Large-scale IT Projects Research Articles

Agile Project Planning and Execution in Large-Scale IT Projects

Agile methods have changed project management, particularly for major IT projects. This abstract examines Agile project planning and execution in complex IT settings, where size and scope bring distinct problems. Traditional project management methods struggle to handle major IT projects' fast changes and complexity. Agile's focus on flexibility, collaboration, and customer-centricity makes it ideal for these situations due to its adaptability. Agile planning breaks complicated IT project needs into manageable components or iterations in large-scale initiatives. Iterative development keeps projects manageable and adaptable. Agile stresses frequent feedback loops, where each iteration is examined, to help teams change and realign their objectives. Large IT projects need ongoing feedback since mistakes may be costly and team alignment is essential. Cross-functional teams are crucial to Agile in big projects. Agile fosters cross-disciplinary cooperation, which is crucial in big IT environments where development, operations, security, and business teams must collaborate. Teams meet regularly, called'scrums,' to review progress, identify barriers, and plan future actions. With its focus on openness and responsibility, the scrum structure keeps team members aligned and the project on pace. Resource management is another important part of Agile project planning for big IT projects. Agile resource allocation is dynamic, unlike set schedules. Large IT projects, where resource demands vary fast, need this flexibility. Thus, agile techniques reduce waste and ensure teams have what they need at each project stage by optimizing resource utilization. Large Agile project execution involves risk management. Due to Agile's iterative structure, teams may regularly analyze risk and address problems before they become significant. Risks may be exacerbated in big IT projects, thus proactive risk management is crucial. Agile teams see risks as opportunities to improve, promoting continual learning and adaptability.

IT Project Management: Supply Chain Optimization for Service Operations

IT project management can use both project and process-oriented approaches. Pre-investment, investment (development and implementation phase), and operations and maintenance are the three phases that make up the life cycle of an IT project. The service processes are part of the third phase. The earliest stage of an IT project's life cycle necessitates a substantial financial commitment. As a result, it may be considered a business venture. As a result, project management concepts and techniques may be used in the implementation of IT projects. During the investment phase, methods for software development and testing are implemented. It is carried out in compliance with industry standards that govern the deployment of life cycle models. The size of the program code and the complexity of the software determine the cost and timeliness of IT system implementation, maintenance, and servicing jobs. As a result, the process approach can be used to manage various phases of large-scale IT projects. Supply chain optimization, in particular, can be used advantageously. This report is devoted to the optimization of supply chains for service operations at the stage of implementation and maintenance of large IT projects. A feature of this approach is that the human resources of an IT service support team are considered as a subject for the supply chain. Conditions are also given that the supply chain for service operations considered has the resilience and viability properties. The parameters for the multiple-channel queuing model are calculated using the mathematical model presented in this paper. Microsoft Excel is used to implement this model. It enables us to generate estimations for the average time of maintenance and support jobs during the pre-investment phase, as well as determine the optimal size for the IT service support team.

Applicability of Agile Methodology in Technology Migration Projects: A Thematic Overview

Ever since, inception of IT services on global level, lot of SDLC methodologies were developed to ensure proper balance between Time, Cost and Scope factors of the Projects. Over period of time, it was noticed that IT services using waterfall SDLC were gradually unable to deliver best requirements, despite having extensive experience in handling such large-scale IT projects. To overcome the shortcoming of the Waterfall SDLC model in early 2001, Agile SDLC methodology was introduced, which is even till today treated as de facto best industry standards of any IT projects across the globe as it successfully curtailed the demerits of earlier model such as dangers of traditional, front-end planning methods that often lead to downstream development pathologies. In this research paper, an attempt is made by the authors to understand how Agile SDLC methodology helps in improving efficacy of software development and various challenges faced during the development process. Limited research is done to highlight the efficacy of same across different variants of IT Projects. It is worthwhile to mentioned based on the past experiences of the authors that in case of Technology Migration IT Projects, bare implementation of Agile Methodology will not provide any addition advantage and success rate is extremely low. Authors has made an attempt to decipher the root causes which influences the efficacy of Agile SDLC methodology on Technology Migration Projects and suggest new SDLC methodology with list of KPIs to monitor the success rate of the project on real time basis.

ЦИФРОВИЗАЦИЯ VS ЗАНЯТОСТЬ: ОПЫТ БАНКОВСКОГО СЕКТОРА

The paper shows that economy digitalization is inevitable, but is still an insufficiently studied consequence of ICT development. Among the main economic challenges of digitalization is the transformation of the traditional labor market. According to experts, the Russian economy can use the "transition to all things digital" as one of the key factors for GDP growth. At the same time, the degree of readiness of individual industries to accept digital technologies varies significantly. The financial sector is in the lead, which is why bank employees were the first to face the negative consequences of large-scale IT projects of their employers. This paper provides an assessment of the dependence of the need for bank employees on the most likely threats of credit institutions, including economic recession, revocation of banks licenses and investments in ICT technology. The obtained results confirm those of a number of international studies of different years on the absence of a significant relation between vacancies and the digitalization expenses of credit institutions. The analysis of digitalization influence on the need for bank employees is accompanied by indirect assessment of this influence – through evaluating the dependence of banking divisions number on investments in digital technologies. PAO Sberbank, the main market player and leader in the implementation of IT projects, was chosen as the object of research. The built regression model made it possible to identify a significant dependence of indicators and predict changes in the number of Sberbank divisions with a high level of reliability.

대규모 IT 프로젝트에서 학습기반 애자일 프레임워크 적용사례 연구

대규모 IT 프로젝트에서 학습기반 애자일 프레임워크 적용사례 연구

A Case Study on the Application of Security Policy for Outsourcing Personnel in case of Large-Scale Financial IT Projects

A Case Study on the Application of Security Policy for Outsourcing Personnel in case of Large-Scale Financial IT Projects

Achieving the delicate balance between risks & outcomes in a large-scale IT project – a case study on BCIA's airport security system

This teaching case describes the journey undertaken by the Beijing Capital International Airport's IT department in the implementation of various large-scale IT projects during the construction of the Terminal 3 project. The case specifically singled out the Airport Security system in the Terminal 3 project and provided a detailed description on its implementation. Airport security has always been one of the key concerns in all Airport management activities. In recent times, Airport security has become a hot topic especially given the increasing threats posted by terrorists (e.g., 9/11 incident and MH370). The case portrays Mr. Roland Lee, the project manager of the Airport Security system, as the central protagonist confronting the various challenges in balancing the risks and the requirements to keep the project on time, on budget and of high quality.

A process model for bricolage-based resource co-management for a resource-constrained government IT project

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the ways in which central government in resource-constrained environments collaborates with local government to utilize the available resources at hand to set up 300 Digital Opportunity Centers (DOCs) in 168 remote areas in Taiwan through co-management to bricolage new resources and new capabilities, gradually bridging the urban-rural digital divide to co-create values for local development. Design/methodology/approach – This study adopted an in-depth case study. The authors selected Taiwan’s DOC, the largest public information service infrastructure project in Taiwan, to explore issues related to bricolage-based resource co-management. Findings – From the integrating relevant literature, the generic process of bricolage-based resource co-management can be inferred to consist of four major steps. Applying this body of knowledge as a theoretical lens to analyze the case of Taiwan’s DOC, a process model of bricolage-based resource co-management is inductively derived to address the research questions. Research limitations/implications – A common criticism of this methodology is its lack of generalizability since a case study cannot prove itself in a statistical sense. Practical implications – This study is significant in that it provides a comprehensive and empirically supported framework. The authors hope that practitioners who face resource constraints when conducting large-scale IT projects can use the process model developed in this study as a detailed roadmap to identify the most appropriate actions and steps to undertake. Originality/value – This study provides an empirically grounded framework that contributes toward addressing the lack of empirical studies in bricolage-based, resource co-management research.

Leading by Metaphors –A Case Study of a Mega IT Project in a Danish Bank

<p><em>Contrary to the existing literature and studies of large-scale IT projects, empirical data from a mega IT project in mid-sized Danish Bank, Jyske Bank, demonstrates a successful implementation of a highly complex IT platform transition. Linguistic representations and especially extensive use of metaphors by executive management to form and shape the megaproject appeared to have significant impact on guidance of individual and collective action, and thereby presumably one of the important factors for the successful implementation. To learn from this case study, we investigate the metaphorical use in the megaproject and discuss how leading by metaphors are enacted. Our findings are that (1) metaphorical storytelling can act as backbone for communication, (2) metaphors can set direction for technical capabilities, and finally (3) metaphors can be used to emphasize emotional intelligence.</em></p>

Improving Business Value Assurance in Large-Scale IT Projects—A Quantitative Method Based on Founded Requirements Assessment

The probability of IT project failures can be mitigated more successfully when discovered early. To support a more insightful management of IT projects, which may also facilitate an early detection of IT project failures, transparency regarding a project's cash flows shall be increased. Therefore, an appropriate analysis of a project's benefits, costs, requirements, their respective risks and interdependencies is inevitable. However, to date, in requirements engineering only few methods exist that appropriately consider these factors when estimating the ex ante project business case. Furthermore, empirical studies reveal that a lot of risk factors emerge during the runtime of projects why the ex ante valuation of IT projects even with respect to requirements seems insufficient. Therefore, using the Action Design Research approach, we design, apply, and evaluate a practicable method for value-based continuous IT project steering especially for large-scale IT projects.

Large Scale IT Projects: Study and Analysis of Failures and Winning Factors

ABSTRACTThe Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) embarked on developing a case management software project titled “The Virtual Case File (VCF)” in 2000 to facilitate the FBI agents in progress in active investigations and connects them with each other. But FBI ultimately discarded the project in April 2005. This study demonstrates why the project titled “Virtual Case File” failed and analyses the reasons behind this failure. This meticulous analysis thoroughly examines the VCF project and suggests a few effective pointers to identify a dwindling IT project. This analytical study also explores the exclusivity of this project failure. This study discusses about a few effective suggestions that could have saved this huge IT project failure and future large IT projects. A dedicated chapter in this paper explains the possible winning factors for an IT project success. Finally, a selective chronology of the over-hyped VCF project has been illustrated in the final part of this paper.

Developing the Agile IS Development Practices in Large-Scale IT Projects: The Trust-Mediated Organizational Controls and IT Project Team Capabilities Perspectives

This paper is based on multiple case studies on the construction of the Beijing Capital International Airport Terminal 3 in preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games that investigated the processes of instilling agile IS development practices in large-scale IT projects. This study develops useful theoretical constructs that will help researchers and practitioners who wish to learn about agile IS development practices as developed in large-scale IT projects. Adopting a contingent view, we uncover four factors that are critical in this development processes, namely: project uncertainty profile and project completion urgency; IT project team capabilities; organizational control mechanisms; and trust relationships among the IT project team, the vendors, and the users. Depending on the unpredictable nature of the project and the trust level among the IT project team, the vendors, and the users, we have uncovered the IT project team capabilities and the organizational control mechanisms that are needed to assure the success of a large-scale IT project. We posit that the interplay between the IT project team capabilities and the trust-mediated organizational control mechanisms forms the theoretical basis that defines agile IS development practice in large-scale IT projects. We argue that our findings provide insights to practitioners who are attempting to introduce agile IS development practices into any large-scale IT project. From a research perspective, the theory developed in this paper also sheds light on the importance of adopting a contingency view when researching agile IS development practices in a large-scale IT project and the factors to consider. This underpinning theoretical perspective will aid in the design of all future researches.

Organizational Learning in a Large-scale Complex Health IT Project

Implementing large-scale complex health IT projects poses significant challenges to organizations. This paper discusses one Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT Beacon project aimed at implementing an IT-mediated care coordination model across multiple care settings in multiple communities. We posit that using participatory ergonomic methods to collect and promptly report findings to the project management team provides significant impetus for organizational learning and increases the likelihood of success of this large-scale health IT implementation project. We describe how we involve management team members in the ongoing regular evaluation of the project through short monthly Web-based surveys and semi-annual individual interviews. The goal of this process is to promote organizational learning and impact the success of this and future complex large-scale projects.

The Responsibility of Business and Information Systems Engineering in Large-Scale IT Projects

The failure of IT projects has been subject to discussions for decades. For example, magazines report on historical failures of IT projects in the U.S. (Zeitler 2008), consulting firms analyze the failure of large-scale IT projects (Richter et al. 2008), and also science provides detailed studies about failures in selected major IT projects in Germany (Mertens 2009). Often, the so-called CHAOS report is used as a starting point for such analyses: according to this report, currently 24% of IT projects fail, 44% are considered to be challenged, and only 32% are successful (Eveleens and Verhoef 2010). From the perspective of business and information systems engineering (BISE), however, it is necessary to critically question the findings of the CHAOS report. The definition of “success” either remains unclear, or – if carried out – only the successful completion of the project’s implementation is assessed. However, it is not examined whether the project also helps to achieve the company’s objectives. This debate is not new. Already in 1998, Peter Mertens presented 15 theses in which he ultimately claimed that these analyses should focus on the overall objective of increasing corporate value, and derived what should actually be the proper goals of BISE. And yet there is still no single, accepted definition of when an IT project is to be considered a success. Against this background, the prudent scientist would do well to be careful with such general quantitative studies. Although the way of measuring success is controversial, it can be observed that still many large-scale IT projects face enormous problems or even fail. The direct and indirect effects are often dramatic and sometimes even threaten the existence of companies, as the following examples illustrate: In the first half of 2004, the supermarket chain Sainsbury’s had to record a profit decline of 88% compared to the previous year, after they failed to launch a new IT system. The new supply chain management system had proved inadequate so that the company had to let employees carry out processes instead of automating them. A total of 791 million U.S. dollars had to be charged off; Sainsbury’s decline to the third place in the British market has been blamed in large parts on the failure of the project. Toll Collect’s approach to establish a new system for track-based toll collection in Germany failed with great publicity effect with the termination letter from the Federal Transport Minister, stating that the offer is technically, legally, and economically unacceptable. This was preceded by months of quarrels due to numerous failures and ever-new delays. The system went live in early 2005 with a total delay of 16 months and limited functionality. On July, 29th 2005 the federal government therefore brought an action against the toll consortium and raised claims of 5.1 billion Euros. The dispute lasts until today. One of the largest IT projects in Europe with an estimated cost of up to 5.4 billion Euros, extensive requirements regarding data volume and protection is the introduction of the electronic health card in Germany. It was originally intended to replace the health insurance card on January 1st 2006 and now is several years behind schedule. The resulting loss of confidence of the public towards politics is enormous. Hence, the Chaos Computer Club summarized a study by Booz-Allen-Hamilton with the following words (translated): “In the best tradition of state-run large-scale software projects, another extremely expensive prestige project is consciously being approached here, the benefits of which are in no reasonable proportion to the risks and foreseeable problems. A first look at the data points to a massive explosion of costs through the introduction of the health card and to another technological disaster.” Such large-scale IT projects are likely to cause problems in future as well. Both, the increase in IT penetration of virtually all areas of life and their increasing interconnectedness, can be expected to increase the level of IT investments and the size of IT projects. This would also, unless countermeasures are taken, involve a higher number of failing projects, including – as mentioned above – huge tangible and intangible damage. Without a thorough performance analysis, largescale projects therefore continue to fail. Here, BISE as an interdisciplinary field of research is required to contribute to more success. In a first step, the following questions must be answered:

Making projects fly

The construction of Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 (T5) gives a best-practice template for customer/supplier relationships in large-scale IT projects. It also points out parallels between T5 construction techniques and agile development practices, says Marcus Price of Agilier.

Current perspectives: information in healthcare

Current perspectives: information in healthcare 1st edition, Abbott, William, Blankley, Nick, Bryant, John & Bullas, Sheila , Swindon . Health Informatics Committee of the British Computer Society , 2004 . ISBN: 0953542793 , 251 pp. £20 . If you want an overview of where health librarianship in the UK is now and where it is headed, don't buy this book. Apart from a brief reference to the National Electronic Library for Health and one of the authors recounting a fruitless search for health informatics material in his local Trust library, consideration of the role of libraries in the information chain is conspicuous only by its absence. Similarly, the authors appear to have only a nodding acquaintance with the concept of knowledge management. If, however, you’re looking for a comprehensive analysis of the past, current and possible future of information technology and its application in healthcare there is much that will be of value to you. Government policy and the current National Programme for IT are clearly explained. Based on their long experience in the health service and knowledge of large scale IT projects, the authors remain doubtful about the eventual success of some parts of the Programme. One of the main strengths of the book is its understanding of the people side of large IT projects. The authors are clear that, if the change management, implementation and benefits realization elements of installing new IT systems are not properly managed, any project will ultimately fail to achieve its goals. The two chapters on change management are particularly impressive. The first of these looks at the nature of change and organizational capacity and capability to achieve change, while the second goes on to consider appropriate methods for creating and sustaining change. The book is illustrated with lots of examples drawn from the authors’ experience and uses diagrams, charts and tables constructively. It also attempts to predict what will happen in the future to healthcare information, with consideration in the final chapters of future policy, what the technology might look like and how health informatics might evolve. There is a particularly thought-provoking chapter on health online services, with recognition of issues concerning technology inequality, social exclusion and the assertion that no channels can be taken in isolation as a means of delivery of health information. Inevitably, the rapid pace of change in the NHS means that some parts of the book are already out of date as, for example, the NHS Information Authority is swept away in the most recent round of reorganization and the NHS terminates its contract for a managed national e-mail and directory service with EDS. In addition, the book explicitly focuses only on the NHS in England and most of the examples cited are drawn from secondary care. Nonetheless, as a snapshot in time and a one-stop introduction to the complex topic of health information, written in plain language, the book has much to commend it. Proper consideration of the role of health libraries and knowledge management could turn the second edition into a compulsory purchase.

An introduction to charging mechanisms in IT procurements

Charging is frequently perceived by most lawyers to be something of a black art, an area best left to accountants and consultants. This article provides a brief overview of some of the payment mechanisms that may be appropriate in respect of a large scale IT project. It also highlights some of the key advantages and disadvantages of certain ways of structuring payments.

Managing Large-scale IT Projects: The Case of National Air Traffic Services' New En Route Centre at Swanwick

UK experience with implementation of high-profile IT projects has been rather unhappy,with projects tending to be severely delayed, to operate poorly and to be prone to escalating costs. Thereis therefore a need to understand better and to improve the management of such investments. This paperadopts a synthetic approach to analysing large-scale IT projects, drawing upon research on managinginflexible technology, project managememt and information technology implementation. The papercombines findings from these literatures to produce a detailed set of factors that are known to adverselyaffect ambitious soflware and other large-scale development projects. It employs a case study of sotftwaredevelopment at National Air Trafic Services' NERG project at Swanwick potentially to illustrate these.The paper finds that experimce at Swanwick does indeed mirror many of the pitfalls predicted but alsothat the synthesis of approaches attempted enhances our understanding of the difficulties involved inmanaging large-scale IT projects perhaps rather better than univocal approaches.

Pair programming on the C3 project

Chrysler's Comprehensive Compensation (C3) project was one of the first large-scale IT projects on which Extreme Programming (XP) precepts were attempted. As XP was being invented, we didn't really think of it as a theoretical or methodological breakthrough; it was simply an opportunity to get the job done. The "theory" came about later because of the practice's success. In my opinion, XP is not a theory, but a cogent descriptive body of successful praxis. Some people consider pair programming, an XP technique, to be difficult, unworkable, or downright weird. After all, what does the workstation represent, if not finally having your own computer? The idea of sharing your machine with someone seems like a lot of bother without much reward. How can you talk if you're trying to think? And how can you think if you first have to explain what you're thinking about? Having participated on the C3 project as a performance-tuning consultant beginning in 1996, I can attest to the success of pair programming. At the same time, I can show instances where it did not work or was not emphasized in this early XP project. In a sense, this pragmatism is the strength of XP: Use a technique where it works, ignore it where it doesn't. XP has never been prescribed as a panacea. XP's pair programming helps programmers synthesize their individual expertise into an effective combination.

‘It Looked Marvellous in the Prospectus’: Taurus, Information and Decision Making

Large-scale IT projects can often fail, even if they seemed a good idea at the time. This is the story of the collapse of the multi-million pound TAURUS project, commissioned by the London Stock Exchange.