Return on Investment Analysis of Information Warfare Systems

Abstract

The United States Navy's Cryptologic Carry-On Program Office manages a portfolio of Information Warfare (IW) systems. This research and case study demonstrate how the Knowledge Value Added (KVA) Methodology can be used to formulate a framework for extracting and analyzing performance parameters and measures of effectiveness for each system. KVA measures the effectiveness and efficiency of CCOP systems and the impact they have on the Intelligence Collection Process (ICP) on board U.S. Navy Ships. By analyzing the outputs of the subprocesses involved in the ICP in common units of change, a price per unit of output can be generated to allocate both cost and revenue at the subprocess level. With this level of financial detail, a return on investment (ROI) analysis can be conducted for each process, or asset.