

Suppose a city needs to choose between computerizing its property tax department and computerizing its public libraries. It has enough money to do one of these, but not both. The city can't base the decision on profit because neither the property tax automation nor the library automation will generate any directly measurable income for the city. Instead, the choice needs to be based on which of these alternatives would contribute more to the general welfare of the citizens. If the city can consider the benefits brought on by either proposal in relation to each proposal's costs, they can establish a basis for choice. This is the foundation behind the benefit-cost analysis technique.