Abstract:

The general objective of this work was to contribute to the general body of knowledge and research work in the area of managing IT projects successfully. To achieve the general objective, the research was aimed at exploring the reasons why most IT projects fail from past literature, and come out with the most prevalent causes of failure, and then develop a framework to help manage IT projects successfully. The assumption this work was dependent on was that once the prevalent causes of failure are known, then conversely, we can propose what should be done to deliver IT projects successfully. This work only deals with secondary data, primarily from journal articles and newsletters of IT based institutions. About 32 categories/sets of research outputs were used as literature base for the analysis. No primary data was employed for this work. It was found out that for an IT project to be delivered successfully, there are four areas that are so critical: Skills of project manager/team members, Top Management Involvement, Proper Methodology/Processes, and Good Communication. This represents the success factors dimension. It was discovered that the success of IT projects depends so much primarily on the activities of the initiating stage followed by the planning stage, and then the executing, monitoring and controlling stage, and finally, closing stage. This represents the process dimension. A framework depicting all these was developed.

Keywords: Successful, Project, Information, Technology, Framework, Failure

References:

[1].     Alexandrova, M., & Ivanova. L. (2012). Critical success factors of project management: empirical evidence from projects supported by EU programmes. 9th international asecu conference on “systemic economic crisis: current issues and perspectives”.

[2].     Alpar, P. & Kim, M. (1990). A microeconomic approach to the measurement of information technology value. Journal of Management Information Systems, 7 (2): 55-69.

[3].     An Oracle White Paper. (2011). Why Projects Fail: Avoiding the Classic Pitfalls. Oracle. Primavera.

[4].     Andy Quick (n.d). Why IT Projects Fail. http://www.pmtraining.com.tw/article/professional/Why%20IT%20Projects%20Fail.pdf

[5].     Aon Risk Solutions. (2011). Governance of project risk- A guide to NGOs

[6].     Attarzadeh, I., & Hock Ow, S. (2008). Project management practices: Success versus failure. International Symposium on Information Technology  (Volume: 1), pgs 1 – 8, Kuala Lumpur.

[7].     Betts, M. (2003). Why IT projects fail. Accessed March 31, 2011 from http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/84266/Why_IT_projects_fail

[8].     Bharadwaj, A. S., Bharadwaj, S. G., and Konsynski, B. R. “Information Technology Effects on Firm Performance as Measured by Tobin's q,” Management Science (45:7), 1999, pp. 1008-1024.

[9].     Brousseau, P., & Héroux, D. (2013). Factoring in success [structured risk management for IT innovation projects]. CA Magazine, vol.146, no.6, pp. 34-6.

[10].  Bryce, T. (2006). Why Does Project Management Fail? Accessed March 31, 2011 from http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/why-does-projectmanagement-fail.html.

[11].  Chaplin, D. (2004).Making Projects Succeed: Part 1 -Measurable Business Goals. Accessed on March 31, 2011 from http://www.bytevision.com/BusinessGoalsArticle.aspx.

[12].  Charette, R. N. (2005). Why Software Fails. http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/software/why-software-fails.

[13].  Coley Consulting. (2010). Why Projects Fail. Accessed March 31, 2011 from http://www.coleyconsulting.co.uk/failure.htm

[14].  Corporate Executive Board – PMO Executive Council. (2009). Project Managing to Business Outcomes - Targeting Critical Project Management Activities That Drive Business Impact.

[15].  Corporate Executive Board – PMO Executive Council. (2010). Agile at scale.

[16].  Cranfield School of Management. (2014). Why projects fail? www.pmtoday.co.uk

[17].  DeLone, W. H., & McLean, E. R. (1992). "Information systems success: the quest for the dependent variable." Information systems research 3.1: 60-95.

[18].  Dorsey, Dr. P. (2000). Top 10 Reasons Why Systems Projects Fail. Dulcian, Inc. http://www.rrsg.ee.uct.ac.za/courses/EEE4084F/Archive/2014/Assignments/Reading%20Assignments/Lect21-Dorsey_Top10ReasonsSystemsProjectsFail.pdf

[19].  Fink, A. (2010). Essential Elements for Project Success. Accessed June 8, 2011 from http://www.infotech.com/research/essential-elementsfor-project-success6/

[20].  Goulielmos, M. (2003). Outlining organizational failure in information systems development. Disaster Development and Management Journal, Vol. 12, No. 4, pp. 319-27.

[21].  Greene, J. & Stellman, A. (2010). Why projects fail. Accessed March 31, 2011 from www.stellman-greene.com/Why_Projects_Fail.pdf

[22].  Gulla, J. (2011). Ph.D. IBM Corporation. Seven Reasons Why Information Technology Projects Fail. Session 9341.

[23].  Gulla, J. (2011). Seven reasons why IT projects fail. Share, session 9341.

[24].  Gulla, J. (2012). Seven Reasons Why Information Technology Projects Fail.

[25].  http://www.ibmsystemsmag.com/power/Systems-Management/Workload-Management/project_pitfalls/.

[26].  Hartman, F., & Ashrafi, R. A. (2002). Project management in the information systems and information technologies industries. Project Management Journal; Sep 2002; 33, 3; ABI/INFORM Global pg. 5.

[27].  Haughey, D. (2010). The Four Levels of Project Success. Accessed on March 24, 2011 from http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/four-levels-ofproject-success.html.

[28].  Isfahani, K. (2010). Why Projects Fail: Avoiding the Classic Pitfalls. Oracle Corporation. CA:

[29].  Redwood Shores.

[30].  Judy, K. (2010). Why do some Agile projects succeed while others fail? Is it the company? Is it Agile methods? Accessed on March 31, 2011 at http://judykat.com/ken-judy/agile-projects-succeed-fail-company-agile-methods/

[31].  Kıran, S. (2013). IT project management and success criteria. http://conf.uni-ruse.bg/bg/docs/cp13/5.1/5.1-8.pdf.

[32].  Koi-Akrofi, G.Y., Quarshie, H.O., & Koi-Akrofi, J. (2013). IT project failures in organizations in Ghana. Journal of Emerging Trends in Computing and Information Sciences, VOL. 4, NO. 1.

[33].  Laurie, J. (2003). Why Projects Fail: A University Accounting System. JISC infoNet. https://jiscinfonetcasestudies.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/61637036/project-failure-university-accounting-system.pdf.

[34].  Lyytinen, K., & Hirschheim, R. (1987). Information failures—a survey and Classification of the empirical literature. Oxford Surveys in Information Technology, 4:257–309.

[35].  Oltmann, J. (2007). What Makes Projects Succeed? Accessed on March 24, 2011 from www.spspro.com/.../9What%20Makes%20Projects%20Succeed%20070213%20long.pdf

[36].  Peslak, A. R. (2003). History, Business Community, Information Technology. The journal of Computer Information Systems.

[37].  Rawlinson, S. (2006). Successful Projects. Issue 06. Building.co.uk.

[38].  Rosenfeld, E. (n.d.). After all this.... Why do projects fail? Accessed March 31, 2011 from http://www.adaptivepartners.com/projfailb.htm

[39].  Schmidt, R., Lyytinen, K., Keil, M., & Cule, P. (2001). Identifying software project risks: An international Delphi study. Journal of Management Information Systems, 17(4), 5–36.

[40].  Smyrk, J. (2007). What does the term “IT project” actually mean?: a challenge to the IT profession.. PHILICA.COM Observation number 36.

[41].  Taimour, A. (2005). Why IT Projects Fail. Accessed May 22, 2011 from www.projectperfect.com.au

[42].  The Standish Group. (2011). CHAOS Manifesto 2011. Accessed June 9, 2011 from http://standishgroup.com/newsroom/chaos_manifesto_2011.php

[43].  Tan, S. (2011). How to increase your IT project success rate. Gartner Research: ID Number G00209668

[44].  Taylor, M. A., President. & CEO. (2002). TAYLOR Systems Engineering Corporation. The 5 Reasons Why Most Projects Fail: And what steps you can take to prevent it.

[45].  The Corporate Executive Board Company. (2010). “PMO Executive Council, PMO Rebooted: Reinventing the PMO for Agile Value Delivery.” Arlington, VA:

[46].  The Standish Group. (1994). CHAOS report. IT Project failures and successes. https://www.standishgroup.com/sample_research_files/chaos_report_1994.pdf

[47].  The Standish Group. (2001). Extreme CHAOS. IT Project failures and successes. http://www.cin.ufpe.br/gmp/docs/papers/extreme_chaos2001.pdf

[48].  The Standish Group. (1995). CHAOS report. IT Project failures and successes. Accessed July 27, 2016 from https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/NCP08083B.pdf

[49].  Thibado, M. (2006). Managing Successful Software Development Projects. Ambient Consulting.

[50].  Thompson, D. (2001). Ten Reasons Software Projects Succeed. Accessed on March 31, 2011 from http://www.dave2001.com/tensuccessreasons.htm

[51].  Yeo, K. T. (2002). Critical failure factors in information system projects. International Journal for Project Management, Vol. 20, No. 3, pp. 1241-246.

[52].  Welcome to the Official PRINCE2®Website. 2011. Accessed on July 18, 2011 from http://www.prince-officialsite.com/

[53].  Whittaker, B. (1999) "What went wrong? Unsuccessful information technology projects", Information Management & Computer Security, Vol. 7 Iss: 1, pp.23 – 30.

[54].  Wiklund, D. & Pucciarelli, J. (2009). Improving IT Project Outcomes by Systematically Managing and Hedging Risk. A IDC Insights Research Document.

[55].  Wilson, D., & Connel D. (n.d). Project Governance. Master RESEARCH Australasia Pty Ltd.