Saturday
Oct 11th
| Successful Management of IT Infrastructure Projects |
| Written by David Rippon Director of ULCC | |||||||
Page 2 of 5 The comparisons with Boo.com cannot be starker. In the case of Boo there does not even appear to have been an attempt to test whether the Internet was a cost effective way of selling high value luxury sports wear before the high cost IT infrastructure was commissioned. These examples demonstrate the absolutely key factor – there has to be a Business Strategy before there can be an IT Strategy. Boo dot com shows what can happen when an IT Strategy attempts to drive the Business strategy whereas Tesco clearly demonstrates how developing a viable business strategy before incurring the relatively high cost of substantial IT infrastructure development is the correct approach. Lastminute.com is another example where the business strategy was developed first – i.e. the ability to purchase primarily travel related products at the last minute. The channel to market was developed as a call centre or internet access. The success or failure of Lastminute dot com is not yet guaranteed but they are looking a lot healthier than boo dot com. The process of evaluating business strategies carefully before selecting the one to adopt is not new. It has always been practiced, perhaps unconsciously, by the most successful entrepreneurs who spot a gap in the market and then seek to fill it. So I return to my theme – why do we not adopt these best practice examples as a matter of course? There is not enough time tonight to answer that question in detail but I can perhaps provide some pointers on how IT Infrastructure projects could be better managed once the Business and IT strategies have been agreed. Project management is essentially risk management. Contrary to popular belief it is NOT time recording. Budgetary control is obviously important but that is simply a number crunching process which may identify exceptional situations requiring remedial action. However, any problem identified in this manner has been identified too late. Successful management of IT Infrastructure projects depends more than anything else on successful risk management, i.e. processes are required to identify and then manage risk out of the project development life cycle. The KPMG survey I referred to earlier comments: ‘Companies with long-established dedicated project management departments tend to perform better than those with newer ones. The most mature departments had a 98% success rate.’ This doesn’t mean that you need a project management department to have a successful IT project, but it does indicate that the quality and experience of the IT professionals involved in the project will be a significant indicator of the eventual success of that project. The Office of Government Commerce now insists that any central government IT project proceeds through a series of gateway reviews. Oddly enough this is the project risk management process I have followed for the last 30 years. It is sometimes disparagingly referred to as the ‘Waterfall’ process, as it requires the project to split into a number of stages which superficially seem to restrict the smooth flow of the project. However, each stage produces specific deliverables which are reviewed carefully before the next stage is allowed to commence. This process of early review means that mistakes and inconsistencies are identified early in the process; this reduces overall project cost and timescales as the earlier issues are identified and resolved then the lower the incremental cost and disruption. |
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