Investments in E-Government: A Benefit Management Case Study

TheexpensesinInformationSystemsandInformationTechnology(IS/IT)representasubstantial shareinorganizations’budgets.However,IS/ITinvestmentprojectsseemtocontinuetoshowreduced successrates.TheBenefitsManagement(BM)hasgainedrelevanceasaway,notonly,tounderstand thesefailures,butalsoasatoolavailabletoorganizationstoimprovethesuccessofIS/TIinvestments. TheobjectiveofthisarticleistounderstandhowBMcanbeappliedinIS/ITinvestmentsinthePublic Administration(PA)andhelptoleveragethebenefitsoftheseinvestments.Acasestudywasconducted usingane-GovernmentprojectinthePortuguesePA.ThestudyshowedhowaBMapproachcan beappliedinthisenvironmentandalsoidentifiedsomedifficultiesthatmustbeconsidered.Several benefits,thatwerenotforeseen,wereidentifiedandevaluated,orproposedsomecriteriafortheir evaluation,highlighting,thisway,thetruecontributionofIS/ITinvestmentsindeliveringservices tocitizensandincreasingpublicorganizationsperformance. KEywoRdS Benefits Management, Benefits Realization, e-Government, e-Government Investments, IS/IT Investments, Maturity Models, Programme Management, Project Management

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