Analyzing the Trade-Off between Traditional and Agile Software Development - A Cost/Risk Perspective

Digitalization heralds a new era of enterprise IT. It challenges CIOs to find a balance between renovating legacy IT and seizing the opportunities of digital technologies to keep up with competitors and start-ups. This requires organizations to operate two software development modes simultaneously: the traditional and the agile mode. Despite substantial research on both modes, little is known about whether to implement distinct software development projects traditionally or agile. As a first step to addressing this gap, we propose a quantitative decision model that compares the cost and risk profiles of both modes associated with the implementation of a distinct project. The decision model integrates qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the project in focus and of the traditional and the agile mode. As for evaluation, we implemented the decision model as a software prototype and validated its behavior using sample projects as well as a sensitivity analysis

Improving Business Value Assurance in Large-Scale IT Projects: A Quantitative Method Based on Founded Requirements Assessment

The probability of IT project failures can be mitigated more successfully when discovered early. To support a more insightful management of IT projects, which may also facilitate an early detection of IT project failures, transparency regarding a project's cash flows shall be increased. Therefore, an appropriate analysis of a project's benefits, costs, requirements, their respective risks and interdependencies is inevitable. However, to date, in requirements engineering only few methods exist that appropriately consider these factors when estimating the ex ante project business case. Furthermore, empirical studies reveal that a lot of risk factors emerge during the runtime of projects why the ex ante valuation of IT projects even with respect to requirements seems insufficient. Therefore, using the Action Design Research approach, we design, apply, and evaluate a practicable method for value-based continuous IT project steering especially for large-scale IT projects

Systemic Risk in IT Portfolios – An Integrated Quantification Approach

Recent trends in digitalization, combined with continuous innovation pressure, have led to an increasing number of IT projects that are often accomplished within huge IT project portfolios. Although numerous IT project and portfolio evaluation and planning approaches have been developed and applied in companies all over the world, approximately 25% of IT projects still fail, which may result in a global value destruction of approximately 900 billion USD. One main reason for the numerous failures is the lack of transparency concerning dependencies within IT portfolios. This paper draws on graph theory to present a rigorous assessment of systemic risk that is based on different types of direct and indirect dependencies within IT portfolios. Based on this assessment, an integrated, novel, and quantitative approach to IT portfolio evaluation is presented that strives to mitigate IT project failures as it helps decision makers to evaluate their IT portfolios more adequately

Metodologia de Avaliação do Portfólio de Projetos de P&D pelo valor presente ajustado ao risco - um estudo de caso na Indústria Petroquímica.

Nowadays dedicated attention is devoted to intangible evaluation aspects, especially in intensive technological sectors, which are characterized by expressive R&D resources allocation and showing high uncertainties in the project development. The R&D projects can present diverse inovativeness degrees, each one with different projects development terms, technological intensities and complexities, and related uncertainties degrees. So, the current research and practices are concentrated in the adjustment of the traditional evaluation methodologies for the decision making process related to the portfolio management in those sectors, mainly in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and chemical industries. In this way, the literature presents some uncertainties factors, like the project complexity, the life cycle stage of the technology, the existence of internal knowledge and competencies regarding the technology, the risks involved and the project development terms. The study is based in one in-depth literature review in the technology management, financial methodologies and decision making theoretical streams, and evolves for one field case study carried out in one big petrochemical Brazilian company, which allocates expressive amounts of investments in R&D and uses specific methodology for evaluating the portfolio of projects management. So, the study is organized in three sections: in the first, it aims to verify in the literature the existent methodologies for the project portfolio management. In the second, are presented the evaluation methodologies for innovation projects. Finally, in the third section, one empirical case study is performed in the Brazilian petrochemical leader, by using in-depth interviews and secondary data analyses, aiming to verify in the business practice the methodologies are being used for portfolio management and R&D evaluation, and its observed limitations. Conclusions search similarities in the evaluation methodologies applied to the project portfolio management context, trying to establish recommendations for the company under investigation. As main findings, it is concluded that the traditional evaluation methodologies do not fit very well when applied to R&D projects, which show high associated uncertainties, and need to be adjusted for use. This adjustment is made through specific uncertainty aspects - the risk drivers, which will influence the conditional probabilities of technical and market success, leading to one more robust aggregated indicator, the adjusted net present value. Beyond the use of this improved methodology, it seems to be worth value grouping the projects in different innovation categories, as preconized by the Strategic Buckets methodology, in order of comparing projects only pertaining for the same category, enabling so the adherence of the technology strategy to the business strategy. Muita atenção tem sido reservada à avaliação de intangíveis, em especial em setores de alto conteúdo tecnológico, e, por conseguinte de elevadas alocações em projetos de P&D, que por sua vez embutem alta incerteza. Os projetos de P&D apresentam diferentes graus de inovação, embutindo distintos prazos de maturação, conteúdo tecnológico e níveis de incerteza. Novas pesquisas e práticas têm se concentrado em adaptar as metodologias tradicionais de avaliação para a tomada de decisão em gestão de portfólio e seleção de projetos nestes setores, especialmente o farmacêutico, biotecnológico e químico. Nesse sentido, a literatura contempla vários fatores de incerteza, tais como a complexidade da inovação, o estágio no ciclo de vida da tecnologia, grau de competências e domínio interno da tecnologia, risco e prazo de maturação. Realiza-se um aprofundamento nos campos de gestão tecnológica, finanças e análise da decisão e compara-se a teoria com os achados da prática empresarial em uma empresa de grande porte no setor petroquímico, com elevada alocação em P&D e uso de metodologia específica de gestão do portfolio de projetos. Constata-se que as metodologias tradicionais de avaliação não respondem bem às elevadas incertezas dos projetos de inovação e necessitam ser ajustadas para uso, por meio de componentes de incerteza específicos - os direcionadores de risco, que afetam as probabilidades de sucesso técnico e comercial, e com isso se obtém um indicador mais robusto, o valor presente ajustado ao risco. Também parece prudente agrupar os projetos em diferentes categorias, selecionando os mais indicados segundo as métricas de avaliação de cada natureza, garantindo assim o alinhamento da estratégia tecnológica à corporativa

Novel approaches for managing platform-based ecosystems

Digitalization challenges existing organizations and industries. The associated advancement changes the way organizations and their customers interact. This has increasingly fostered the emergence of platforms to facilitate such interaction. Online platforms are software or hardware infrastructures that serve as a foundation and facilitate the interaction between multiple parties (e.g., between organizations and users). Organizations create platforms as part of a larger ecosystem. One major challenge concerns the design of platform-based ecosystems so all participants benefit from their participation. The management of associated relationships with other ecosystem participants is consequently a key challenge and demands according foresight. Platform-based ecosystems are subject to research in the field of information systems. Thus, scientific literature addresses many corresponding research questions and provides valuable insights for both research and practice. However, organizations face numerous challenges when engaging in ecosystems. Such challenges are, e.g., to develop new ecosystems, to incentivize participants to participate in the ecosystem, to cooperate with other participants, and to monitor the ecosystem. In this respect, this doctoral thesis provides a brief overview of platform-based ecosystems and the respective participants therein. Further, the thesis addresses four key challenges in the context of platform-based ecosystems, and proposes novel approaches in order to overcome the challenges. The basis for the novel approaches stems from five research papers. The first and second research paper address the challenge of determining design options when developing new ecosystems via blockchain-enabled initial coin offerings. The papers feature a taxonomy and derive predominant archetypes by drawing on real-world cases. The third research paper addresses the challenge of incentivizing users to participate in platform-based ecosystems. The paper proposes an approach to model financial incentives concerning platform adoption. The fourth research paper proposes an approach to analyze organizational cooperation patterns for the purpose of innovation integration. The developed approach incorporates taxonomy development and enables organizations to determine cooperation characteristics to align the cooperation decision with the cooperation objectives. The fifth research paper addresses the challenge of monitoring customer sentiment on online platforms. The proposed design science research artefact includes a detector of negative sentiment such that organizations are able to identify when a negative sentiment develops, and intervene before users spread the sentiment, e.g., through comments. Each research paper answers a stand-alone research question in the realm of platform-based ecosystems and derives a theoretically founded and separately evaluated research artefact. The artefacts draw on underlying, well-established research methods that allow answering the respective problem statements. Since the problem statements are motived in a practical context, this thesis bridges the gap between a practically oriented problem and a theoretically founded solution. As a result, the derived insights contain a contribution for both, research in the field of Information Systems and practice audience, and encourage the engagement of both domains

Project Risk Management Strategies for IT Project Managers

Utilizing information technology (IT) to enable new organizational capabilities to achieve near-term objectives and long-term sustainability is a top priority for many business leaders seeking to maintain or increase market share. However, organizational leaders face significant challenges to their strategy execution because the percentage of challenged IT projects has remained relatively static for decades. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore risk management strategies used by 7 purposely selected IT project managers (PMs) from a pharmaceutical company located in the northeastern United States who have effectively managed IT project performance by using risk management strategies, leading to the successful delivery of an IT project. The conceptual framework that guided the research was actor-network theory. The data collection included semistructured interviews and the collection of internal organizational risk registers and other project risk management documentation. An inductive content analysis followed the procedures outlined in Malterud\u27s systematic text condensation strategy, yielding the following major strategies to increase IT project performance: performing knowledge management, promoting a positive risk culture, utilizing an existing risk management framework, and performing risk-related communication. The implications for positive social change include the potential to help IT PMs deliver the expected business value on time and within budget, which, in turn, may enable pharmaceutical companies to improve the quality of life of afflicted individuals and populations in need of safe, economical, and innovative therapies

Assessment and Management of Complex Risk Structures : Facing Challenges of Digitalization

Die anhaltende Verbreitung von Informationstechnologie (IT) und Informationssystemen (IS), die zur Zeit unter dem Deckmantel der Digitalisierung weiter voranschreitet, revolutioniert sowohl die Wirtschaft als auch die Gesellschaft. Neben den damit einhergehenden, unbestrittenen Vorteilen bringt diese Entwicklung aber auch viele Herausforderungen mit sich. Die sich im Zuge der Digitalisierung ergebende Vernetzung von Menschheit, Infrastruktur und Maschinen, kombiniert mit der aufgrund von Schnelllebigkeit und Wettbewerbsintensivierung zunehmenden Dynamik der Märkte, zwingt Unternehmen dazu, sich in einem komplexen Risikoumfeld zu behaupten. Dieses Risikoumfeld hat gleichermaßen Einfluss auf die interne Steuerung von Unternehmen als auch auf deren externe Interaktion. In Bezug auf die interne Steuerung stellen insbesondere Risiken im Zusammenhang mit IT-Projekten eine große Herausforderung für Unternehmen dar. Da IT-Projekte die Treiber des Fortschritts in Unternehmen verkörpern, stellt die Bewältigung dieser Herausforderung eine zentrale Aufgabe für Unternehmern dar um sich heutzutage im Wettbewerb behaupten zu können. In Bezug auf die externe Interaktion von Unternehmen stellt insbesondere die zunehmende Abhängigkeit von anderen Unternehmen im Zuge von übergreifenden Wertschöpfungsnetzen eine große Herausforderung dar. So kann sich heutzutage ein Vorfall der ursprünglich nur ein einzelnes Unternehmen betroffen hätte auf Basis der zugrundeliegenden Abhängigkeiten des Wertschöpfungsnetzes auch auf andere Unternehmen übertragen. Dies führt dazu, dass Unternehmen die in übergreifenden Wertschöpfungsnetzwerken eingebettet sind, mit einem höheren systemischen Risiko konfrontiert sind. Vor dem Hintergrund dieser Überlegungen ist das übergreifende Ziel der vorliegenden Doktorarbeit zum existierenden Wissensstand im Bereich der IT-bedingten, komplexen Risikostrukturen beizutragen. In der Doktorarbeit werden u.a. Methoden vorgestellt, um besonders relevante Risiken im Bereich von IT-Projekten und IT-durchdrungenen Wertschöpfungsnetzen zu erfassen und zu steuern. Dabei wird zum einen die Komplexität von IT-Projekten, die als zentrales Risiko für die erfolgreiche Durchführung von IT-Projekten angesehen wird, genauer untersucht. Basierend darauf wird ein zweidimensionales Rahmenwerk entwickelt, welches zur konzeptionellen Klarheit von IT-Projektkomplexität beiträgt und es gleichzeitig ermöglicht, diese zu erfassen und die damit verbundenen Risiken zu reduzieren (Kapitel II.1). Zum anderen wird in der Arbeit auf die Bewertung und Steuerung von IT-Projekten genauer eingegangen. Vor dem Hintergrund der steigenden Komplexität und Abhängigkeit im Zusammenhang mit IT-Projekten bietet die Arbeit einen Ansatz zur quantitativen und integrierten Bewertung von IT-Projekten, um die Risiken die sich aus einer falschen Bewertung von IT-Projekten ergeben zu reduzieren (Kapitel II.2). Außerdem werden Ansätze zur kontinuierlichen Steuerung von IT-Projekten entwickelt. Diese stellen nicht nur die Erreichung der mit dem IT-Projekt verfolgten Ziele sicher, sondern reduzieren auch die Risiken, die sich während der Laufzeit von IT-Projekten beispielweise durch veränderte Rahmenbedingungen ergeben können (Kapitel II.3). Des Weiteren fokussiert die Doktorarbeit die zunehmenden direkten und indirekten Abhängigkeiten im Zusammenhang mit IT-Projekten. Dabei wird der Zusammenhang von Abhängigkeiten und den daraus resultierenden Risiken genauer untersucht und auf Basis von Zentralitätsmaßen eine Methode entwickelt, die es ermöglicht, die aus Abhängigkeitsgesichtspunkten kritischsten Projekte eines IT-Portfolios zu identifizieren (Kapitel III.1). Im Kontext externer Interaktionen von Unternehmen werden Abhängigkeiten anhand des Beispiels von Lieferantennetzwerken genauer untersucht. Dabei sind insbesondere die Ausbreitung und die Quantifizierung der Auswirkungen von exogenen Shocks in diesen Netzwerken von Interesse. In diesem Zusammenhang entwickelt die Arbeit Methoden um sowohl die Widerstandsfähigkeit des Netzwerkes als auch das Risikopotenzial für jedes einzelne Unternehmen des Netzwerks zu quantifizieren und zu steuern (Kapitel III.2). Abschließend fasst die Arbeit den wissenschaftlichen Beitrag zusammen und zeigt Ansatzpunkte für weiterführende Forschung in diesem Bereich auf (Kapitel IV)