Business benefits from information systems through an active benefits realisation programme

Abstract … the subtle but distinct quality of the survivors is that their organisations become engines of inquiry. Yes they solve problems, but what they do best is harness the forces of the organisation so that they constantly and obsessively question their modus operandi. It is this continually questioning that generates the next paradigm … and the next … and the next. R Pascale, Managing on the Edge, Penguin Books, London (1990). This paper describes a process for managing information systems' development through a continuous evaluation approach. This process requires active participation from the primary stakeholders including line managers and users, financial staff and information systems developers. The process requires a direct and continuous focus on business benefits realisation. It enables the finally commissioned information system to support the business or organisational objectives by realising the expected information systems goals or outcomes. This is a theoretical paper in which the evidence to support the arguments presented is drawn both from the general literature on evaluation and from conceptual and empirical work done in the information systems field.