How Can Success of IT Implementations Be Measured?

Abstract

The number of applied Business Intelligence (BI) systems is rapidly increasing worldwide, serving a broad range of sectors and business applications. BI systems serve a broad range of sectors and business applications by performing functions that consist of managing clients, resources, and employees through the collection and analysis of data that assist in describing these business entities and the various attributes of these objectives. Even though BI solutions have been implemented worldwide and the experience gained in implementation projects has largely enriched the academic research in this field, IT literature still lacks a uniform methodology for assessing the effects that BI systems have on business processes and organizations. Additionally, should any part of the BI implementation project fail to satisfy user needs or achieve the benefits expected from them, it is important to identify the failure's extent and sources in order to avoid financial and operational losses in similar projects. This chapter presents an analytical framework to help measure the success of implementations of various types of Business Intelligence systems, including Online Analytical Processing, Knowledge Management, and Decision Supporting tools. The framework and methodology presented here serve as a basis for evaluating the possible effects of technical, organizational, and personal factors on the success, partial success, or failure of BI system implementations. The framework is demonstrated via a case study analysis of a BI system implementation in an energy firm.