Critical Success Factors in the Information System Development Lifecycle
Introduction
The advances in technology and the fast modernization of the world, in general, opened new and very promising avenues of business opportunities not just in an individual’s locale but also abroad. A lot of business-minded individuals from different countries with different nationalities and cultural orientation have and continuously defied the geographic boundaries that exist between continents. This is evident in the growing number of internationally-operating business firms all over the world run by entrepreneurs of varying race and culture. The information man has successfully rebelled against intercontinental borders and the challenge that confronts him the most, deals with how to fit and blend in the new cultural environment in which their businesses are situated.
The tremendous growth of technological advancement has become the driving force of contemporary industries. The diffusion of the internet has revolutionized the business arena. The use of the Internet is changing high-tech marketing overnight while different industries have been trying to use it as part of their marketing strategy. It has not only reconfigured the way different firms do business and the way the consumers buy goods and services, but it has also become an effective instrument in transforming the value chain from manufacturers to retailers to consumers, creating a new retail distribution channel ( 1999).
This paper presents the key ways ATP Life Assurance considered to ensure the success of the IT projects it implements in order to support the aims and objectives of the company. Six other critical success factors for the achievement of the company’s goals are likewise discussed focusing on the planning, implementation and control of the IT projects.
Critical Success Factors of ATP in Implementing its IT Projects
Rationally, project management plays an important role in the process of the project because it is the only way to organize the activity process within the project effectively. Project management is simply the process of managing, allocating, and timing resources to achieve a given goal in an efficient and expedient manner (1993). Projects come in simple or complex. Moreover, the objectives that constitute the specified goal may be in terms of time, costs, or technical results.
According to (1994), projects should transform an unsatisfactory (existing or future) state to a better state within a certain time, using a limited effort. In a more pragmatic terms, a project means that there is someone who always has the unique needs for something new tangible outcomes (the creation) of it, and requires knowledge and resources to conduct the realization of the concept within the specific constraints of time, money and specifications (1997). Furthermore, required expertise and resources are needed, either in-house or from the market, need to be pooled together to create the change – the transition from the idea to the creation, according to the client’s expectations, which are provided by professionals, consultants, contractors and sub-contractors (1997).
According to , Managing Director of ATP Life Assurance, the successful management of the company’s IT projects is made possible through the analytical rigor financial Return-On-Investment (ROI) tools for each of the projects along with the organization’s other business projects other than IT. Risk analyses on every investment are likewise carried out by ATP management to ensure the productivity of the IT projects. Each of the IT projects is closely monitored in order to assess and evaluate their efficiency and effectiveness during the course of development. ATP makes use of red/yellow/green coding system to determine the status of each of the IT projects (2005).
Furthermore, the Senior Line Managers, the Managing Director, and the Chief Operating Officer reviews monthly reports regarding the developments of the projects particularly those that are valued at more than £250K and those deal with important strategic content. ATP likewise implements investment-tracking database to monitor the cost of each project at an on-going basis which provides the advantage of allowing the company’s IT and business mangers to efficiently evaluate the future of the projects. This enables the mangers to determine whether a project should be accelerated, delayed, or canceled as well as assists the financial arm of the organization in forecasting budget allocations ( 2005).
Other Considerations to Ensure the Success of IT Projects
Basically, projects are unique undertakings which involve a degree of uncertainty and are inherently risky (1998; 2000; 2003). Risk in projects can be defined as the chance of an event occurring that is likely to have a negative impact on project objectives and is measured in terms of likelihood and consequence (2004). For instance, over-budget can be a risk factor as the expenses waged in the project might not compensate the return of investment perceived. Furthermore, the slow-paced work of the team responsible for the project might also be a risk factor in meeting the target deadline of the project. This might also involve the risk in acquiring the technologies needed for the project. In addition, risk can also appear from the design, coding and implementation of the project.
The success of a project would most likely depend, one way or another, on how the project manager addresses the lifecycle. It mainly includes the management of information, technology and people. Perhaps, due to the reason to specify what are the specific important factors that should be considered within those three variables, researchers have identified several success factors in project management. For instance, (1996) identified several critical success factors such as: project mission; project planning; project control; top management support; and customer involvement.
Almost similarly, (1998) identified five critical factors for success in new product development projects, which include: the commitment of senior management acting through a culture that gives importance to innovative and entrepreneurial individuals; organizational structure and processes that supports cross-functional teams and provide guidelines for their operation; encouraging new product ideas to be generated; providing effective venture teams and leaders; and a tactical planning process for innovative projects. (2003) adds that project managers should also give importance to learning and innovation to ensure the success of the project.
Other non-technical issues aside with the issue among the task performers are the scheduling and cost of the project. Basically, these should be defined firsthand in the planning stage, or in the investigation stage. These non-technical issues are basically intertwined with the technical requirements for the project such as the software and hardware needed. The project manager should know where to allocate the less expensive but effective technical tools. Of course, this also concerns handling the problems of scheduling i.e. acquiring the needed item on time, doing certain tasks on schedule, etc. Thus, decision based on investigation should be critical in intertwining the technical and non-technical factors for the benefit of having an effective project. However, risk is just one example of how managers handle the lifecycle of the project. Others basically focus on control, quality, and fractal issues (2004).
Several techniques have been created in order to execute this type of management with ease. Project management techniques are used widely in many enterprises, including construction, banking, manufacturing, marketing, health care services, transportation, R&D, public services, and so on. Some examples of project management techniques include: the statement of requirements; work breakdown structure; dependency structure matrix; cost management approaches; and resource allocation matrix. Because requirement gathering is an important part in project management, statement of requirements would be a valuable tool in avoiding problems (2003).
On the other hand, the work breakdown structure is also important in a sense that it identifies terminal elements in project management, or the actual items to be done in a project (2004). The dependency structure matrix then identifies relationships within particular tasks and orders them in a fashion that is organized, less costly and saves time while the resource allocation matrix is specific because it helps in the consolidation, efficient utilization of resources, etc. (2004). Finally, cost management approaches helps the project team estimate and manage the cost of the project. Aside from those, there is a multitude more of techniques pertaining to effective project management. This is perhaps due to the difficult nature of managing an ongoing project. Models and techniques basically guide project managers along the way.
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