Software Project Failure: Examples and Reasons

Running head: INTRODUCTION TO SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
Introduction to Software Engineering
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1Introduction to Software Engineering
Answer to 1(a):-
Software Project Failure:- A software project failure implies non-compliance of the
delivered service with the specifications or agreed description about system's expected function
as well as service. Two examples of significant software project failure are-
Example-1:- Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) migration failure at Hewlett-Packard (HP).
Example-2:- Failure of Billing system in Sydney Water Corporation.
Description of project and its failure circumstances:-
Example-1:- ERP software consists of a system of combined application encompasses that
support an enterprise in managing and distributing its resources effectively and efficiently,
responding to its needs for information processing. The components of an ERP system are
hardware, software, the users and the entrepreneurial procedures (Matende and Ogao 2013). In
year 2004, HP declared that its sales had decreased by 5%, which was partially due to the failed
attempt of the ERP system implementation. The company suffered a total damage of about $ 160
million, which was 5 times the total cost value of the system implementation. The effect of the
system failure were visible after fully implementing the system in June 2004. Due to due to
programming problems 20% of the orders could not pass through the old systems and the
company fell behind the execution of orders. As a result, the company lost its credibility
(Efthymiou 2014).
Example-2:- Sydney Water Corporation (SWC), the largest water provider in Australia servicing
million people has decided to implement an integrated Customer Information and Billing System
(CIBS) for improving service and increasing efficiencies. The corporation has assigned the
project on CBIS to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) (Sudhakar 2016).
Answer to 1(b):-

2Introduction to Software Engineering
Major reasons of project failure:-They are as follows.
Example-1:-
 There were communication problems between the various groups. For instance, lack of
proper communication maintenance between order-taking group at front end and logistics
group at back-end.
 The data integration problem occurred due to ineffective product training and inappropriate
product data management.
 The system testing has been conducted only on the basis of standardized orders and it was
not sufficiently tested for customized order (Dwivedi et al. 2015).
 The information technology (IT) personnel were not provided sufficient time to build their
skills for new system and forced to use the new technology.
Example-2:- After formation of SWC’s information technology (IT) department in 2000, it
reviewed the documents of CIBS architecture and advised PwC that the software failed 19 out of
20 requirements (Beal and Flynn 2014). The reason for this is are follows.
 There is communication breakdown due to conflict between SWC’s IT department and PwC.
 Inexperience in Sydney Water’s project team as well as inexperienced in systems integration
by PwC team. Moreover, the project team was working at too low a level.
 A lack of high-level representation from legal and corporate finance.
Answer to 2(a):-
Waterfall Model:-
Description of phases of the waterfall model:- The phases can be described as follows.