2 research outputs found
Evolution of Information Systems in Malaysia
Abstract. Malaysia has taken a gigantic decision by transforming itself from industrialization into an unknown territory of knowledge economy. Therefore it is important to establish a test bed to justify on the successfulness of leapfrogging onto this new bandwagon. Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) project is the major project in the country and has been established to test this. The question is, can Malaysia achieve its dream in creating successful implementation of information systems when information systems history was full of catastrophe? This paper will discuss the findings of mapping triangle of dependencies model by Chris Sauer in order to foresee whether Malaysia has the potential to achieve successful implementation of information systems. Finally, through this investigation, we are able to outlined external influences that can nurture the continuity of information systems dependencies in Malaysia and embedded it as external factors of Sauer's model
Examination of Urwin’s Framework in Information Technology Project Management Practices
Information Technology (IT) projects are organizational investments that require
time, money, and other resources such as people and technology. In order to
ensure the success of these projects, organizations are adopting project
management approaches and setting up project management offices. In spite of
this, projects still ended in partial or total failure. Despite the availability of
frameworks in IT project management organizations still practice informal and ad
hoc development in their project management causing additional costs and
project delays or even failures. This study was done to examine the practice of
Information Technology Project Management (ITPM) in organizations. The
objectives of the study was first to review the existing frameworks in ITPM and
then to propose a framework that is appropriate and that could be easily adopted
by organizations. The study found that although there are many frameworks that
can be adopted these existing frameworks are heavy in documentation and to
adopt them required skilled or certified project managers which are not within the
means of small and medium size organizations. Based on the review, the study
had proposed Urwin’s framework as the most appropriate and practical project
management approach for this study. This is because Urwin had created his
framework of 12 themes after a long and intense study of information systems,
information technology and project management literature. The 12 themes are
strategy, leadership, scope, participation and commitment, project planning,
project team, communication, risk management, training and resources, test
management, organization structure and data. Urwin’s framework seemed most
appropriate and practical because no certification is required and it can be
implemented throughout the project life cycle. Also Urwin had showed how to
implement each theme by providing a checklist under each theme. To examine
Urwin’s framework interviews were conducted in two large organizations with two
project managers of 15 and 17 years of experience each. Also a survey was
conducted in 104 organizations. The respondents are project managers, IT
executives, senior level employees and middle level employees with range of
experience between two to 15 years. The results showed that all the 12 themes
are well implemented in the two large organizations. Results of the survey
showed that only three out of the 12 themes are well implemented. Findings
from the study suggest that all 12 themes from Urwin’s framework must be well
implemented to effectively managed ITPM. The study also put forth four
recommendations to be practiced together with Urwin’s framework. They are
executive focus and commitment; effective staffing; learning incrementally from
experience; and baseline management. (Abstract by Author