Investigating the Challenges of Project Governance Processes of IT Projects

Abstract

This study investigates challenges of project governance processes of Information Technology (IT) projects in organisations. There is still a high prevalent failure rate in implementation of IT projects or initiatives. The failure can be attributed to various factors, which one of the factors could be the existence of Project Governance process of IT projects in organisations. The study is based on a case study of a media organisation in South Africa. A qualitative approach was used for this study where semi-structured interviews were conducted with several participants at various levels and involvement in IT projects implementation within the organisation. The study revealed that, it is vital to ensure that proper IT project governance processes and procedures are put in place, thus ensuring that the processes are properly defined, clearly communicated to the people involved in project execution. The research study uncovered that although IT project governance processes were defined, however, majority of the processes were not properly defined. Furthermore, the enforcement of the project governance processes as well as the effective application was lacking within the IT projects. The study contributes to the literature and the body of knowledge of project governance of IT projects in organisations.