If you don't have the processes in place to continuously update the information, then you lose the value of what you have. But once you build the system, that's when your investment is supposed to start paying off. You need to make sure you have the processes and practices in place to measure that and report that. Demanding Results Indeed, Sledge expects the importance of maintaining evaluation data to grow as policymakers more closely tie funding to project performance. That's the case in Tennessee, where agencies may borrow money for technology purchases and systems development from a revolving fund operated by the state Office for Information Resources.
Borrowers generally repay the loans with savings generated by the new technology.
It winds up being a business decision. Ed Cole, chief financial officer and CIO of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, has used the revolving fund for several IT projects, including a management information system currently being installed in Tennessee's state-run resort businesses. I think the discipline and logic of going through the process is extremely valuable. I would not ever want to go into a large project without doing that. We're working off a methodology that not only can be learned and replicated, but is also comparable from agency to agency.