Information Systems Project Failure
Why do information systems projects continue to fail?“An information system is a set of people, data, and procedures that work together to provide useful information” (Senn, 1990, p8) Given that information systems (IS) seem to be a useful item, which have the potential to ease peoples’ working lives, why do they create so many problems? That is the topic of discussion for this paper. At first glance the answer seems obvious, it must be due to a technical problem with the system itself. However, after researching this topic, and I hope after you have read this paper, the answer seems quite the opposite. Although technical competence is important it is suggested that social and political situations have more to do with IS projects failure than the presence of technical ability. The basis of my argument will come from an article found in Computer Weekly (February 2002). This article concerns itself with a recent piece of research on the topic of IS failure and its causes carried out by computer Weekly and The Coverdale Organisation, a process consultancy. An IS project is just what it says, a project that builds and implements an information system. Today, when talking about . . .
Also, if a project manager knows s/he has the support of and there is involvement from senior managers, it can potentially give them confidence in themselves and the project, increasing their motivation, and also motivating them to keep to estimated time and money budgets. In Schnider’s article there is a quote from Steve Goodman, of The Coverdale Organisation, that illustrates this point in a very intelligent, comical way: “If we agree that we are going to deliver a famous film star with dark eyes, we all need to be clear whether we mean Carry Grant of Mickey Mouse. References Burch, John G and Grundnitski, Gary (1989) Information Systems: Theory and Practice. If the project manager and senior managers are important, the project management process must be as well. (Markus, 1983, p430) So there are many social and political paths that can lead to an IS project’s failure or success. Myers found this surprising, as did I whilst doing my research, because the project was: A standard transaction processing system, from a technical point of view The project was supported by senior management and the government The programme was selected within government policy guidelines and had experienced previous success locally and abroad Abandoned despite the fact it worked well. Technological competence is obviously needed in the project team members, more so in suppliers and other third parties, but it is not significantly important as regards the qualities and skills of a project manager. Firstly, defining objectives; this needs to be done clearly in respect to individual and project objectives to ensure that the desired end result is understood and visualised by everyone. A deeper analysis of the results now needs to be attempted. John Wiley & Sons (5th Edition) Keen, P.
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