Exploring Methods to Justify Projects with Intangible Benefits
Alisha Oliver
November 14, 2007
Committee
Dr. Tom Janicki (chair)
Abstract
As Information Technology (IT) investments increase in organizations, the need
to provide financial justification for these projects increases. IT must compete with other
corporate projects for approval. Information technology and business unit managers face
a particular difficult challenge when they attempt to define and justify investments in IT
projects, as they are comprised of intangible items. Corporate management expects most
projects to provide a return on the firm’s investment dollars. Phillips [2006] indicates
that IT projects are a measurement challenge when quantifying intangible benefits in a
monetary way. The goal of this capstone project is to provide IT managers a summary of
quantitative research and experiences incorporated from the Wilmington, NC IT
community. A secondary goal is to provide guidelines for measurement of intangibles as
a component of the IT project approval process.
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