IRMA-International.org: Creator of Knowledge
Information Resources Management Association
Advancing the Concepts & Practices of Information Resources Management in Modern Organizations

Challenges of Complex Information Technology Projects: The MAC Initiative

Challenges of Complex Information Technology Projects: The MAC Initiative
View Sample PDF
Author(s): Teta Stamati (University of Athens, Greece), Panagiotis Kanellis (University of Athens, Greece)and Drakoulis Martakos (University of Athens, Greece)
Copyright: 2006
Pages: 22
Source title: Knowledge Management and Higher Education: A Critical Analysis
Source Author(s)/Editor(s): Amy Metcalfe (The University of British Columbia, Canada)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59140-509-2.ch013

Purchase

View Challenges of Complex Information Technology Projects: The MAC Initiative on the publisher's website for pricing and purchasing information.

Abstract

Although painstaking planning usually precedes all large IT development efforts, 80% of new systems are delivered late (if ever) and over budget, frequently with functionality falling short of contract. This case study provides a detailed account of an ill-fated initiative to centrally plan and procure, with the aim to homogenize requirements, an integrated applications suite for a number of British higher education institutions. It is argued that because systems are so deeply embedded in operations and organization and, as you cannot possibly foresee and therefore plan for environmental discontinuities, high-risk, ‘big-bang’ approaches to information systems planning and development must be avoided. In this context the case illustrates the level of complexity that unpredictable change can bring to an information technology project that aims to establish the ‘organizationally generic’ and the destabilizing effects it has on the network of the project’s stakeholders.

Related Content

Agah Tugrul Korucu, Handan Atun. © 2017. 18 pages.
Larisa Olesova, Jieun Lim. © 2017. 21 pages.
JoAnne Dalton Scott. © 2017. 20 pages.
Geraldine E Stirtz. © 2017. 25 pages.
Enilda Romero-Hall, Cristiane Rocha Vicentini. © 2017. 21 pages.
Beth Allred Oyarzun, Sheri Anderson Conklin, Daisyane Barreto. © 2017. 21 pages.
Nikolina Tsvetkova, Albena Antonova, Plama Hristova. © 2017. 24 pages.
Body Bottom