A case study of the use of activity-based analysis as an information resource management tool

The purpose of the study was to investigate a modification of a managerial accounting technique, Activity-Based Costing (ABC), as a tool for addressing Information Resource Management (IRM) concerns within business processes. To indicate that ABC has been adapted for the IRM context, this study called the tool "Activity-Based Analysis" (ABA). ABA includes ABC's costing methodology as well as additional methods to address broader issues.; The research method was a single-site case study at a property and casualty insurance company. The unit of analysis was a business process consisting of activities needed to provide claims handling services for workers' compensation insurance. Four questions guided the study: (1) Did ABA identify management information required to monitor process effectiveness and efficiency? (2) Did ABA support outsourcing decision making by identifying IRM cost components within business processes? (3) Did ABA identify information resources that are sharable? (4) Did ABA identify differences between Company organizational characteristics and IRM department organizational characteristics?; For each question, IRM literature was used to predict the results that should be obtained if ABA were successfully applied. ABC literature was used to determine a technique that could produce these results. Predefined research protocols guided the collection and analysis of data that were obtained from multiple sources. The data were organized in a case study database using predefined forms. The data were then analyzed to answer each of the four research questions. A chain of evidence was developed to support the research conclusions. Key employees at the research site reviewed the reasonableness of the predicted outcomes.; The study found ABA able to provide the results suggested by the research questions. Thus, ABA is useful for requirements analysis, outsourcing decision making, identifying information resources to share, and IRM organizational analysis. The success of ABA suggests further research. The study identified key variables to guide such research.