ICT benefit realization for dairy farm management: Challenges and future direction

The success of ICT project cannot simply be measured by the successful system deployment with all functions implemented according to the specified requirements. It should, however, be measured by the benefit gained from having such a system. In this paper, we propose a benefit realization framework called Operation of Realizing Benefit in Information Technology (ORBIT). Since the framework focuses more on the users rather than the ICT system, it identifies key milestones, activities, and stakeholders that should get involved in each of the 4 phases in the ICT project life cycle, which includes planning, realization, exploration, and evaluation. Our preliminary results from applying the planning phase of the ORBIT framework in the extension service at Dairy Farming Promotion Organization of Thailand is the ICT Context Diagram (IC-Diagram) which illustrates possible infrastructure, technology, services, and devices that should be used for accessing the system in the project. The diagram is designed in such a way that stakeholders with no IT background such as farmers, executive managers, etc., can easily understand the project idea and be ready for getting involved in the realization phase.