Multiple Models from a Single Dataset

This chapter presents an example with real data to illustrate: 1) The analysis of data based on economics concepts, with fixed effort and with variable effort, 2) The identification of the productivity capability of an organization, 3) The impact of major risk factors on productivity for an organization, 4) Comparison of the projects of this single organization with comparable projects from the ISBSG repository. It also reports on an empirical study that explored the contribution of these economics concepts in developing tailor-made productivity models representing the performance of the major processes within the organization studied. The chapter provides a summary of concepts of production models, including fixed and variable costs, as well as economies and diseconomies of scale. The data presented in this chapter come from a governmental agency providing specialized financial services to the public, and its software applications are similar to those of banking and insurance providers.