IT Project Failure: A Comparative Analysis of Two Case Studies

This report compares and analyzes two case studies of IT project failures, one in the southern hemisphere and the other at RMIT and Cambridge Universities. The report concludes with the reasons behind the project management failures.

Title Page
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Executive Summary
The paper had two case study discussed in the report. One case study is for the IT Project
failure for the teaching case in the southern hemisphere and the other case study is for the
packaged Enterprise Application Software, the failure of “Go Live” at the RMIT and
Cambridge Universities. The report had compare and analyzed the two cse study and
concluded with the reason behind the failure of the project in the process of the project
management.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Case Study Analysis...............................................................................................................3
Executive Support......................................................................................................................3
Sound Governance.....................................................................................................................4
User Involvement.......................................................................................................................4
Experienced Project Manager....................................................................................................4
Clear Business Objectives..........................................................................................................4
Firm Basic Requirements...........................................................................................................4
Organizational Commitment to Change.....................................................................................5
Adequate Resources...................................................................................................................5
Flexibility...................................................................................................................................5
Clear Communication................................................................................................................5
Managing Stakeholders..............................................................................................................5
Vendor Support..........................................................................................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................6
References..................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
The first case study of the RMIT and Cambridge University is the leading educational
institutions and has a failure in the Packaged Enterprise Application Software that has
implemented the PeopleSoft’s version 7.6 for the administration software of the student. In
the paper there was a serious problem in the go-live was database got corrupted so badly due
to which repairing of the organizational engagement or the user involvement is lacking for
the respective project. For poor management, the large-scale projects have lack of experience.
However, in the final result, the user involvement or the organizational engagement was low.
An evidence was provided for the respective systems as they were not live.
The other case study of the Queensland in Australia has a failure in the payroll system
which is the most spectacular implementation failure of Information Systems (IS) in the
Southern Hemisphere (Eden and Sedera 2014). There has been a failure in the ministry health
resignation, industrial strike action and staff members’ loss for other employers. In Australia
they have the highest judicial form was the failure is examined and recommended with large
governmental IS projects. The teaching case has been examined for the Queensland Health IS
implementation project that includes the overview of technological and environmental drivers
project, the project key stakeholders roles and responsibilities, the implementation of the
approach and the project outcome, reasons for the implementation failure (Eden and Sedera
2014).
Case Study Analysis
Executive Support
The executive supports the project vision which provides funding with some major
resources. Once the executive support is chosen it becomes crucial that there comes a vested
interest for the executive to bring a successful outcome. Executive support has a management
support that usually facilitates the decision-making and supports the senior executive
information (Tondeur et al. 2016). The information could get easy access with relevant to the
organizational goals. It helps top-level executives to compare, analyse and highlight trends
were performance could be monitor and identify the problems and opportunities. The
computer-based programs have a mainframe that package the data and provide sales for
market research or sales performance, that has a chief executive officer, marketing directors
that are well acquainted for the computer.
In the case study of RMIT and Cambridge, the executive sponsor provides a
legitimacy and has a project vision (Seddon 2018). The funding has been provided for the
major resources of the executive sponsor as choosing a sponsor has become crucial to getting
a successful outcome. There have been also a situation where the executive sponsor has to
support the project manager. The project manager has to multilingual were it can effectively
communicate with the technical teams and the stakeholders (Burgan 2015). The authority has
been given to the gatekeeper where it could decide the functions and features of the project

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that has been released later or in the first phase. The resources, business value, risk, schedule
and project quality have each feature and function.
Sound Governance
The level of governance for the project is adequate was structured that approach has a
methodology that is suitable for the project. The functionality of the project that is relevant to
stakeholders as it has no formal project deliverables that have a business requirement, testing,
specifications and strategies for data conversion (Eden and Sedera 2014). There are large-
scale projects that bypass various mechanisms for governance and gain some approval. Even
the poor project management of the Cambridge University include contractors that have low-
level of staff for the role of project manager (Iqbal, Nadeem and Zaheer 2015). The
governance of the project gets poor which has a complex committee structure.
User Involvement
In the RMIT and Cambridge Universities case study, the various committees are
responsible for the project manager (Seddon 2018). There is a lack of user involvement or the
organizational engagement for the respective projects (Mir and Pinnington 2014). The user
involvement reduces as the Project Director Gain real involvement by the project managers.
Experienced Project Manager
The case study revealed that the project manager lack in experience, the steering
committee of the project is ineffective and the scope of the project is not controlled with little
buy-in. The RMIT has initiated the reviews whose result has been undertaken for the project
management and sponsorship as identified (Liu et al. 2014). The governance structure is
clearly defined as there is a lack in AMS project (Seddon 2018). The experience project
manager has expected that the system was not ready. If the project manager is experienced
than the problem attributed two poor project management.
Clear Business Objectives
The Business objectives are clear and help project teams to prioritize the performance
of work for the objectives that could be achieved best. The scope and requirements get
prioritised when the project manager works with the team (Alreemy et al. 2016). As the
project manager is working with the team, it determines project dollars to achieve the
objectives were the decision is straightforward for both the case study.
Firm Basic Requirements
Before making any amendment the researcher needs to do research that is identified to
gain the business idea. Through the process of validation, that business idea could be run and
could solve a problem, offer the wants of the market or fulfil the firm needs. The next step
both the firm had followed was to make the business plan for the growth of the business
(Pecherskaya et al. 2016). The third step is to plan for the finances were an initial investment
is required to cover the ongoing expenses. The fourth step is to choose the structure of the
business that has an impact on the corporation where the business name is registered. In both,

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the case study, permits or license is required. The budget was managed by maintaining the
accounting system to set the rates and prices and file the taxes to get the business promoted.
Organizational Commitment to Change
For being a professional, it is easy to lose the fundamentals, foster commitment,
agents, targets and sponsors (M. Beheshti et al. 2014). The sponsors get consistent display
support for the changes that need influential communication and consequences that are
meaningful. The major commitment to change in the organization does not include an
intellectual agreement with no emotional support. The awareness is necessary for the sponsor
to recognize the needs that occur.
Adequate Resources
The organization has an adequate requirement that required a suitable subject within
require a period (Asgarkhani et al. 2017). Sufficient time is provided to the investigator
within the agreed trial period. The staff are qualified and required a foreseen duration. In the
Queensland health, adequate healthcare services are provided to approximately 40,000 people
across 300 sites with 85,000 employees (Eden and Sedera 2014).
Flexibility
Complexity was found more than flexibility, as the healthcare industry is
fundamentally different from regardless to other industries. The system of healthcare caters to
the industry as the system get complex and complicated. In both the case study, the goal is
identical but the environment is different where each time the same sequence is followed.
Flexibility in the process of project management is usually more successful (Duffield and
Whitty 2015). The project manager thought time and cost could be buffer as it adds
flexibility. The resources are insufficient for people, material and equipment. There needs a
change in the project management processes to make things done. Proper decision making is
not flexible.
Clear Communication
In the case study of IT failure, there is a need for effective communication which is
important in between the client, vendor and consultant. Even for the healthcare industry
communication is crucial even for the interaction between person to person in the IS. Around
50 % of the IS project implementation fails (Abu-Shanab, Abu-Shehab and Khairallah 2015).
All the groups of stakeholder have a lack of communication that leads to the disjoint
perception of project goals and outcomes. Furthermore, there was an implementation project
of ERP were communication becomes important for the user. In the RMIT and Cambridge
University case study, communication is a very important factor for success as the AMS
project lacked effective and strong management (Seddon 2018).
Managing Stakeholders
The “go-live “decision of AMS need input from the stakeholder, were AMS Project
Director input was sought were the system is implemented through contractors. The RMIT

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did not identify and obtain the buy-in which led to a change in feeling and forced to make
them resistant. The teaching case further observes that the project has a key stakeholder for
their roles and responsibilities (Eden and Sedera 2014).
Vendor Support
The complexity of the project has encompassed the vendor to govern the project and
effective communication. The vendor of the ERP system has also recommended that the paid
testing has to go-live for the wages of the employees to test the election. The vendor
involvement is very much important for the ERP implementation projects. The vendor
supports the system as they have the knowledge about the objectives and requirement of the
organization.
Conclusion
From the two case study, it has been concluded that the failure of the project
management was mostly dependent on the project managers. The stakeholder has lack of
communication due to which the implementation of the ERP and AMS was not successful.
The factors though could be followed as it is the only resource for the completion of the
project management successfully.

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References
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implementation: The case of Jordan. The International Arab Journal of e-Technology, 4(1),
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Alreemy, Z., Chang, V., Walters, R. and Wills, G., 2016. Critical success factors (CSFs) for
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Asgarkhani, M., Cater-Steel, A., Toleman, M. and Ally, M., 2017, December. Failed IT
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Burgan, B., 2015. Funding a viable and effective health sector in Australia. Adelaide:
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M. Beheshti, H., K. Blaylock, B., A. Henderson, D. and G. Lollar, J., 2014. Selection and
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Mir, F.A. and Pinnington, A.H., 2014. Exploring the value of project management: linking
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Pecherskaya, E.P., Averina, L.V., Kamaletdinov, Y.A., Tretyakova, N.V. and Magomadova,
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Seddon, P. (2018). Lessons from the Packaged Enterprise Application Software “Go Live”
Failures at Cambridge and RMIT Universities. [online] Available at:
[e-mail] [Accessed 7 Oct. 2018].
Tondeur, J., Forkosh-Baruch, A., Prestridge, S., Albion, P. and Edirisinghe, S., 2016.
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