Process measurement as a constituent of the evaluation of IT systems implementation in public administration

Legal requirements and principles of New Public Management impose on public administration an obligation to continuously improve its work using efficiency increasing methods. The expediency and efficiency of public expenditure should directly concern the implementation and reorganisation of IT systems for governmental departments, stressing the need for reviews of the existing systems with the purpose of meeting the needs of service users and assessing their effectiveness and efficiency. Researchers examining the economic evaluation of IT projects in public administration do not use uniform methods. The article focuses on one example from a finance unit in the public sector, i.e. the finance department in the Chancellery of the Sejm (Polish parliament); it is indicated that the use of a process approach in the reorganisation of the IT systems in this department could provide quick wins thanks to lower costs and the resulting efficiency gains. Defining indicators and the measurement of processes can be a useful constituent in the evaluation of IT systems implementation and it provides economic arguments for running projects aimed at exploiting the potential of ERP systems more fully.