Salma Albreiki

100044849

ESMA605 - System Project Management – Fall 2020

Case 2 - Reinventing the Practices of Distance Information Systems Development:

CGI and the Hubble Project

1. Characteristics of the project

The Hubble project was initiated to support the growing needs of the organization. The project's
main objective was to capture non-structured information and process it in a way that the financial experts
can deliver it to clients without any difficulties. The proper capture and dissemination of information are
essential to ensure that financial consulting firms remain competitive and relevant. Businesses and
individuals want to be given information that they can easily understand and implement to gain profits.
The project is the largest in Financials' IT projects with an estimated worth of $4 million. The project is
complex and large scale demanding the intervention of IT experts from outside the organization.
Financials decided to outsource IT expertise from CGI, a leading IT company in Canada since it could not
expand its internal IT team.

2. What are the project’s general risks?

The general risks faced by the Hubble project include the lack of a Financials organizational
foundation for large projects. The project is the largest that the organization has ever handled, and it
acknowledges that it lacks the necessary foundation to execute it. The organization also admits that it
lacks the methodological framework needed to carry out the project. Besides, the organization faces
difficulty in the expansion of its internal IT team. Another general risk faced by the organization is the
project's assignment to an external firm located in a different country. The distance between the
organizations can lead to communication challenges and language issues. There is a risk of
miscommunication due to distance, leading to delays in the project's delivery time. All the project players
need to share the same opinions and be on the same page for the project to be successful.

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Salma Albreiki
100044849

3. Specific risks: What are the risks of distance projects?

Quebec and Los Angeles are 7 hours apart via airplane, meaning that the two cities' distance is
quite significant. The business practices in the US and Canada are different, which calls for the
organizations' adaptation. In Quebec, business analysts have the technical knowledge concerning the field
and can direct the programmers making their work very easy. However, business analysts do not have
real computer science experience in the United States, making the process more complex and challenging.
CGI has to clarify the king of information that Financials needs to provide for success. The distance also
calls for contact persons in the US and Quebec to avoid multiple contacts that can lead to time wastage.

4. Specific risks: What are the risks related to the poorly defined information needs?

The Hubble project may have to deal with a language barrier's challenge since the two teams are
located in different countries. The teams need to identify persons who speak a common language when
setting up the team to avoid any miscommunication and misunderstanding. The CGI team is used to
working with organizations that have well-defined needs. Financials do not have clear requirements,
making it difficult for the CGI team to pinpoint the exact needs. There has to be a common understanding
between the groups to avoid any mistakes or surprises in the process. There should be open
communication between the financial analysts and the CGI team to determine Financials' needs. The
Financials team should be clear about their needs and avoid changing their requests constantly to avoid
time and resource wastage. The units can utilize technology such as conference meetings and phone calls
to ensure that they are in constant communication to prevent project loopholes.