SAP recently announced the results of a year-long "public ROI" initiative, conducted in partnership with the Center for Technology in Government (CTG). The project yielded five government case studies and a white paper examining how IT investments deliver public value across operational, social, and political returns.

Because governments are nonprofit organizations, the traditional ROI measurements used to assess return on their IT investments, such as cost avoidance or cost-benefit analysis, do not fully represent the value of government programs and services. This public ROI initiative, exclusively funded and guided by SAP, helped define an ROI approach that includes the social and political value of IT investments.

The white paper presents a broader framework for conducting public ROI assessments for government IT projects. The white paper and framework were developed, in part, from five international case studies conducted by CTG, including studies of three SAP government customers. These studies examine how government IT investments are conceived and developed, with particular attention to the role of public value in the process.

The relevance of the public ROI initiative was reinforced by a recent study by The Economist, confirming that more than two-thirds of public sector executives worldwide will measure and report on social ROI over the next five years. This confirms a global trend for governments to show effectiveness across multiple dimensions of ROI, including how IT affects the social and political aspects of government programs.

Improving Government Measurements

SAP's public ROI initiative brought together SAP customers and partners, and public sector experts from around the world. The new framework is a universal, nonproprietary method of public sector ROI analysis that incorporates operational, social, and political outcomes of government IT investments.

For more information on SAP's public ROI initiative and how SAP can help your government organization deliver public ROI, check out the following:

• White paper – "Advancing Return on Investment Analysis for Government IT: A Public Value Framework" (PDF, 452 KB)
• Public ROI case studies:
  • "Austrian Federal Budgeting and Bookkeeping System" (PDF, 113 KB)
  • "The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Integrated Enterprise System" (PDF, 264 KB)
  • "The Government of Israel's Merkava Project" (PDF, 142 KB)
  • "Service New Brunswick" (PDF, 235 KB)
  • "The Washington State Digital Archives" (PDF, 116 KB)
• "Adaptability and Relevance of 'Public ROI'" (PDF, 958 KB). Log-in required.
• SAP Spearheads "Public ROI" Initiative to Define Value of IT for Public Sector Organizations (May 18, 2005)
• CTG public ROI project overview, white paper, and case studies; press release; and press coverage
• "Business 2010: The Public Sector" (PDF, 151 KB). Log-in required.