BACKGROUND Public sector austerity measures in many high-income countries mean that public health budgets are reducing year on year. To help inform the potential impact of these proposed disinvestments in public health, we set out to determine the return on investment (ROI) from a range of existing public health interventions. METHODS We conducted systematic searches on all relevant databases...

Using the latest tools and techniques in system testing, test professionals can provide accurate, timely assessments of system quality that help managers answer the fourth question. However, testing a medium to large system can consume a significant portion of the project budget. So, smart system development managers should ask, “What quantifiable value do I receive from this large investment i...

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the return-on-investment (ROI) of agile methods. Agile methods are new product development processes for creating software-based goods and services. Agile methods are a lightweight alternative to traditional methods based on sequential product development processes created over the last four or five decades. The use of traditional methods is theorized...

Organizations have relied on training to increase the performance of their workforce. Also, software process improvement models suggest that training is an effective tool for institutionalizing a development process. Training evaluation becomes important for understanding the improvements resulting from the investments in training. Like other production process, the software development process...

Most Western universities are currently introducing online learning facilities, primarily via use of WWW functionalities. When asked why, the most common answer is that they cannot not do it, as everybody else is doing it. Although specifics of their particular situations influence their decision making, a common reason seems to be not to loose (distance learning) students as those students’ ex...

The results of 44 studies investigating financial impact and return on investment (ROI) from disease management (DM) programs for asthma, congestive heart failure (CHF), diabetes, depression, and multiple illnesses were examined. A positive ROI was found for programs directed at CHF and multiple disease conditions. Some evidence suggests that diabetes programs may save more than they cost, but ...

Provider charge entry systems offer many benefits to users and organizations. At Vanderbilt University Medical Center, a web-based provider charge entry system promises to deliver benefits in reducing days in accounts receivable, reducing labor required for claims and edit processing, and implementing business rules that deliver both strategic and financial benefits.

Most estimates of energy-return-on-investment (EROI) are “static”. They determine the amount of energy produced by a particular energy technology at a particular location at a particular time. Some “dynamic” estimates are also made that track the changes in EROI of a particular resource over time. Such approaches are “bottom-up”. This paper presents a conceptual framework for a “top-down” dynam...

Test-driven development is one of the central techniques of Extreme Programming. However, the impact of test-driven development on the business value of a project has not been studied so far. We present an economic model for the return on investment when using test-driven development instead of the conventional development process. Two factors contribute to the return on investment of test-driv...

Numerous technologies have been proposed as partial solutions to our declining fossil energy stocks. There is a significant need for consistent metrics to compare the desirability of different technologies. The ratio of energy produced to energy consumed by an energy production technology-known as the energy return on investment (EROI)-is an important first indicator of the potential benefits t...