We start with the economic principle that companies invest rationally.
So, if they are investing in EDM Systems, they must be getting out of it at least what they've invested.
With this in mind, we investigate how much companies are investing and what problems are they solving.
Then, based upon a mature instrument of corporative architecture –
The Zachman’s Framework for Enterprise Architecture –we distribute that investment
by all kinds of identified benefits that our investigation led us to. We do it
based upon a point system that we built from our permanent surveys and interviews to
corporate responsible people. That assures us that all major aspects of corporate life are taken into account.
For final calculations, we use the same point system to value each solved problem that occurs in consequence of each benefit detected.
According to Saunders (Saunders, 1994 Information Resources Management Journal, vol. 7 issue 4 pages 42-43), an Information System is a “Value Multiplier”.
So, we do just that. We multiply the points of each benefit by the problem it is solving, based upon the value of initial investment and information collected from companies.
Other
influences
Other effects are also taken into account. In our observed 104 organizations we have detected that public administration orgs invest less than others. This may be a general trend or just a sample derived effect. With a larger number of observations this effect may be removed from calculations, kept, or reinforced.
We also detected three stages of different investment levels based upon organizations turnover, and a set of other influences like that.
The current model calculation is currently considering those detected influences that may change within the near future in consequence of a larger number of observations.
Zachman Framework
The Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architecture, sometimes simply referred to as the "Zachman Framework", has become a de facto standard for classifying the artifacts developed in enterprise architecture. It is a logical structure for classifying and organizing the design artifacts of an enterprise that are significant to its management. It draws on a classification scheme found in the more mature disciplines of architecture/construction and engineering/manufacturing, used for classifying and organizing the design artefacts relating to complex physical products such as a building or an aircraft. Zachman adopts this classification scheme to the design and construction of information systems.
Permanent refinement
As answers and research results keep coming in, we keep working on detecting new trends and influences that permanently change and refine the evaluation model. Right now, calculations are being made upon analysis of 104 different companies. As this number increases, model results will become more and more accurate.
Our research is in continuous mode, so please come back to this page once in a while to see what’s new, or subscribe it for automatic updates.
