The three fundamental phases of the IT investment management process are:

• Select - Selecting the IT projects that will best support mission needs and evaluating the project's costs, benefits and risks before spending significant amounts of money
• Control - Ensuring that the projects deliver the projected benefits in accordance with the projected costs and time frames
• Evaluate - Assessing the project's impact on mission performance, modifying the system to achieve maximum benefits, and revising the investment review process based on lessons learned

NIH Guidance

The NIH IT Investment Review Process addresses IT investment review at the NIH level. The Cost-Benefit Analysis Guide for NIH IT Projects provides guidance on preparing the Cost-Benefit Analysis required for a detailed review. The CBA Evaluation Guide provides tools for the review and evaluation/ranking of Cost-Benefit Analyses. The IT Investment Ranking Criteria describes the criteria that will be used to rank IT investments that are reviewed at the NIH level. The NIH Business Case Format for IT Investments provides a format and instructions for preparing documentation for an IT Investment Review.

General NIH guidance on investment review is available in Section 5.7 of the NIH IT Management Guide. 

Additional Guidance

• Information Technology Investment Management: A Framework for Assessing and Improving Process Maturity (Exposure Draft), Report AIMD-10.1.23 - provides an excellent guide to developing and evaluating an organization's IT Investment Management Process.
• Information Technology Investment Management: An Overview of GAO's Assessment Framework (Exposure Draft). AIMD-00-155 - A very brief overview of the GAO framework for assessing the maturity of an organization's IT Investment Management Process.
• GAO Information Technology Investment Evaluation Guide, Assessing Risks and Returns: A Guide for Evaluating Federal Agencies' IT Investment Decision-Making
• OMB guide, Evaluating Information Technology Investments
• OMB M-97-02, Memorandum - Funding Information Systems Investments, defines 8 criteria for "evaluation of major information system investments proposed for funding in the FY 98 budget." Known as " Raines-Rules" for IT investments.
• GSA publication, An Analytical Framework for Capital Planning & Investment Control for IT
• CIO Council, Capital Planning and Investment documents,

• ROI and the Value Puzzle
• Agency Capital Planning & IT Investment Self-Assessment
• Implementing Capital Planning and IT Investment Processes: An Assessment
• Information Technology Investment: First Practices