What kind of metrics should I be collecting to measure cost and time savings related to EDI?
For any given contract, find out how many documents are involved (how many Cost Performance Reports (CPRs), schedule reports, etc.) and the average number of pages per document, how many times the data are manually entered, who enters the data (expressed as a rate per hour), and how long it takes to enter the data. You want to determine how much it costs to handle one page manually and an equivalent page electronically. From these basic figures, you can determine time and cost savings by document by month (or by year). You can then extrapolate those figures based on the number of contracts and types of reports you receive from the contractors. You may also want to try to quantify other cost savings or value added benefit factors such as better use of data or how linking EDI to other EC tools, such as bar coding and on-line systems, improves the process. These value added factors are harder to measure and quantify, but typically provide additional benefits for the end users that no one
