Using IS/IT Valuation Methods in Practice

Valuation of information systems (IS) and information technology (IT) has gained a lot of attention over the years resulting in a broad range of approaches. We examine the use of valuation methods in a case study of a large public organization. Life cycle analysis was used to position and relate valuation methods. We found that eight different methods were used and that there was limited coordination among these methods. We argue that there is a need for more coherence among the use of methods in which the input and results of one method can be used by other methods. To obtain more coherence we recommend for the short term to select and use methods for valuation as an integrated set, and for the long term we plea for architecture-based valuation, to connect the decision-making process on value of IS/IT to the organization's enterprise architecture.