Personal computer use at Navy Field Activities: a productivity study

Abstract : In the past, corporations justified investment in office automation (OA) by vague claims of increased productivity. Now, managers are reevaluating their productivity measurement systems in an effort to identify productivity gains resulting from OA. The purpose of this thesis is to present a methodology for determining the impact of OA on office productivity. This study examined the productivity of the Standard Automated Contracting System for Federal Agencies (SACONS), in a before/after quasi-experimental design that measured outputs (volume, quality of work), inputs (staff size, grade structure, overtime usage), and by-product social effects (morale, teamwork) using archival data. This framework, developed in a previous SACONS study, is used to analyze the strength of SACONS software. The results of this study were confounded by external events that adversely affected our results. Only the quality of work measure (Procurement Action Lead Time), which was reduced by 13 percent, showed a significant productivity gain. Further study of SACONS is necessary to determine its impact on office productivity. (kr)