Many efforts have been made to estimate the economic impact of an EDMS. But none was ever able to estimate it without a great deal of subjectivity.
Manufacturers
Traditional ROI calculators are available a little bit around the world. The problem with these calculators is to detect and define each little system impact. They do it through a predefined tricky and complicated set of questions.
Take a look at a few of them:
Authors
Many authors have tried, especially since the 90s, to formalize the benefits inherent in investments in information systems in an organization. It is universally accepted that in order to achieve a good organization's government stakeholders need accurate and real-time quality information. Yet, determining the value of that information has proven to be a challenge. An EDMS not only enables an organization to achieve productivity gains, reduce operational costs and ensure compliance with regulations and standards, but also opens up new opportunities to provide new services and improving the quality of existing services.
Organizations
Different public and private organizations have shown concern over the issue of measuring the intrinsic value of its files, an in general all electronic information resources.
The economic concept of utility is closely linked to the concept of consumer satisfaction. The difference is that the utility is theoretically defined and quantified by microeconomic theory as a clear indicator that satisfaction, measured and estimated by mathematical functions whose first derivative has the meaning of diminishing marginal utility.
Organizations have systematically tried to demonstrate the economic value of the EDMS to consumers (something that they intuitively feel as important) as a way of justifying these relevant investments.
