These costs go well beyond the cost of training in new tools. The greater the gap between the current technologies and the ones in your vision, the greater the effort and time required to get there. Top of page Separability of tasks Separating tasks and managing them as independent and potentially parallel efforts can keep a lid on the costs of new initiatives. Doing this effectively depends on the ability of the team to clearly see the tasks that must be attended to and the extent to which these tasks fit together or are independent of one another. But it can also mean integrated business processes, organizational structures, and policy frameworks.
Integration can take many forms.
For example, several benefit programs could be highly integrated by combining eligibility assessments and service delivery, or they could be loosely integrated by co-locating offices and coordinating information dissemination. Data could be loosely integrated by co-locating data resources on a Web site, or they could be tightly integrated by transforming them from multiple sources to a single database. An understanding of the degree of integration in areas such as program goals, funding, staff, infrastructure, and data will improve the accuracy of project cost estimates. And, of course, the tighter the integration of formerly separate things, the higher the cost. The authors provide seven tips to help organizations protect their investments.