GOAL ASSESSMENT DECISION JUDGEMENTS IN IS/IT PROJECTS (3)

This development paper sets out proposals to examine how project management practitioners articulate their decision judgements (project goal assessment) of failure of information systems and information technology (IS/IT) projects. It is intended that to undertake the study, data from interviews with practitioners from seven countries will be employed. Data analysis will undertaken utilising NVivo (V10). The study is likely to find that while some project management practitioners perceive IS/IT project failures as measureable along a goal assessment continuum, others may consider failure categorically by explicitly conceptualising either its presence or absence

Exploiting Resource Fluidity for Digital Transformation – A Revelatory Case Study

Digital transformation (DT) is a prevalent phenomenon across multiple industries with substantial impacts at the organizational, industry, and societal levels. Although DT have been explored in various contexts, most studies have taken for granted that the focal organizations could afford and own the human, technological, and monetary resources required for successful DT. However, not all organizations would want to bear the costs of owning these resources, and could seek to access them, but not own them, in a dynamic and transient arrangement. Using the case study of a mega church in New Zealand, we find that successful DT of such organizations is underpinned by attaining resource fluidity, which consists of 3 phases: the (1) Acquisition, (2) Activation, and (3) Application phases. This paper elaborates on each of these phases and presents a framework that could guide organizations to leverage resources they have access to, but not own to enact DT

Enhancement of software project performance by overcoming waste, volatility and constraints simultaneously

There have been many projects and researches conducted to identify software projects’ failure and success factors. The success factors were always remained as best practices as it favours desired results while the failure factors are always avoided as it yields undesired factors. However, it is least understood that focusing on avoiding a failure factor could actually influence other forms of failure risk(s). In this study, it has been understood through literature review that most of the findings on software projects failure factors have been repetitive for more than two decades. These failure factors commonality was then understood and categorized by bridging few studies and experts’ opinions based on three well-known theories; Lean, Requirement Volatility and Theory of Constraints. There are nine types of wastes, three types errors that leads to requirement volatility and eight types of constraints in relevance to software projects. Through literature and discussion with 15 experts it was apparent that there could be interdependency and interrelationship amongst these 20 variables. The relationship amongst the variables were studied by employing the DEMATEL methodology. DEMATEL was opted to show the Impact Relation Map which could serve as a good source of reference to help decision makers formulate their decisions pertaining these 20 variables. A Software Project Success Framework was then developed to assist the foundation for planning and prioritizing relevant mitigations and corrective measures about software projects failure factors. Requirement volatility has been emphasized as the main cause of software project failure. It does not only cause direct impact towards software projects failure but also influences other identified factors to affect the sotware project performance adversely

The pivotal factors of IT projects' success – Insights for the case of organizations from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

This research aims to investigate the circumstances and possible reasons for a very high and rather unexpected success rate of Information Technology (IT) projects implemented in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (F BiH). For that purpose, the existing literature was reviewed thoroughly, and appropriate research design was formulated. In order to answer the research questions posed, a questionnaire was developed and sent to 400 companies in the F BiH that meet the defined business profile, yielding 62 valid responses. For the purpose of data analysis, a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was employed. The obtained results show that keeping the project size small significantly increases the odds for achieving IT project success, regardless of the organizational maturity level in project management. In addition, the higher the organizational maturity level in project management, the higher IT projects success ratio. Results also revealed that the differences between IT projects’ success ratio of different groups of organizations are primarily induced by the time and costs project constraints, but not with the project scope

The pivotal factors of IT projects\u27 success – Insights for the case of organizations from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

This research aims to investigate the circumstances and possible reasons for a very high and rather unexpected success rate of IT projects implemented in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. For that purpose, the existing literature was reviewed thoroughly, and an appropriate research design was formulated. In order to answer the research questions posed, a questionnaire was developed and sent to 400 companies in the F BiH that meet the defined business profile, yielding 62 valid responses. For the purpose of data analysis, a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was employed. The obtained results show that keeping the project size small significantly increases the odds for achieving IT project success, regardless of the organizational maturity level in project management. In addition, the higher the organizational maturity level in project management the higher IT projects success ratio. Results also revealed that the differences between IT projects’ success ratio of different groups of organizations are primarily induced by the time and costs project constraints, but not with project scope

The characteristics of successful military IT projects: a cross-country empirical study

In the armed forces, successful digitalization is crucial to ensure effective operations. Much of the existing literature on project factors during the planning and execution phases of public IT projects do not focus specifically on military sector projects. Therefore, the paper aims to provide empirical insights into the characteristics of successful military IT projects. Data from such projects in NATO countries and agencies were collected through interviews and project documents. The findings relating to the main variable of interest, “delivery of client benefit,” supported previous findings on IT project performance. Medium-sized projects performed better than small and large projects, and the agile development method delivered more client benefit than traditional methods. Client involvement apparently had a positive effect on project success. Clearly specified objectives had a statistically significant effect on project success in terms of clients’ benefits. The paper contributes to the gap in research on military IT projects and broadens the project management literature’s focus on time and cost to include delivery of client benefit as a success variable. The use of cross-country data provided unique insights for academics and practitioners regarding which project characteristics affect the successful development and adoption of new software by the armed forces

The Characteristics of Successful Military IT Projects: A Cross-country Empirical Study

In the armed forces, successful digitalization is crucial to ensure effective operations. Much of the existing literature on project factors during the planning and execution phases of public IT projects do not focus specifically on military sector projects. Therefore, the paper aims to provide empirical insights into the characteristics of successful military IT projects. Data from such projects in NATO countries and agencies were collected through interviews and project documents. The findings relating to the main variable of interest, “delivery of client benefit,” supported previous findings on IT project performance. Medium-sized projects performed better than small and large projects, and the agile development method delivered more client benefit than traditional methods. Client involvement apparently had a positive effect on project success. Clearly specified objectives had a statistically significant effect on project success in terms of clients’ benefits. The paper contributes to the gap in research on military IT projects and broadens the project management literature’s focus on time and cost to include delivery of client benefit as a success variable. The use of cross-country data provided unique insights for academics and practitioners regarding which project characteristics affect the successful development and adoption of new software by the armed forces

Developing of multi-criteria decision making model in assessment of outcomes based best value in UAE public construction sector

The construction projects are carried out to develop the infrastructure, building and services as part of the development of any country. The construction projects which were carried out in UAE before faced several problems and most notably cost and time overruns. This sometimes leads to the disputes and dissatisfaction among stockholders. Hence, there is a need for a study to investigate the same and try to apply the concept of ‘best value’ in order to improve the success of public construction projects. This will be achieved by the concept of ‘best value’ in order to facilitate a clear appreciation and understanding of the concept, articulate the scope of the concept of ‘best value’ as conceptualized within construction project management and articulate, identify and categorize the concept of ‘best value’ within the United Arab Emirates complex public sector. Therefore, this research propose research methodology for developing an assessment model for outcomes based best value using Multi Criteria Decision Making tool to prioritize the most important criteria. Further studies will follow this research to entirely develop a model according to proposed research methodology

Enhancing the successful delivery of service operations

The hard copy which contains published articles is available for consultation in the Brynmor Jones Library

Evaluating Federal Information Technology Program Success Based on Earned Value Management

Despite the use of earned value management (EVM) techniques to track development progress, federal information (IT) software programs continue to fail by not meeting identified business requirements. The purpose of this logistic regression study was to examine, using IT software data from federal agencies from 2011 to 2014, whether a relationship between schedule variance (SV), cost variance (CV), and actual cost (AC) could predict the success of IT software program, as operationalized by meeting the identified business requirements. The population of interest was 132 IT software programs developed between 2011 and 2014 for federal agencies. The sample source was an archival database located at ITdashboard.gov. The theoretical framework for the study was earned value (EV) project management theory. The EV project management theory is a project performance measurement system that involves integrating cost, schedule, and performance elements for planning and control. EVM contributes to project success by providing early warnings when programs deviate from cost and schedule plans. This study found that only SV was significant (SV days, p = .002). The null hypothesis was rejected, suggesting that a relationship exists between IT program success and the SV, CV, and AC. This study may contribute to social change by increasing the program managers\u27 understanding of EV in federal project management and by decreasing federal spending through successful programs and more cost-efficient use of taxpayers\u27 money