17 pages 1220 K bytes

The Importance of Business Process Alignment for IT Project Management of Commercial Software with Case Studies Theresa A. Kraft University of Michigan Flint Flint, MI 48502, USA

Abstract: Companies invest significant sums of money for major IT projects, yet success remains limited. Despite an abundance of IT Project Management (ITPM) resources, such as the PMI Body of Knowledge, IT standards and governance, a large percentage of IT projects continue to fail and ultimately get scrapped. Recent studies have shown an average of 66% IT project failure rate, with 52% of the projects being cancelled, and 82% being delivered late (Visitacion, M. 2006). The purpose of this research is to identify potential causes of IT project failures by the examination of four real world Commercial Off-the-Self Software (COTS) projects. The research approach involved the development of a systematic and holistic ITPM conceptual solution, which considers critical project management success factors including Business Process and IT Alignments, System Design, IT Architectural Foundations, Organizational Dynamics, IT Governance and Standards, and Software Vendor Responsiveness. The solution provides a method to evaluate the various critical success factors of a project, and their alignment with each other. The contribution of this research is summarized in terms of the design and development of the conceptual model; the validation of this model by industry experts, and its refinement into a conceptual solution; and the development of a systematic methodology for successfully implementing the conceptual solution. By following this methodology, a COTS project is expected to have a considerably increased potential for success, and a project leader would be alerted of problems throughout the life of the project.

Keywords: information systems, IT project management, Commercial Off-the-Shelf Software, COTS, Business Processes, Organizational Dynamics, IT Governance

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Recommended Citation: Kraft (2008). The Importance of Business Process Alignment for IT Project Management of Commercial Software with Case Studies. Journal of Information Systems Applied Research, 1 (3). http://jisar.org/1/3/. ISSN: 1946-1836. (A preliminary version appears in The Proceedings of CONISAR 2008: §3122. )