The Monitoring and Control of Large IT Projects - Assignment Example

Many tools are available to monitor and control large IT projects. They are project selection and reselection, project scheduling, estimating, and budgeting, planning, project team management and selection, stakeholder management, management support, procurement management, learning and knowledge management, and risk management. Project selection and reselection is one of the tools in the monitoring and control of large IT projects. Although Yetton (2000) uses this as an indication of how successful projects have been monitored and controlled, several other scholars (Cai et al., p. 1-22) use it as an independent variable. Project selection is the procedure of approving or rejecting projects. Project benefits are weighted against criteria to obtain the approval to use corporate resources (Cai et al., p. 6). Project scheduling, estimating, and budgeting is another tool in the monitoring and control of large IT projects. Scheduling is laying out in advance the time and place of work and the resources required. The status of work is monitored and controlled by comparing to the schedule laid out. Estimating is quantifying the resources needed to finish the project. It could be done by a process called knowledge management. Budgeting is usually prepared by the finance department before the start of the project to plan the costs of the project (Cai et al., p. 6-7). Scheduling, estimating, and budgeting are especially important in large IT projects that are more complex (Cai et al., p. 10). Indeed, Prasad (p. 125) found evidence that inaccurate estimates and lack of control by comparing the budget to the actual predicts budgets overruns. A study conducted by Yetton et al. (2000) found that planning is yet another effective tool in the monitoring and control of large IT projects for UK and New Zealand businesses and governments. Poor planning will result in inefficiencies in development and overrunning of budgets (Yetton et al., 2000). An example is the Transfer and Automated Registration of Uncertified Stock (TAURUS) undertaken by the London Stock Exchange in the early 1980s to automate stock trading (Willcocks and Griffiths (p. 219-221). Money was splurged into the project even before the operating architecture had been planned (Willcocks and Griffiths, p. 220). There were no clear goals and procedures were not followed, leading to delays. Cai et al. (p. 9) suggested incorporating scheduling into contractual agreements with suppliers so as to facilitate better planning. Richl (p. 328) proposed that the systems development life cycle should be the framework used for planning. The systems development life cycle approach consists of six stages including the system study stage, system analysis stage, detailed design stage, system implementation stage, system conversion and cut-over stage, and post implementation audit stage. Project team management and selection is also an effective tool to monitor and control large IT projects (Cai et al., p. 11). Yetton et al. (2000), in their study of system development performance of UK and New Zealand businesses and governments, found support for their hypotheses that project team conflict and budget variances are positively related. They also found that project staff instability and budget variances are positively related. They attributed the reasons to delays and learning costs of new employees. Similar results hold for the USA business sector. Jiang and Klein (2000) found significant relationships between intensity of conflict and project efficiency. Besides managing team conflicts and instability, team expertise and clarity of roles among team members are also found to be related to project efficiency by Jiang and Klein (2000). The proxies for project efficiency in Jiang and Klein (2000)'s study are "ability to meet project goals", "amount of work produced", "quality of work produced", "adherence to schedules", "efficiency of operations", "speed of operations", and "adherence to budgets". These parameters could be used to monitor and control projects as well. Turner (p. 207) found similar support in an earlier study in an attempt to apply behavioral models to information technology projects. Besides ensuring that team members have the necessary skills, they suggested training and regular discussions as methods to improve team expertise. Willcocks and Griffiths (p. 212-214) documented how employee strikes, high staff turnover, lack of expertise, and lack of communication to the team members led to the failure of Operational Strategy, a project to automate the Department of Social Security in the United Kingdom. To better clarify roles, Jiang and Klein (2000) suggested that there should be a detailed discussion of the specific work, expected results, potential compensation, schedules, responsibilities, and reporting relationships. The team structure should be well defined and established. Project plans, task matrix, project charter, and policy are the key tools to control and monitor projects by defining the roles of the team members and the structure of the team. Cai et al. (p. 11) reviewed the literature and concluded that skills required for successful team management include technical competency and interpersonal communication skills. Their survey of the IT industry suggested additional skills such as the effective alignment of the objectives between the individual team members, the project team, and the organisation, work breakdown structures, periodic project status reports, and consistent communication between managers and staff. Stakeholder management can also be used to manage and control large IT projects (Cai et al., p. 7). Willcocks and Griffiths (p. 214-216) described how the Computerised Rural Information Systems Project, a national program initiated by the Indian central government for the alleviation of poverty in rural areas failed due to the failure of the central government to engage the participation of the state governments and the lack of training. To this end, project commissioning (Cai et al., p. 10) and user participation (Yetton et al., 2000) are effective tools. Project commissioning will improve the probability of acceptance by decreasing risks and involving the stakeholders in the process (Cai et al., p. 10). User participation is an effective tool to monitor and control large IT projects according to the study conducted by Yetton et al. (2000). The survey of Cai et al. (p. 10) indicates that setting up more milestones that enable the schedule to be on track and the development of well-defined user requirements can help to keep schedules on track. Continuous communication with stakeholders to manage their expectations has also been cited by Cai et al. (p. 10) as a way of involving users in the project. Management support is also found to be a significant factor in controlling and monitoring projects in the study conducted by Yetton et al. (2000). Management support ensures the commitment of resources, as well as the clarification and communication of project goals, thus reducing project risks (Yetton et al., 2000). Indeed, management support is so critical that Hilt, Berlins, and Weeks (p. 32) placed it at the very first step to control custom information technology development. Lyytinen and Hirschheim (p. 257), Pinto and Slevin (p. 22) and Edwards concurred. The Singapore TradeNet system is an exemplification of management support in large IT project in the government sector (Willcocks and Griffiths, p. 210-212). This project was strongly backed by Singapore government right from the start because the preeminent trading position of Singapore was at stake. A system that could streamline legal, financial, and documentation procedures thus enhancing the efficiency of trade and reduce cost and price was deemed necessary to compete with other Far East countries in the midst of the 1985 recession. Cai et al. (p. 8) identified the management of the procurement and contracting as an effective tool to manage large IT projects. They noted that the procurement and contracting process is structured and defined in other industries. For example, consultation with other departments to gather the technical specifications, the method of obtaining the goods and services such as buy or make, and an emphasis on quality are prevalent in other industries. However, they found from their survey that IT project teams tend to have flexible project structures and do not implement proper procurement and contracting process (Cai et al., p. 11). Learning and knowledge management have also been suggested by some scholars (Cai et al., p. 12; Willcocks and Griffiths, p. 222-223) to be effective tools to control and monitor large IT projects. Through knowledge management, experiences and pitfalls of past projects are shared and mistakes are avoided (Cai et al., p. 12; Willcocks and Griffiths, p. 222). This drastically reduces risks. Besides, measurements on past project performance and techniques are shared. Examples of such measurements are time and defects based on which future projects could be benchmarked (Cai et al., p. 12-13). Moreover, Willcocks and Griffiths (p. 223 suggested that information technology projects be implemented on a piecemeal basis so that past lessons could be learnt. They pointed to the success of the prototype approach used by the Singapore TradeNet system and the failure of the plunge into the TAURUS by the London Stock Exchange as examples. Lastly, risk management should be performed to manage large IT projects. Risk management reduces the probability of unexpected outcomes by identifying, categorising, evaluating, planning, tracking, and reducing risks (Cai et al., p. 6). This improves the control of functionality, project completion, budget, capability, and schedule (Cai et al., p. 6). Willcocks and Griffiths (p. 216-218) documented the risks of introducing a new product, the Videotex, in France, Britain, and Germany in the 1970s and the 1980s, backed by the governments of the respective countries. Videotex represented a new form of communication. However, it failed in all three countries due to the lack of consumer demand. REFERENCES: Cai, Y, Ghali, S, Giannelia, M, Hughes, A, Johnson, A & Khoo T n.d., Identifying Best Practices in Information Technology Project Management. Retrieved July 19, 2006, from http://www.pmforum.org/library/papers/2004/itpractices.pdf Hilt, L, Berlin, J & Weeks T 2003, 'Project Control for Laboratory Automation Outsourced to Consultants A 10-Step Process to Optimize the Effectiveness of Custom Information Technology Development', Journal of the Association for Laboratory Automation, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 31-37. Retrieved July 19, 2006, from Science Direct database. 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