【正确答案】Benefi ts Reduction in venue and invigilation costs Approximately 70% of these costs are associated with the foundation level examinations. Using internet-based assessment (anytime, anyday, anywhere) the IAA will reduce costs which the scenario suggests are currently increasing. This is particularly signifi cant for smaller centres which only offer foundation level examinations. These smaller centres have long been acknowledged to be uneconomic and have only been retained because of the IAA’s accessibility objective. Reduction in fi nancing costs The accessibility of foundation level examinations throughout the year should help address the cash fl ow problems associated with two large diets of examinations. The scenario suggests that the association uses its $5m loans and overdraft facility for at least four months of the year, incurring bank charges of $350,000 in the last fi nancial year. Reduction in marking costs Moving the foundation examinations to on-line multiple choice assessment will eliminate marking costs completely for examinations at this level. The candidate’s answers are automatically marked and the result presented within seconds of the paper being completed. Elimination of checking costs These are eliminated completely at both foundation and advanced levels. At the foundation level, multiple-choice examination answers require no checking at all. At the advanced level, on-line marking software accurately totals the marks allocated to each question, so no manual checking process is required. Reduction in central administrative costs In the current system, temporary administrative employees are employed in peak periods to help with processing results. Using on-line multiple choice examinations for the foundation level examinations should reduce the need for temporary staff. Elimination of courier costs Courier costs (from invigilator to marker and from marker to IAA central checking) will be eliminated completely, delivering considerable savings. The benefi ts identifi ed above have all been concerned with cost reduction and should be relatively easy to quantify. There may also be benefi ts associated with the following. Increased fee income The anytime, anyday, anywhere principle of the foundation examinations may lead to more students registering all over the world. The ability to process results quickly may tempt students to study with the IAA, rather than competitors. This may again lead to increased income. Costs Security costs The removal of formal twice-yearly foundation level examinations creates signifi cant security issues. It is not clear if the head of education has yet recognised these issues and it may not be technically feasible to address them. They are listed here as costs, because if the problems can be solved it will be at a cost. Three immediate problems to overcome are: – Ensuring that the specifi ed candidate has taken the examination and that they have not employed a more able substitute to take their place. At present, the invigilator checks the validity of the identifi cation presented. It will be costly for the IAA to guarantee that personal identifi cation checks are in place in all places and at all times when examinations are being sat. – Ensuring that the candidate does not consult books and texts during the examination. Again it will be costly to ensure that candidates are checked for the presence of such materials whenever and wherever these examinations are taken. – Ensuring that all centres used for on-demand examinations can be trusted not to assist candidates, many of whom may be students who are being taught at the venue, or employees whose employers want them to pass so that they qualify sooner. Hardware costs This is the cost of the computers that will be used for the advanced examinations. It is likely that these will be rented. Appropriate word processing software will have to be available on these computers. Support will have to be provided during the examination. Software licence costs Software licence costs will be associated with the software for delivering the multiple-choice examinations and for the on-line marking of the advanced examinations. There will be initial purchase costs and continuing support costs for both of these applications. Increased setting costs There is likely to be a signifi cant one-off cost in producing a large enough bank of multiple-choice questions for the foundation examinations. These questions will also need continuing review and renewal. On-line support costs Anything relying on technology requires back-up and support teams that can react when that technology fails, particularly during an assessment session. The provision of support incurs a continuing cost. Redundancy costs There may be redundancy costs associated with reducing the number of internal IAA staff required for checking. Some of the costs incurred above are capital costs which have to be incurred to launch the e-assessment process. The IAA is not cash rich and so the launch of e-assessment will incur signifi cant initial fi nancing costs.

【正确答案】The answer to the fi rst part of this question suggests that there are still signifi cant cost issues that need to be considered, particularly concerning the delivery of appropriate security. The requirement to defi ne a formal business case will mean that the head of education will have to quantify the amount and timing of costs and benefi ts. Dependent on the investment appraisal method used, this will lead to a suggested time to payback, an Internal Rate of Return (IRR) or a Net Present Value (NPV) for the project. Such quantifi cation will be particularly valuable where costs and benefi ts are diffi cult to defi ne because of the intangible nature of the benefi t or issue. For example: the potential benefi t of attracting more students and the potential cost of providing adequate security requirements for on-line assessment require considerable defi nition. The need for a formal business case will force the head of education to defi ne the features of the project more accurately and with that precision will come a realistic assessment of costs and benefi ts. It will also allow the project to be compared with other projects that might be considered by the IAA as well as seeing whether it is feasible overall, given the Institute’s cash fl ow problems. Managing the benefi t through the progress of the project ensures that it remains on track to deliver value to the organisation. During the conduct of a project there are often changes in requirements, and these are particularly likely in a project as innovative as e-assessment. Without proper benefi ts management the initial business case might not be re-visited and so costs may soar and the proposed benefi ts may not materialise. Consequently, even if the justifi cation of the project was initially ‘self-evident’, benefi ts management would be necessary to ensure that justifi cation remained. Finally, a formal benefi ts realisation review should take place some time after the project has been completed and the product (in this case e-assessment) has been implemented. It will assess whether the benefi ts promised in the original business case have actually been delivered. One of the primary advantages of benefi ts realisation is that it forces the sponsor to carefully defi ne the nature, timing and value of each benefi t that is being claimed. It thus provides a yardstick that success can be monitored against. The business sponsor at IIA is extremely enthusiastic about e-assessment and this could easily lead to it being adopted without careful consideration of the costs and benefi ts. The existence of a business case and benefi ts management programme is that the business case will have to be carefully defi ned and its validity monitored throughout the process, culminating in a formal review. Organisations where such a process is missing often adopt projects based on enthusiasm and political will, usually to the long-term detriment of the organisation. The expectation that the sponsor will be formally held to account for the delivery of the benefi ts is a good discipline. It should discourage the development of business cases based on spurious benefi ts which are unlikely to be delivered.