Economic efficiency assessment of projects for the information systems creation

Abstract

The article is concerned with an approach to assess the economic efficiency of IT projects, which results are recommended to be used when choosing the informatization version for organizations of various types. This approach is based on the calculation of such indicators as capital costs for an IT project, the magnitude of the projected change in operating costs to ensure the functioning of the IS (information system), the growth rate in the efficiency of business processes as a result of informatization, as well as the costs to ensure the required level of information security. The analysis results of modern trends in the IS development for informatization of organization business processes are given, which made it possible to identify the main features of the solutions offered on the market. The analysis of direct and indirect costs for an IT project is shown to be rather difficult in a number of cases, which leads to inaccuracies in assessing its economic efficiency. In this case, the estimated payback period of the project (usually unreasonably short) can be exceeded many times in practice. At the same time, as a result of rapid progress in the field of information technology, the IT projects results are subjected to intense obsolescence, so long payback periods can lead to significant losses for the organization implementing the project. The consideration of the influence of the information security threats and the necessary additional funds for its provision on the forecast indicators for the economic efficiency of the proposed IT projects can significantly affect the decisions on choosing not only the configuration of the IS but the platform on which it operates as well. The article proposes an approach to determine the costs for ensuring information security, which should be considered when assessing the IT project economic efficiency. A mathematical model is described to choose an option for the tables rational placement on IS units (database servers) used by employees of various geographically detached divisions of an enterprise, which will allow reducing operating costs for this system operation.