Project Failure Analysis of NHS IT Project: COM701 Report

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the failure of the National Health Service (NHS) IT project in the UK. It begins with an introduction to project management principles and then delves into the background of the NHS project, highlighting its scope and the eventual cost overruns. The repor...Read More

PROJECT
MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................1
Background..................................................................................................................................1
Critical discussion on the reason for failure................................................................................2
Prince2 Project Methodology......................................................................................................3
Project Management Tools and techniques.................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Project management is the best way individual manages and organize resources that is
essential to complete the project or specific task. In simple term, it is the practice of executing,
closing, initiating and planning work of group of people to achieve goals and meet particular
success criteria at desirable time (Zahid and et.al., 2018). Project management is very essential
because it helps to assure there rigor in making projects appropriately so that companies fit well
within broader context of their consumer strategic frameworks. The current report is based on
NHS, it stands for national health service, it refers to national authority funded health and
medical care services that everyone living in United Kingdom used without taking permission
and being asked to pay total cost of medical services.
This study explains the brief background of case related to the failure of IT project in
context of NHS (Meredith, Mantel Jr and Shafer, 2017). Furthermore, it justifies the reasons for
failure and determine the significant factors. It also clarifies the relevant project management
techniques as well as tools that would be applied to consider shortcoming identified.
MAIN BODY
Background
The National Program for information technology in the National Health Services is considered
to be one of the largest public sector information technology program who ever attempted in UK.
The abandoned NHS information technology system has costed around £ 10 billion (Case Study
1: The £10 Billion IT Disaster at the NHS, 2019). It is considered to be one of the world’s largest
civilian comp. system. This computer system is considered to be one of the most expensive and
worst contracting fiascos in relation to the public sector. The final contract of the project is likely
to cost £ 2.2billion around the department of the health. Failed data system of the NHS has
compromised communication between GP’s and hospitals which will cost around £7 million to
fix the particular problem. The key culprit of this issue is Lorenzo who is referred to be as the
record management software platform. This helps patients to effectively record and review
individually and is very beneficial in o/s actions to be discovered. The trust of the NHS will take
the lead to effectively get everything sorted which mainly comprise of informing every
individual patients and GP’s. NHS information technology system which is considered to be one
of the worst fiascos ever (Case Study 1: The £10 Billion IT Disaster at the NHS, 2019).
Taxpayers tends to face rising multibillion pound bill which leads to failed government
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information technology project. This ill-fated project was launched in the year 2002, which tends
to aim at revolutionizing the way management in the health wants to change the way technology
is used in NHS. This helps in paving digital scanning, electronic records and integrated
information technology system across community care and hospitals. Failure to recognize the
longer project task and also risk of big information technology project. This project resulted in
lack of clear training and leadership. It also lead to lack privacy issues and lack of management
skills. It also lead to emphasize on price of over quality which in turn has resulted in lack of IT
project failure. This tends to state that inevitable setbacks tends to pursue an ambitious program
which in turn resulted in wide system failure. In order to resolve the IT issue the management of
the NHS must focus on emphasizing to understand the problems. There was a huge gap in the
deliverability and the laudability of the project. It is very difficult for the management to
translate the project into the reality (Six reasons why the NHS National Programme For IT failed,
2019). National Program for information technology model tends to focus on drastic cut in the
time scales and also helps in balancing the risk and reward. Poor business planning and poor
strategy are considered to be the major reason for project failure. National Program for
information technology led to more hustle and less speed which in turn resulted in project failure.
Multi-sourcing, accountability and poor contracting process are one of the key reason for
National Program for information technology project failure.
Critical discussion on the reason for failure
The major reasons for the failure of the entire project can be categorised into five major points or
reasons:
 Motives: Rather than implementing a bottom-up approach, NPfIT was entirely and
excellently focused on the top-down approach and this was the biggest cause of failure.
Rather than inviting in the ides and suggestions of people who were actually going to work
on the project, just a handful of cabinet decided what was to be done and implemented it
without really testing it.
 More Haste and Lesser Speed: The speed with which NPfIT was initially implemented was
praiseworthy but the speed soon turned into haste and rush and this was another major cause
of failure where the contracts were being entered into without nay adequate testing and
deliberation and work was being completed just for the sake of completing it (Bourne,
2016).
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 Poor Contracts: The approach that was adopted while entering into contracts was a take it
or leave it kind and the nature was rather aggressive. It was forced upon the contractors to
accept the contracts with one sided conditions. Rather than this, there should have been a
give and take approach and the providers might have suggested better alternatives, along
with working wholeheartedly for the project.
 Multi Sourcing: NHS hired a multiple contractors and service providers for its work lots
and this was another reason why project failed (Lock, 2017). There were too many providers
and to was difficult to keep tab or blame one person for the failure of any activity which
ultimately led to the project failure justifying the saying, ‘Too many cooks spoil the soup’.
 Accountability: This was the most important reason because the initiator of the NPfIT
project was a strong man, but the persons who were associated with regular tracking and
checks just developed a tendency to finish the task rather than to take a break and evaluate
that whether the actions that they have adopted are correct and justify the standard set.
Prince2 Project Methodology
PRINCE2 is the procedure-based method for the effective project management. It is de facto
standards that can be used by UK government, that is widely practised and recognized in private
sector in United Kingdom and globally. The organization and control of overall project from
starting to finish is being done under this. It states the project must be thoroughly planned before
it has been kicked off, every stage process is to be clearly structured and if anything is to be
loosed at ends than it can be further tied up when project is concluded. This methodology is
initially developed in 1980 for UK government to manage and control IT projects. The
framework was again updated and reviewed by the several specialist team of project
management who had reviewed the panel of 150 private and public company so that further it
can be applicable to wide range of industries. It is helpful for executing project efficiently and
effectively (Murillo Gomez and Jiménez, 2018). It was developed by the UK Government so the
all executed projects which are sponsored by UK government. In recent past this methodology
had gain huge popularity among private sector. It is free to use which is on of the major reason
for its popularity. PRINCE2 renders systematic way for executing a project. This ensures that
project goal can be meet up in systematic, logical and organized manner. Project methodology
has fair detail of controlling and monitoring process which is helpful for smooth execution of
project. It is very simple methodology for practice. For ensuring project success it has particular
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processes for each and every phase in project. This process is further executed by individual who
plays specific role in project execution.
The PRINCE2 processes is to be broken into the seven phases-
 Starting up a project- It is the stage where it is determined that project is viable or not.
Once, it is confirmed it must be approved by project board. It includes brief of project
that contain business case, the best way for completing project, person's name by whom
project is being executed and detailed stage plan that implicit work that is required to be
performed at initial stage. NHS had to complete this high level document stating which is
project mandate (Jamali and Oveisi, 2016). So the money and time couldn't be saved
before the project is executed and further it had failure to IT project.
 Directing a project- This process helps project board must be accountable to project by
their appropriate decision-making. They had authority for initiating project, delivering
their products and closing of the project. Control and direction must be offered by them
during project. IT projects of NHS was not well directed and controlled by the project
board that's it was not successful as there would not work with project management and
post-project benefits are not reviewed. As future risk is not being optimized by them for
project.
 Initiating a project- The activities which are associated with these process includes
configuration, constructing risk, communications and quality management strategies.
Project control is to be set up along with the project plan (Krysiński and Miller, 2016).
The NHS had not included the project initiation documentation and project control in
their plan which is the main reason of their IT project failure. Project needs effective
control and risk optimization for successful implementation of project further.
 Controlling a stage- It is the stage where manager of project assign task, monitor that
works, deal with any issues that arise and progress on report to project board. There are
various activities included in this process which are authorized work package within
team, further review of progress and status, quality checking when it is completed
(Alvarez-Dionisi, Turner and Mittra, 2016). In NHS IT project, the project plan has not
been reviewed and compared so further risk and issue could not be identified and thus
they can't be resolved so the project is to be failed.
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 Managing product delivery- This process manage delivery of project product,
controlling work among team and project manager. The activities which are associated
include work execution package, work package and delivery of work package is for
making surety for completion. The control of work among team and project manager is
not being done properly in IT project of NHS that's the project is being failed and
couldn't be succeeded.
 Managing stage boundaries- In this process there are two part. In first project manager
render overview of the performance, inundation of project plan and the business case
along with that project plan for further stage to the project board. In second part overall
information which is given by project manager is helpful for board to review current
stage, next can be approved and updated plan can also be reviewed. The planning of next
stage and reporting is not done by IT project of NHS that's why the project has been
failed as there are no basis of project review for board. And thus further project has not
been succeeded.
 Closing the project- This process is done for making sure that the project objective and
goal must be achieved by the deadline. Sometime the planned and premature closure is
being prepared by project manager but it is not required. Mandatory activities such as
product hand over, project evaluation and closure recommendation to the board for
closing the project officially (Shaw, Hughes and Greenhalgh, 2019). IT project of NHS's
goal and objectives are not being achieved and thus there is no deadline for project. For
the failure project there is no closing. The project is further stated as the failed project
which must be again started by implementing improvement in failure factor and making
the strategies for successful completion of project.
Project Management Tools and techniques
The major reason for the failure of the IT system in NHS was the inefficient implementation of
the project methodology and consequently the failure to integrate the technique of the project
implementation led to the unnecessary cost expenditure and subsequent failure. The National
Programme for IT i.e. NPfIT was termed as the largest ever IT program that was carried out in
the pubic sector business, and its failure led to the question being raised on the inefficiency with
which entire project was carried out (Hughes, Rana and Simintiras, 2017). There are various
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different project management tools and techniques that could have been used in the NPfIT
Programme: Classic Technique: This is the most traditional technique that could have been used in the
project management plan of the NHS company. This would have been effective because the
simplified manner of this technique would have reduced the unnecessary complexity that
arose with the implementation of Prince2 Methodology. Further, this technique would have
helped in easily identifying who is responsible for which activity and therefore appropriate
decision could have been taken at the correct time in case of any deviation that the project
manager could have easily noticed (Lientz and Rea, 2016). Therefore, this simpler technique
could have been better even f the project was being implemented at the large scale in IT
implementation of NHS.
 Waterfall Technique: The waterfall technique is another major technique that the
management of NHS could have used in place of the Prince2 technique. This technique
could have helped the project manager in developing a proper sequence for the tasks and
then the process of monitoring and control becomes simplified. The use of various modern
tools such as Gantt chart, WBS etc. was the added benefit that the company could have
utilized if they had implemented the Prince2 Methodology in the company. Therefore, the
cost could have been minimized by the implementation of Waterfall technique in the NHS's
IT implementation project.
 Agile Technique: Agile is another technique of project management which the NPfIT
project manager could have implemented in their entire project (Sunder, 2016). Rather than
developing a sequential steps like in waterfall, under this technique, the entire task is
segregated into smaller parts and the n on the basis of importance of each smaller activity,
their preference of activity is decided. This technique would helped the IT manager in
identifying which are the crucial tasks and hence these tasks could have been completed in a
better way by designating and appointing more talented workforce here. Therefore, the
important tasks could have been focused upon thus increasing the chances of the successful
implementation of IT system.
 JIRA: These are certain set of tools that were initially not available when the
implementation of IT systems began in NHS, but yet could have been implemented with
time. The evolution and upgrade in the technology that I being used for the project
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management was another major cause of failure of the NPfIT. JIRA technology helps in
customizing the entire project and using it for developing on its own the different activities
that are to be performed and identifying which are the crucial activities (Harrison and Lock,
2017). It is basically an integration of the traditional and AGILE technological method and
this was the best tools that NHS should incorporate even now in whatever projects they are
undertaking.
 PROOFHUB: Proofhub is a very recent and very modern technology and could not have
been used effectively in the NHS IT project but if the project is to be restarted today, or if
any other activity regarding technological restructuring is adopted in NHS or some other
major project is being undertaken, then this will ensure that the constantly stretching of the
deadline in the completion of the project can be avoided. It helps in meeting the deliverables
of the project with the delivery time i.e. the time within which it was expected that the
activity should have been completed and result should have been generated (Chowdhury,
2019).
 Gantt Chart: Gantt Chart is a project management tool that can be used effectively to
identify what are the different tasks that are to be completed and the time frame within
which these have to be completed. This technique also helps in ascertaining the sequence,
i.e. which activity is to be followed after what. When this technique is coupled with the
critical path technique, it becomes easy to identify which is the best sequence of activities
that should be followed in order to garner maximum results. This was an old tool that the
project manager of NPfIT could have easily adopted and used so that the nest method to
complete the activity could have been ascertained.
 Work Breakdown Structure: Work breakdown structure helps in segregating all the
activities under fixed headings i.e. broad categories. Under this some 4 -5 major activities
are identified and all the remaining activities are sub categorized under these main activities
(Price, Green and Suhomlinova, 2018). This helps in identifying which activity is
responsible for what and appropriate action can be taken accordingly. This technique could
have been used by NHS to segregate the activities clearly and identify who is responsible for
what so that timely actions could have been taken.
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CONCLUSION
The research conducted the report above helps in concluding that the management of project and
implementing correct tools and techniques is very important in order to complete the project
successfully. The research concluded that the failure of IT implementation in NHS was mainly
due to the inefficient monitoring and management of the entire project, where the goals were not
clearly integrated with the project objectives. The report also concludes that the Prince 2
methodology was not an effective tool and was not implemented properly and at each stage there
were various faults. It was identified that the methodology alone was not sufficient for managing
a project that was launched at such bigger and vast scale. At the end, various other technologies
that could have been used in the programme of NPfIT were identified and discussed and their use
and benefits were further discussed and analyzed. Lastly, an appropriate conclusion summarizing
the key finding of the report was presented and analyzed on NHS IT failure.
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REFERENCES
Alvarez-Dionisi, L.E., Turner, R. and Mittra, M., 2016. Global project management trends.
International Journal of Information Technology Project Management (IJITPM). 7(3).
pp.54-73.
Jamali, G. and Oveisi, M., 2016. A study on project management based on PMBOK and
PRINCE2. Modern Applied Science. 10(6). p.142.
Krysiński, M. and Miller, P., 2016. The Role of Conflict in Project Management in the PRINCE2
Methodology. Ekonomika i Organizacja Przedsiębiorstwa. (6). pp.3-12.
Murillo Gomez, D.M. and Jiménez, L.A.T., 2018, December. Use of PRINCE2 as a Project
Management Approach for Spatial Audio Developments. In INTER-NOISE and
NOISE-CON Congress and Conference Proceedings (Vol. 258, No. 3, pp. 4558-4568).
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Shaw, S., Hughes, G. and Greenhalgh, T., 2019. Standardisation and Its Consequences in Health
Care: A Case Study of PRINCE2 Project Management Training. In The
Projectification of the Public Sector (pp. 229-249). Routledge.
Zahid, A. and et.al., 2018. A Critical Analysis of Software Failure Causes From Project
Management Perspectives. VFAST Transactions on Software Engineering, 13(3).
pp.113-119.
Meredith, J.R., Mantel Jr, S.J. and Shafer, S.M., 2017. Project management: a managerial
approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Bourne, L., 2016. Stakeholder relationship management: a maturity model for organisational
implementation. Routledge.
Lock, D., 2017. The essentials of project management. Routledge.
Hughes, D.L., Rana, N.P. and Simintiras, A.C., 2017. The changing landscape of IS project
failure: an examination of the key factors. Journal of Enterprise Information
Management, 30(1). pp.142-165.
Lientz, B. and Rea, K., 2016. Breakthrough technology project management. Routledge.
Sunder M, V., 2016. Lean Six Sigma project management–a stakeholder management
perspective. The TQM Journal, 28(1). pp.132-150.
Harrison, F. and Lock, D., 2017. Advanced project management: a structured approach.
Routledge.
Chowdhury, R., 2019. From Barriers to Boundaries: Learnings from a Healthcare IT Project
Failure. In Systems Thinking for Management Consultants (pp. 111-138). Springer,
Singapore.
Price, C., Green, W. and Suhomlinova, O., 2018. Twenty-five years of national health IT:
exploring strategy, structure, and systems in the English NHS. Journal of the American
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Online
Six reasons why the NHS National Programme For IT failed. 2019. [ONLINE]. Available
through:< https://www.computerweekly.com/opinion/Six-reasons-why-the-NHS-
National-Programme-for-IT-failed >
Case Study 1: The £10 Billion IT Disaster at the NHS. 2019. [ONLINE]. Available through:<
https://www.henricodolfing.com/2019/01/case-study-10-billion-it-disaster.html>
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