Accurate, timely, and relevant information saves transportation agencies both time and money through increased efficiency, improved productivity, and rapid deployment of innovations. For example, access to research results allows agencies to benefit from the experiences of others and avoids costly duplication of effort. While the benefits are substantial, they are difficult to quantify and the value of information goes unrecognized. An extensive literature review and interviews with State DOTs, private companies, and transportation libraries reveal that access to information yields both time and cost savings by improving decision making, expediting solutions, and avoiding unnecessary research. The benefits of information and information services are summarized below. For a more detailed discussion of the literature review and interviews conducted for this report, see Appendices A and B.

Good Information Reduces Costs

Reducing costs is a primary concern for transportation agencies. A number of studies and experts consulted for this report cited the following cost savings resulting from access to information:

• New York State DOT (NYDOT) estimates life-cycle cost savings of nearly $9 million per year resulting from a new concrete mix for bridge decks that was developed as the result of a literature search. The new mix was implemented by NYDOT in less than a year.

• Illinois DOT saved approximately $300,000 through access to research at Louisiana State University on heat-strengthening of steel bridges.

• For New York, an innovative horizontal drain system discovered at a TRB conference not only solved a landslide problem, but also yielded net savings of more than $2.5 million over conventional stabilization treatments.

• In the private sector, Texas Instruments calculated a 515 percent return on its investment in library services.

• A subsidiary of another major U.S. manufacturer found that the information produced by a series of literature searches performed by its corporate library was worth about $400,000-- and cost the company just $17,000.

• According to Griffiths and King (1993), firms without libraries spend 2 to 4 times more to acquire information than those with in-house libraries. Obtaining information through the use of alternative sources costs 2.3 times as much as acquiring the same information through an in-house library.

• Table 1 shows benefit-cost ratios for in-house information services range from 16 to 1 (Georgia Technical Institute) to 3 to 1 (Paccar, Inc.).

Information Saves Time

Quality information saves time in numerous ways--by avoiding duplicative efforts, stopping unproductive activities, modifying design approaches, or correcting bad information:

• Griffiths and King surveyed more than 27,000 professionals over an 11-year period on their use of information. Table 2 shows the percentage of journal articles, books, and internal reports to which the survey respondents attributed time savings.

  Table 2. Information Sources and Time Savings
  Information Source	% Yielding Time Savings
  Journal articles	26 percent
  Books	42 percent
  Internal reports	50 percent

• For North Carolina DOT, knowing what other States have done, and how these methods or results fit into its own research plan, is an invaluable time-saver. Experts there report that the time gap between initiation of a research project and its inclusion in an information database can be costly to other research efforts; they urge a concentrated effort to expedite the reporting of research in progress.

• An in-house librarian at Paccar, Inc., joined a task force to reduce the turnaround time for findings from a vehicle test track. The test results, with digitized photographs, were made available on the corporate Intranet within 1 to 6 days instead of the usual 1 to 6 months. The speedier access to the test track data significantly reduced the engineering design cycle.

• Another corporate library reduced from 10 days to just 1 day the process of computing cost and labor rates for proposals by developing an on-line, in-house capability to perform functions formerly provided by an outside contractor.

• Parsons-Brinckerhoff saves time for managers and staff with its knowledge sharing network. This network has been successful in building the corporate knowledge base and in filling short-term vacancies for specialized personnel.

Table 1. Benefit-Cost Ratios for Information Services
Georgia Technical Institute	16 to 1
Exxon [See Koenig, 1992.]	11 to 1
Minnesota DOT	9-10 to 1
NASA [ Ibid.]	7.6 to 1
Paccar, Inc.	3 to 1

Information Improves Decision Making

Within the highly decentralized transportation community, knowing what other organizations have done or how they have confronted similar challenges is invaluable when making technical or policy decisions:

• Marshall's 1993 survey of banking managers documents the value of information in the decision-making process. Eighty-four percent of the 299 managers surveyed felt that the information provided by their company's information service contributed to better decisions. More than half said that the information led them to handle some aspect of an assignment differently. In cases where a decision involved a financial transaction, 74 percent estimated the value of the decision at more than $1 million.

• Respondents to Griffiths and King's survey measured the impact of information on work quality. Table 3 shows (from 1=low to 7=high) how respondents rated the quality of their work both with and without specific types of information.

Table 3. Information and Quality of Work (Scale of 1 to 7)
	Journals	Books	Internal Reports
With Information	5.82	5.68	5.78
Without Information	4.04	3.57	3.52

Information Yields Customer Satisfaction

Although many organizations cannot quantify the value of information or information services, the perceived value among users is high. Users discuss value in terms of whether, and to what extent, the information provided meets their expectations and needs. For example:

• Texas Instruments' library in Houston reported that 81 percent of the users sampled felt that the library's services had a positive impact on their jobs.

• Virginia's Transportation Research Council yielded an overall rating from its customers of 4 on a 1-to-5 scale.

• In Matarazzo and Prusak's 1995 survey, 75 percent of senior managers thought that their libraries contributed to their organization's strategic goals by providing valuable information. Information obtained from electronic databases and reference services were most valued.

Electronic version of Publication No. FHWA-SA-99-038
This page last updated August 18, 1999