27/06/2022

I.S. Projects
Management (1)
The Five Steps (steps 1 to 3)
Yves Barlette
Department: Information Systems & Operations Management
y.barlette@montpellier-bs.com
© Yves Barlette – MBS - 2022

1. I.S. projects often fail

• Standish Group Study (Chaos Report 2020)
– More than 40,000 projects in 300+ companies
● 29% were compliant (on time, within budget)
● 52% were over budget, overtime  simplified features!
● 19% failed or cancelled
• Causes
– User involvement and top management support
– No clear statement of requirements
– Not choosing and managing the right provider
– Poor communication
– Too large & complex projects

Full Success: less than 30%!

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2. Aims of an I.S. project method

“To design and implement an I.S. project, in order to

reorganize and/or strengthen the business processes of
a company.”

Issues:
• New project  Re-Organization (scope)
• Change management  Adoption - Acceptance
• Compliance: Time & Cost, Quality vs. Risks
• Keeping Control

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Adopting a method seems Heavy, Long & Costly

However
– Clear needs (lapses )
– Better Choices (providers, solutions)
– Communication 
– Project management 
– Overtime  Costs overruns 
Risks of Failure 
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3. Involvement of all actors is vital

• Top Managers: Involvement & Support
– Strategic vision and Important decisions
– More funding and resources
– Hierarchical authority and influence (charisma?)
 Users will perceive positively the project
 Users will give more priority to the project

• Users’ Involvement
– Communication Gap  Users  IT Staff
– Control of Outcomes 
– Coherence  Project  Priorities & Requirements
– Acceptance 
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• Poor involvement  Resistance to change (S15)

– Loss of confidence
– Lack of participation

 Involve stakeholders: participation, motivation

Risk of Failure 

Foreword: we consider that

• the company launching an I.S. project is “ours”: “the customer”
• the IT Company (services, software vendor, etc.) is “the provider”

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Main steps of an I.S. project

Checklists
1. Is it worth launching a project for the customer?
Preliminary study: opportunity analysis
L 2. How to express our needs and find a satisfactory answer?
E C
G From Requirements document to Contract U
A S
L 3. How can we keep the project under control? P T
O
Contract Execution step R
M
A O
V E
S 4. Everything is ready. How to make it actually work? I R
P
E
Implementation step D
E
C
T 5. How to ensure our business continuity and its evolution? R

S Maintenance stage – Production

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I. Preliminary Study
I.1. Step 1: Definition and organization
The customer assesses the necessity of launching a project
It defines the Context and the Scope of the project
Potential external provider(s) DO NOT PARTICIPATE in this stage

Creation of a steering committee - project team

Informing and Involving
Few technicians
Consultant? (if no internal IT)
Criticism of current organization
 A first assessment (overview) of the needs-problems to solve
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I.2. Project Scope and Assessment

(See PDF “benefits-costs-risks” in S16)

• Expected Benefits for the Department - Company

– Competitive advantage
–  strategic information management
–  information exchanges
– Solve existing problems
– Implement new (faster) systems

• Estimated Costs

• Potential Risks
– Depend on: involvement, needs, experience, scope, budget

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I.3. Assessment - Balance

● Feasibility?
● Importance of preserving social climate
● Balance Benefits vs. Costs & Risks

I.4. Opportunity report

● Main elements, options, recommendations
●  Top Management: Go Wait No-Go

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II. From the Requirements Document

to Contract Signature

• Participation is vital

• Validation

• A (first) Legal statement

• Incomplete specifications  Incomplete contract!

A provider cannot address unexpressed needs!!!

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Overview of the Process

Customer
Requirements
1 Document Needs Contacted
Providers

Call for tenders Reception of the

Sending
Request for Proposals requirements document
Provider(s)
who answer
2 Bidding Process
Answers comparison Propositions and
Reception
quotations
Choice Chosen
provider(s)

3 CONTRACT signature = Beginning of Collaboration

with chosen Provider(s)
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II.1. Specifications

• Defining and explaining Needs to potential providers

• Definition
– Requirements Document / Book of Specifications:
“an explicit set of requirements to be satisfied by hardware, software
or services. This document records the needs, requirements and
constraints that will have to be met by the I.S. project.”

– A working document for the customer

– An information document for potential providers

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II.2. The Bidding Process

• Request for Proposals (RfP)

– Identify Various possibilities

– Identify and Choose the best Providers – partners

and solution

– Negotiate the best service-cost ratio

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Choice of Provider(s):

1. Definition of Objective Criteria

2. Evaluation of the proposals by the project team

• Differences from needs, unsatisfying points
• Constitution of comparison grids
• Complement with visits, demos, etc.
• Sorting through the quotes  choice file

3. Final Choice by top management

(strategy, references, price)

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II.3. The contract

• The Requirements Document is adjusted + complemented
+ Schedule of the project
+ Financial conditions
• Final pricing, staggered payments, late delivery penalties
 Contract

• Chosen provider(s) will have contractual obligations and will

support their customer during the project
• Incomplete requirements  Insufficient contract
 Customer not protected

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III. Contract Execution stage

III.1. Definition
• “IT stuff”: for the customer = project under control
• Only the customer knows its needs!
• Final Result matches customer’s Needs
• Avoid delays

• It must
• Define a main contact
• Schedule meetings for Project Monitoring
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III.2. Collaboration between actors

Regular exchanges are essential
• Contractual and reciprocal obligations
• A single project supervisor is preferable

Collaboration
Customer Provider
Contractor = project owner Project execution Manager
project supervisor
Users
IT ‘collaborators’ Potential
sub-contractors
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III.3. Custom-developed vs. Package

• Custom-developed software must be created and
tested by software programmers
• Software packages are purchased and customized
– Parametering of software: needs, activity, business, etc.
– Definition of users’ access rights
• Answer to the needs
• Customization & Habits
• Maintenance & Evolution
• Availability
• Cost & Cost control
• Reliability & Quality
• Training & Documentation
• Best practices - Standards
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III.4. Integration and Documents

• Integration = Link
– Hardware  company’s network
– Software  other previous software = Data Exchanges
(interfaces = often small custom-developed)

• Documents must be provided

– Exploitation-production file
– User manual
– Detailed specifications file (custom-developed)
– Programming file (custom-developed)

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