Creating an ROI Dashboard A Practical Approach to Measuring & Communicating Organizational Impact Stacey Bowers Marketing and Account Development Manager,

Creating an ROI DashboardA Practical Approach to Measuring & Communicating Organizational

Impact

Stacey Bowers

Marketing and Account Development Manager, Channel Marketing

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How Springer got involved?

1. Your interests are OUR interests?

2. Springer LAB was formed to get a two-way communication

3. Outsell White Paper was commissioned

“Establishing Value and ROI: Investing in STM e-journals and e-books”

4. Suggested Steps to Create an ROI Dashboard…

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Contributing Value to the Organization

1. In the current economic climate, Libraries need to be recognized for their contributions to an organization.

2. Libraries need to align with and contribute to Enterprise goals.

3. Communication of ROI is critically important as a validation of Library services.

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Measuring ROI

1. Assessing and demonstrating the value of information has become both more difficult and more necessary

2. Libraries are struggling to measure ROI

Increased choice means more complexity

What is the value of a digital resource if information is free?

3. Usage is often a proxy for value but Libraries understand the need to dig deeper

4. Softer metrics such as time saved or project streamlining are difficult to quantify, but critical to expressing

real value

Who is involved in the budget and content decision making? Courtesy of FreePint www.freepint.com

Does this look familiar?

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Communicating Value and ROI

1.Simple, effective tools for communicating Library ROI and contributions are needed

2.An ROI dashboard provides an ongoing summary of a Libraries contribution to organizational

objectives

3.The dashboard should tell the unfolding story of a library’s contribution to organizational goals and

success

8 Steps to develop an effective ROI dashboardStep 1: Align with Organizational ObjectivesStep 2: Identify Key ConstituenciesStep 3: Conduct Internal ResearchStep 4: Determine Desired MeasurementsStep 5: Establish ROI MethodologyStep 6: Determine ValueStep 7: Create ROI DashboardStep 8: Develop Communication Plan

• Identify key organizational strategies and objectives

• Ensure that services delivered align with organizational goals

• Identification of key library users and groups within the organization is

critical to ensuring proper alignment of services

• ROI should not simply justify costs, but actively demonstrate

contributions to the organization’s success

Step 1: Align with Organizational Objectives

Align Services with Strategy

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• Segment knowledge workers and groups

• Examine Group, Department and Enterprise perspectives

– Various constituents have differing views on the role and value of the library

– Executives and library stakeholders will see key library functions differently than

end users

• Understand ROI measurements’ relevance to various constituencies

• For all constituencies, ROI should focus on improvement across

three key metrics:

Step 2: Identify Key Constituencies

Money Time Quality

Source: Establishing the return on investment for information and knowledge services: A. Hendriks and Wooler Business Information Review.2006; 23: 13-25

11Step 3: Conduct Internal Research

End-user surveys

Focus groups

Executive interviews

Informal feedback

Usage data

• Perform internal research to determine constituent perspectives,

needs and objectives

• Topics to explore:

– Enterprise or group objectives & library support for these objectives

– Views on the value of information

– ROI examples from other areas of the organization

– Behaviors and use of eContent (End-Users)

SpringerLink Usage Statistics :Corporation XYZ

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Contents

• Samples of usage data that can help you measure ROI in

various ways.

• Help you re-appropriate collections and or budgets.

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Usage Dashboard

Usage Metrics Jan to Oct 2009

Visits 19,287

Page Views 44,510

Journals Page Views 31,967

eBooks Page Views 5,004

Other Page Views (Home, Navigation etc.) 7,539

Full-Text Requests 7,447

Journals Articles (COUNTER Journal Report 1) 5,769

eBooks Sections (COUNTER Book Report 2) 1,678

License denials 5,170

Journals Articles 4,553

eBooks Sections 617

Pay-per-View Requests 5

(Source: MetaPress, Coremetrics)

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Page Views by IP Addresses

(Source: Coremetrics)

IP AddressPage Views

Jan to Oct 2009

XXX.XX.210.15 18,107

XXX.XX.2.158 13,344

XXX.XX.212.160 8,948

XXX.XX.11.16 1,706

XXX.XX.3.30 1,355

XXX.XX.188.155 211

XXX.XX.210.16 163

XXX.XX.189.2 62

XXX.XX.88.30 40

XXX.XX.11.15 30

XXX.XX.161.193 23

XXX.XX.161.169 23

XXX.XX.40.60 23

XXX.XX.189.97 22

XXX.XX.188.242 21

Other 432

Total 44,510

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Full-Text Article Requests (COUNTER Journal Report 1)

SpringerLink Full-Text Article Requests 2007-10

(Source: MetaPress )

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Full-Text Article Requests by Content Age

(Source: Coremetrics)

Full-Text Article Requests by Content Age: Jan to Oct 2009

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Full-Text Section Requests by Subject Collections

(Source: Coremetrics)

Full-Text Section Requests by Subject Collections: Jan to Oct 2009

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Article Denials by Subject Collections

(Source: Coremetrics)

Article Denials by Subject Collections: Jan to Oct 2009

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Article Denials by Content Age

(Source: Coremetrics)

Article Denials by Content Age: Jan to Oct 2009

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Quote from Outsell’s Establishing Value and ROI report….

(Source: Coremetrics)

“All of these metrics are fine and dandy, but they don’t really answer the question…libraries have been trying to answer…for years……Impact to me is quantifying the impact on the bottom line.”

(Lab Manager: Technical Library Information Research, Research and Engineering Lab.)

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• Determining ROI is complicated

Formula will be unique for every organization

ROI is a story that can be told combining quantitative and qualitative data to establish

baseline assumptions.

• Establish methodology

• Determine what “Research” (from step 3) is relevant to developing your ROI story.

• Establish Assumptions

• Cost of alternatives vs library costs

• Cost of time saved = cost of wages

• Opportunity costs

Step 5: Establish ROI Methodology

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Establish a dollar value for library services and resources

Four basic steps are needed to find a bottom line for library services and resources.

1. Find cost data for operating information

services.

2. Collect user estimates of the value

of beneficial library services.

3. Record narrative accounts of library

impact.

4. Determine cost-benefit ratios to

provide a return on investment (ROI)

figure.

. Source: Barbara Weiner "Marketing: Making a Case for Your Library" 3 Sources, V18(5), October/November 2000, pages 3-5

Step 6: Determine Value

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Case Study: Hazelden Library and Information Resources Center

Patron Needs Met: 92.2%. •From Survey

Time saved for other employees each year: $106,560 •Time saved x estimated hourly wage

Annual worth of reference service: $78,300 •Number of transactions x time to respond x cost of independent service

Library collection worth: $52,544 •Cost to maintain content.

ROI 4:3

•Ratio of Worth of Service vs Library Collection

. Source: Barbara Weiner "Marketing: Making a Case for Your Library" 3 Sources, V18(5), October/November 2000, pages 3-5

“This is not a scientifically rigid study. However, this dollar value exercise presents a reasonable estimate of the value that my library provides to its organization. “

Step 6: Determine Value

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What to include:

• Presentation:

– A visual system – green, red and yellow key performance indicators

– Icons

– Key Metrics in percentage

• What to demonstrate:

– Value, i.e. penetration and use

– Utilization, i.e. use, citations, authors, decisions supported

– Time Saved

Step 7: Create Your Dashboard

26Step 7: Create Your Dashboard

Metric Value HealthToday

TrendOver 1 Year

Needs Met 92%

Time Saved $106,560

Value of Service $78,300

Cost of Operation $52,544

ROI 4:3

• Develop simple, clear structure that effectively communicates ROI

• Results should be apparent at a glance

• Dashboard should tell a story – include past history and/or trends

27Step 8: Develop Communication Plan

• Establishing an effective communication plan is vitally important

• Meet with management to review and adjust communications

• Ensure that all relevant constituents are covered

– Over communicate – do not assume your audiences already have this

information or will not benefit from receiving it

Questions? Contact me for more info:

[email protected]