Information Systems Management & Quality - Report Example

? Information Systems Management & Quality Information Systems Management & Quality In every country, the central government has the vast mandate of determining the activities and the regulation of the government plans. The United Kingdom is apt and concurs with the rest of the world in this aspect (Petersons 2011). Specifically, this report focuses on the basic aspects of such provisions of the central government and the associated mitigations, that is, the regulations for the success of its high profile projects (Khosrowpour, 2006). This report and the involved case study incorporate computer and information technology plus their application into government projects. The main points of focus are the ability of computer systems to operate effectively when employed on relevant scenarios. The evident exposition here is the failure of the specified projects. Their failures have been attributed to by several issues ranging from technology to management and both. Moreover the National Audit Office has a number of stipulations in its desire for elimination of central government wastage or overspending and improvement of success rates of the projects (Liebowitz & Khosrowpour 2007). In the past, the government has succumbed significantly due to the consequences of unproductive plans that have been deficient of the ability to progress. Considering their progressions, it implies that the projects might have not been capable of delivering as per the expectations of their initial aims (Khosrowpour 2006). Similarly, the inability to succeed might also lie on the projects tendency of accruing losses. In this case the latter is more significant for considerations since both of the selected case studies have the basic facet. The case studies selected for analysis are the independent learning accounts and the pathway. Comprehensively, the independent learning accounts incorporate a scenario that led to the loss of ?97 million whilst the pathway associated a loss of 1 billion Euros. In this instance, the citation convinces the logic of seeking an appropriate means of curbing the situation that might transpire into such losses both presently and in the future (Liebowitz & Khosrowpour 2007). The Independent Learning Accounts Let us assess the specific instances of the projects. First, the independent learning accounts and as a government project. This was the 2001 system offering adults ?150 for educational use was abandoned after fraudsters coined millions in fake applications. The independent learning accounts were a system designed to offer adults funds for educational reasons (Schwalbe 2010). In this case, the system failed when the fraudsters succeeded in compromising its effectiveness and obtain benefits from it leading to the government loss. However, this project was chosen since it involves the loss of money from external fraudsters who depends on their skills for malicious gains (NAO 2012). This is the main point for the projects preference since it outlines the major point of scenario that the fraudsters use currently in obtaining benefits they do not merit from genuine projects. This problem is rampant virtually in all situation organizations and by attaining its remedy would assist in resolving other related problems in other scenarios. Management Issues Concerning the management issues leading to the failure of projects, there was poor testing in the case of independent learning accounts project. It is imperative to understand that the project developers and the experts perform series of testing processes of the project (Khosrowpour 1999). The tests are aimed at determining the flaws and formulating technical means of curbing them. In this case technology is the main consideration and the security of a system is imperative for contemplation. According to Madeley (1991), security has to be tested in all perspectives because the system is conveyed via the network and usually users would try the effectiveness of the system as well as detection and blockage of security threats. Therefore, this project failed due to security flaw that was not rectified and the fraudsters used this factor as a means of gaining success and benefiting from it illegitimately (Khosrowpour 1999). Another problem was also lack of change in the control system. In such sensitive cases as those involving money, the system must be changed regularly to meet the prevailing trends as well as containing the fraudsters. The changing may also include alterations in security encryption framework of the system (Brown & Garson 2013). The failure of the project also involved a scope creep as a main issue. Scope creep incorporates an overall performance of the project. This includes the information of the customers plus their activities that are uploaded online and have to perform concurrently. Thus the system is prone to failure even if one of the attribute in the interface of the system does not execute its purposes as required (Teicholz 2012). The Pathway Project Secondly, the Pathway, the project to introduce a benefits payment card in 2000 was scrapped after four years of expensive development when government experts realized the magnetic swipe technology that it was based on was already outdated (Petersons 2011). Similarly, the Pathway project failed due to the expensive development endeavors realized by the government experts besides its utilization of an outdated technology (Schwalbe 2010). The choice of this case was important because it can be used to highlight the effects of wrong technology on the maintenance costs as compared to the benefits it entails. It is also imperative to understand that the Pathway case study can be applicable to all situations worldwide that still use the specific technology of magnetic swipe or any other that relates to the highlighted technology. In order to assimilate this report and the entailed case studies, there is need for relating the cases with any other case similar to them (Tatnall 2011). Management Issues The Pathway project failed due to unrealistic time scales. The extensive duration resulted into the delivery of the system technology that the users had ceased to utilize. The magnetic swipe technology could not deliver as per the project stipulations and instead engaged expensive costs of running and maintenance hence became hostile to itself (Schwalbe 2010). According to Comptroller and Auditor General (2012), the National Audit Office (NAO) has a sole purpose of ensuring that the government spends its resources wisely on viable projects. The viability of projects is however vast and entails multifaceted considerations. In a basic scope, the project has to meet the threshold of significant return potentiality to the central government. NAO has furthermore specified conditions that have to be met by the singular projects to attain consideration as a successful endeavor. The National Audit Office has proved critical to the central government since it led to the savings and other gains worth more than ?1 billion in the financial year 2010/2011 (NAO 2012). The National Audit Office engages in an inclusive audit of every project the government intends to engage in. The office has standards that have to be met has per their auditing provisions and which are associated with specific repercussions to the government as well as the intended users. NAO operates in respect of the outlined stipulations as per its reliance on them for the popular success of which it is expected. NAO relies on assurance, which encompasses an independent evaluation of whether the required components to deliver the projects effectively, for instance proficient project management activities and apt funding and abilities are available and working successfully (Calero, Ruiz & Piattini 2006). After the evaluation, the report is submitted to the responsible owner of the project. According to the specifications of the National Audit Office, the projects chosen for analysis in this case that is the independent learning accounts and the pathway had distinct features that resulted to their inability to meet the demands of the central government. Starting with the first case study, the system was designed and availed to the internet for the users (Liebowitz & Khosrowpour 2007). The failure of the first case study reflects on the effectiveness of the NAO provisions since what happens in the case is contrary to the provisions of the National Audit Office. Again, the abandonment of the system followed the preferences of the NAO. The NAO provides that for the system to remain beneficial to the central government in future it has to be developed to last. The best criterion is that there has to be a chain of close coordination between the system and the relevant departments or organizations. It is evident that some departments have failed to interact appropriately with the system. Just to highlight, the organization failed to interact effectively with the designed system giving funds for education to the adults. Precisely, the developers engaged poorly with the designed system since it never investigated for the impending problems that had the potentiality of causing losses. The department’s considerations with the needs of the directive especially that of availing comprehensive assurance and endorsements decisions have been of variant value and complexity in the provision of assurance. The authority had never developed an official system to integrate evaluate and share inspirations from particular projects and reassessments (Aikins 2012). Propagation of the lessons throughout the entire profile is reliant on the central government and the employees of the department. In absence of a methodology the government had the probability of failing to attain all inclusive trends lessons as well as accurate instances of better practice. Nonetheless, the government has prioritized the formation of such an approach due to its associated advantages in the meantime but immediately (Gre?onlund, & Ebrary Inc 2002). There was misappropriation in utilizing the government’s main project information in managing the balance sheet. The information permits the authority to detect matters across the profile for instance the government should still avail more alternatives in spite of the particular project specifications. However, during this duration of expenditure assessments the treasury officials do not have faith in its mandate to constantly the cross-government assortment situation besides their role in administrating the government’s assets as well as the liabilities. In this approach the treasury is capable of spotting impending problems, contemplate them when they result and assign resources to attain their involved priorities. The second case depicts the government not being able to uphold the prevailing status of the project due to the limits of resources it has experienced. Again the case cannot merit the technological desires of the public and this is facet that contributes to the eventual decision of halting the project (Stepanek & Putnam 2012). The current reports exhibited the authority to assess several projects but with restricted capability of executing a more comprehensive analysis work. The pathway project in this case failed to meet the threshold specifications to merit success. The main lesson learned in the cases is the proper maintenance and responsibility during the projects lifetime. This means that there have to be constant consultations based on factual submissions then an appropriate performance of the preferences without any element of negligence (Calero, Ruiz & Piattini 2006). These cases were selected unanimously mainly because they entailed the basic aspect of significant loss to the central government financially besides their failure as projects (Shi N & Murthy 2003). Now then the failure of such high profile projects is mentioned it is obvious that there will be questionable management trends employed in the particular instances. However, besides the evaluation of the general attributes of the particular projects, and which might have prompted their selection for analysis, there is need for scrutinizing each of the projects to determine the magnitude of essence incorporated in each (Tithal 2009). Therefore, both scenarios are selected due to their relevance and specifically internally and externally as well. In the first case, it is identified that the failure has been attributed by external infringement of the system privacy by the unauthorized persons. The Pathway as a scenario can be identified in its failure as more of a closure by the government rather than the failure attributed from any force from outside (Hakim 2006). Government has to endeavor to eliminate poor performance throughout all of its projects, though the government’s main projects portfolio do not incorporate main local government initiatives. When the assessment body was created, its extent of focus was restricted to considering at projects started by central government organizations. Projects which operate under the lone regulation of local authorities, for instance construction schools and housing, are never reported or evaluated by the authority, without consideration of their dimension and the risks involved. The overall cost of main capital projects is only a negligible proportion of total government expenditure, although the Authority does not guarantee initiatives and spending on programs that needs comparably small starting capital allocation, although with greater unending revenue propositions. Incorporating independent guarantee to normal project decisions and expenditure, especially the permission of contracts to deliver a service throughout a number prolonged duration in terms of years alternatively the division of donations, would assist in reducing the danger attributing to the devaluation of money quality (Weinstein & Jaques 2012). Nonetheless, provided the limitations under which the central government operates, the Authority has limited allocation of resources to cater for the increase in the range of the portfolio to entail such contemporary projects though this does not imply that there is deficiency of resources. Inspirations for the Authority to perform a vast and multifaceted purpose in availing viable project suggestions through appropriate assurance and improving government’s gains on all its initiations of projects can never be conveyed without much allocation of resources. In case of occurrence of more information concerning the system’s effect on project results and the treasury might be in a greater position of overseeing the projects and it is the department’s role to ensure accountability to all specifications of assurance. How the Issues Could Have Been Addressed No Change Control System In the second case of the pathway project, this fact has to be acknowledged. In business and management changes do occur spontaneously in different perspectives and they have to be catered for in the project development process. The changes in technology proved to be detrimental to this project. The time frame scheduled for the project might have exceeded the limit due to unrealistic quotations (Calero, Ruiz & Piattini 2006). The project development ought to have been programmed to take shorter time so that the anticipated changes would have had little effects on the project technology and the prevailing market trends. However, the management has to effect the modification as any other normal factor. The project managers would have investigated the effects of any change intended and consider their effects before executing the change (Kuhn 2010). Lack of User Involvement User involvement is vital in the effective performance of every organizational project. for fact, The project may prove detrimental in case the users fail to involve in various activities as intended. Therefore in this project the users and the management ought to have shown full involvement in order to realize success. In the case of the users failing to cooperate, the management equally experienced demoralization and the feeling to continue working on the project and this is the feature that appeared to be more dangerous. In order to achieve this, an understanding must prevail on the degree of effort to be incorporated as well as time needed. In such instances, the senior management ought to have constantly maintained the project to clarify it to the staff as the main point of concern hence, a priority (Turner 2007). Poor Testing Poor testing affected the performance of the system in the first case. The developers failed to determine the process that is likely to compromise the full functionality of the system. It should be understood that poor testing as a factor is dependent on other features. The problem might have arose from poor requirements that could never be tested. There might have been unplanned testing activities and hence no methodological analyses done. Insufficiently trained users who don’t understand the essence of project testing and there might also have been little time for the performance of an effectual testing. The users need to get well conversant with the system and to use their experience to execute a perfect testing. There should be proper requirements there should also be adequate time provided for the test (Great Britain 2009). Unrealistic Time Scale The project timescales ought to have been shorter implying that more comprehensive projects should be divided into simpler entities as distinct projects. Even though many institutions and even the government might find difficulty in this method, it associates many advantages. In this case captured in the case study, the managers considered fast delivery as a main factor and could not take into account the time frames needed to complete such activities hence scheduling it for short time within which the project could have not been finished (Great Britain 2009). The remedy in this case follows that the managers have to understand all project plans to determine if they are realistic and express the same to the participants in case there are any modifications to be made. This would have been an appropriate remedy for the first case of the independent learning accounts. Scope Creep The scope creep as outlined focuses on the overall delivery of the project as well as its performance during its existence. In the case of pathway project the project was realized that it had an incompetent technology that could not meet the users’ expectations. Again the independent learning accounts as a system was incapable of performing its programs fully by detecting and reporting fraud. The management ought to have specified their intentions and developed a system in a manner that was probably to be desirable to the central government. Poor or Lack of Requirements The project of independent learning account had poor and at some point it lacked the appropriate requirements. The requirements in this case were security necessities and these facilitated favorable conditions for fraud. Similarly, the pathway project that had vague and unhelpful components that only attributed to increase in costs of maintenance with little users input. The developers realized that they miscalculated in their project by creating what the market needed least. The project managers ought to evaluate first and ascertain the technology required by the market and the system users (Knapp 2010). Bibliography Aikins, S. K. (2012). 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