Managing and Using IS, Sixth Edition-Chapter 11 Page 1
Chapter 11: Managing IT Projects
Overview
For management students, it seems that most of their time will be spent either managing projects or
as a member of a pr
...
Managing and Using IS, Sixth Edition-Chapter 11 Page 1
Chapter 11: Managing IT Projects
Overview
For management students, it seems that most of their time will be spent either managing projects or
as a member of a project management team. Further, most projects in businesses today involve
building, using, altering, or integrating an information system. Therefore, the authors included this
important chapter dedicated to project management. This chapter is about project management in
general, and also about issues such as SDLC, prototyping, and agile development, which are
specific to managing IT projects. Additional methods are included, such as RAD, JAD, objectoriented development, and the open sourcing approach. The instructor interested in covering these
IT specific topics are encouraged to supplement this chapter with readings that give more detail on
systems development methodologies (some of which are suggested in this Instructor’s Manual).
The goal is to help management students understand how to be knowledgeable participants and
leaders of projects.
Discussion Opener: The opening slide describing the Rural Payments Agency provides
discussion questions, and the Notes section of that slide provides some potential answers.
Alternate Discussion Opener: As a manager, what questions do you need to answer before
making a sourcing decision? What are your greatest concerns?
Key Points in Chapter
This chapter opens up with a brief discussion of a failed IT project in the UK. The Rural Payments
Agency (RPA) implemented a new “Single Payment” system without proper testing which resulted
in late payments to the tune of ₤1.5 billion. Only 15% were paid out by the end of 2006. The RPA
had to make substantial changes to the system post-implementation. The system had not been
properly managed, with costs at 122 million pounds that were originally estimated at 46.5 million.
The latest update is that the Single Payment project became so dysfunctional that it was replaced by
the Basic Payment Scheme, which already ran into such severe problems that farmers were invited
to file tax refund claims on paper, as they did many years ago. The importance of this case is to
illustrate the problems that can occur when proper project management is not implemented. In
particular, requirements must be specified at the outset, or the result is unlikely to meet the needs of
the end-users.
Standish Group found that 67 percent of all software projects are challenged and are either late,
over budget, or fail to meet performance criteria. Managing a business project means managing an
information systems project.
Projects are defined as unique work done on a temporary basis. This is distinguished from
operations, where work is ongoing and tasks are frequently repeated. Projects are distinguished
from operations succinctly in Figure 11.1.
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