Information and Knowledge Management using ArcGIS ModelBuilder

Why is an IS Project Late? – A Case Study
Juha Kontio
Turku University of Applied Sciences, Turku, Finland
juha.kontio@turkuamk.fi
Abstract: Information system (IS) projects are challenging and different types of information systems failures can
be identified. One type of the failures is process failures. Process failure occurs when the project timetable or
budget is overrun. This paper presents a case study of a project that falls into this failure definition. This
information system project started in 2008 and the aim was to create an information system to the Turku
University of Applied Sciences for the teaching process. The goal of the project was to define, develop and
implement new easy-to-use web-based tools for curriculum management, yearly planning of the degree
programs’ teaching, students’ personal study plans, and teachers’ yearly work load management. This new tool
should combine all the information in a single database instead of the separate information systems and
databases we used to have. At the beginning of the project necessary functions that the new system should
provide were defined. Based on these definitions a competitive bidding was launched with the idea that in the
markets there are information systems that can be easily tailored to our specific needs. However, only one
provider turned out to have an information system that fulfilled the initial definitions stated in the bid. This provider
was selected and the actual tailoring of their information system for our purposes started in the summer of 2008.
The definition and piloting phase showed that the basic operations in the information system are quite easily
tailored to our needs. On the other hand, many of our specific needs required more work than was estimated.
The operational use of the information system started in the spring of 2009 with the curriculum management and
yearly planning of degree programs’ teaching features. Since then the number of users has quickly increased and
at the same time new necessary corrections have been identified. These features have been prioritized and the
other features have postponed. The project was supposed to end in 2009, but modifications in curriculum
management and yearly planning of degree programs’ teaching features are still continuing. In addition, both
teachers’ yearly work load management and students’ personal study plans features have been postponed to
2011. Our paper introduces the whole IS project and discusses the reasons why the project is still continuing and
why this project is a process failure. We will also reflect our experiences and try to provide observations for future
IS project management.
Keywords: information system project, project delay, higher education, case study
1. Introduction
Information systems can be analyzed in many different ways. However, it is a fundamental difficulty in
defining exactly what constitutes IS success and failure (Fowler and Horan, 2007). Still, companies
that have formally defined success, measured success and acted on the results, have improved their
IT project outcomes (Thomas and Fernandez, 2008). In addition, several critical success factors of
projects have been identified (Fortune and White, 2006) and based on their literature review the five
most cited success factors are:
Support from senior management
Clear realistic objectives
Strong/detailed plan kept up to date
Good communication/feedback
User/client involvement.
DeLone and McLean provide a popular model (Figure 1) to evaluate the success of an information
system (DeLone and McLean, 1992, DeLone and McLean, 2003). The dimensions of the model are
as follows. First, information quality refers to the quality of the information like the relevance,
reliability, accuracy and completeness of the information. Second, system quality refers to system
performance like usability, availability, system efficiency and response time. Third, service quality
refers to user support. Fourth, user satisfaction refers to overall satisfaction with the information
system including such as interface satisfaction. Fifth, intention to use and use describe how the
information system is used. Sixth, net benefits are about the impacts the information system has to
the organization, users and other stakeholders.
Another viewpoint to information systems is to look information system failures. One traditional way to
analyze information system failures is provided by Lyytinen and Hirscheim (1987). They categorize
failures in four categories (Lyytinen and Hirschheim, 1987):
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