IT PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Utilizing Effective IT Project Management

Abstract

Information Technology (IT) projects are uniquely challenging in today's global company. Project Managers must balance customer expectations with the capabilities of delivery teams within organizations. A project manager should cover all areas of IT project management, hardware (i.e. desktop migrations; desk side service implementations), software, System Integration, and human resources. Project managers should have cost effective solutions while uncovering critical success factors and hidden risks that are inherent in IT based projects.

Table of Content

CHAPTER ONE4

INTRODUCTION4

RESEARCH AIMS AND OBJECTIVES:9

CHAPTER TWO10

LITERATURE REVIEW10

CHAPTER THREE73

RESEARCH METHOD73

CHAPTER FOUR76

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION76

ANALYSIS OF CASE STUDIES76

IS MANAGEMENT IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES?91

CHAPTER FIVE96

CONCLUSIONS96

REFERENCES100

Chapter One

Introduction

As we progress in the new millennium and information age, numerous organizations around the world are undergoing massive transformation efforts to cope up with the changing business environments. Increased domestic and global competition, economic downturns, rapidly changing market trends, and volatile financial markets have all increased the pressure on organizations to come up with effective responses to survive and succeed. Further, ease of international trade barriers, economic liberalization, globalization and deregulation has thrown several challenges to organizations in developing countries like India. To effectively respond to the rapid changes in the external environment, several firms have turned to information technology (IT) to improve their productivity and competitiveness.

Until mid-1990s, many Indian organizations had operated under a protected economic regime characterized by limited competition and a highly regulated environment. This business atmosphere had resulted in limited focus on process efficiencies, centralized control structures, highly formalized business settings and lack of professional business practices. However, following the economic liberalization and opening up of the economy to foreign competition, Indian organizations have been forced to adopt modern business practices and strategies. In an effort to enhance their competitiveness, several organizations have turned to IT for improving business processes and exploiting efficiencies in the value chains. Stories of successful exploitation of IT in the Indian context have been documented in the literature (e.g. Data Quest, 1996; Banerjee, 2001; Walsham & Sahay, 1999). However, studies have also highlighted the challenges faced by Indian firms in exploiting and using IT ( Saxena & Sahay, 2000). Despite the fact that many Indian organizations have often been cognizant of the need to exploit IT, the increased demands on the IT has made the management of information systems (IS) function a critical one.

As IS applications and their capabilities have expanded in complexity, size, reach and scope, the task of managing a company's information systems function has become critical, tough and intricate. For Indian organizations, effective design of IS function has assumed greater importance for several reasons: Firstly, Indian organizations have increased their investments in IT by manifold. As the IT spending grew at a rate of 20% in the Asia-Pacific region (Data quest, 2001), the overall IT spending in India was estimated to grow by 56% in 2002 ( Dataquest, 2001). This significant increase in IT investments necessitates suitable IS organization to ensure effective deployment and utilization of IS resources. Secondly, Indian organizations have only been recently exposed to modern business ...