Description: Working in a group of no more than four students, you are required to prepare a case study based group report. The case study for this assessment is provided below. All group members will need to contribute equally to the preparation of the report. Students may choose to undertake and submit this report individually.
Feedback: Comments and a mark will be returned to you within two weeks of submission.
Guidelines for the successful information system projects
The successful implementation of information system (IS) projects is central to most organisations' ongoing performance. Significant cost and schedule overruns in IS projects not only pose a direct financial cost to an organisation, but may seriously compromise core activities such as production and sales. Recent high profile cost and schedule overruns in Australian IS projects highlight the potential scale of some of these problems (e.g., Victoria Police LEAP replacement (Smith, 2012) and Queensland Health payroll (Sharma, 2013; Chesterman, 2013)).
In a recent study of information system (IS) projects, Flyvbjerg and Budzier (2011) concluded that the risks associated with IS projects was significantly greater than organisations often assume. The authors observed that the average cost overrun in their sample of 1,471 IT projects was 27%. Even more concerning was the finding that one in six projects was a 'black swan' with a cost overrun of 200%, on average, and a schedule overrun of 70% (Flyvberg & Budzier 2011).
The NSW State Government is seeking advice on how it may minimise some of the risks associated with the IS projects that its departments and agencies fund. You have been asked by the NSW State Government to prepare a short report on this issue. Your report should briefly outline the type of issues that typically undermine IS projects and recommend measures that can be used to reduce the risks for significant new government funded IS projects (i.e., $2 million).
Your report's analysis and recommendations should be clearly explained, logically presented, and firmly based on evidence from the information systems and project management literature. You are free to structure the report as your group see fit.
Your aim should be to produce a report that follows a logical order taking the reader from a situational analysis to your group's recommendations and the rationale for these. It is essential that you carefully cite and reference appropriate material supporting your analysis and recommendations. Failure to do so will attract heavy penalties. Please see the CIS1000 subject outline for details on required standards of academic integrity.