Public administrations are among the most active organizations in promoting process automation based on software systems. For evident reasons, public administrations are interested in evaluating the effectiveness of their process automation initiatives. However, when performing these evaluations, public administrations have to deal with a specific characteristic of their environment: the scope of the assessment can be more or less wide, i.e., it can extend beyond the boundaries of the public administration, to include the companies, organizations, citizens, suppliers, etc. that directly or indirectly interact with the processes. In fact, the effectiveness of a process initiative does not concern only the public administration that is promoting it, but involves all the stakeholders that, to various extents, participate in the process. Although traditional methods for measurement planning and execution – like the GQM (Goal/Question/Metrics) – can be used, evaluators have to define specific means to deal with the multiplicity of scope definitions that can be chosen in order to define the boundaries of the assessment. In this paper we illustrate the usage of the GQM to define measurement plans and how to update them in order to deal with extended scopes. The proposed technique is illustrated through two case studies, taken from actual evaluations in which the author was involved. The presented evaluation approach is more effective than traditional econometric methodologies. On the one hand, it lets the evaluator choose the set of indicators that are more suitable for the purpose; on the other hand it goes beyond the traditional economic and financial indicators, extending the analysis to factors that allow a more comprehensive understanding of the effects of process automation.
Multi-scope evaluation of Public Administration initiatives in process automation
LAVAZZA, LUIGI ANTONIO
2011-01-01
Abstract
Public administrations are among the most active organizations in promoting process automation based on software systems. For evident reasons, public administrations are interested in evaluating the effectiveness of their process automation initiatives. However, when performing these evaluations, public administrations have to deal with a specific characteristic of their environment: the scope of the assessment can be more or less wide, i.e., it can extend beyond the boundaries of the public administration, to include the companies, organizations, citizens, suppliers, etc. that directly or indirectly interact with the processes. In fact, the effectiveness of a process initiative does not concern only the public administration that is promoting it, but involves all the stakeholders that, to various extents, participate in the process. Although traditional methods for measurement planning and execution – like the GQM (Goal/Question/Metrics) – can be used, evaluators have to define specific means to deal with the multiplicity of scope definitions that can be chosen in order to define the boundaries of the assessment. In this paper we illustrate the usage of the GQM to define measurement plans and how to update them in order to deal with extended scopes. The proposed technique is illustrated through two case studies, taken from actual evaluations in which the author was involved. The presented evaluation approach is more effective than traditional econometric methodologies. On the one hand, it lets the evaluator choose the set of indicators that are more suitable for the purpose; on the other hand it goes beyond the traditional economic and financial indicators, extending the analysis to factors that allow a more comprehensive understanding of the effects of process automation.
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