Information Systems Project Management—David Olson

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Chapter 10: Project

Implementation
State of IS project success
critical success factors
key IS project factors
Need for User Training
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State of IS Projects

• Most IS projects fail to some degree

– time, cost, technical performance
• Usually don’t know until late in the project
– testing the least predictable project element
– everything seems fine until the end

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ERP & Hershey’s Supply Chain

Stedman [1999]
Osterland [2000]
Songini [2000]

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History
• 1997 Hershey’s adopted a $110 million ERP
system
– SAP R/3
– Siebel CRM
– Manugistics logistics package
• To replace many legacy systems
• Original 4 year project
– Compressed to 30 months to precede Y2K
– July 1999 three months behind schedule
– Adopted big-bang approach to beat deadline

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Hershey Business

• Very seasonal
– Halloween, Thanksgiving
• Sept 1997 serious order processing & shipping
problems
– Shipping delays
– Sent incomplete deliveries
– Delivery time formerly 5 days, with ERP 12 days
– Sales revenue dropped 12% from prior year
– Inventory piled up at Hershey warehouses

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Problem Diagnosis

• Attempted ERP implementation in supply

chain environment
– That can be done
– Confounding factors
• During peak season
• Tried to do too much as once
• Complexity from CRM & Logistics Planning add-
ons
• Time pressure

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Supply Chain & ERP

• Can be done
• Hershey’s was a bleeding edge pioneer
• Hershey’s seems to have solved problems

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Failure Types

• Corresponding Failure
– fail to meet design objectives
• Process Failure
– on time & within budget
• Interaction Failure
– system not used
• Expectation Failure
– doesn’t meet stakeholder expectations

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Reasons for IS Project

Failure
Engler (1996)

• Lack of Client Involvement

• Lack of Top Management Support
– project champion helps
• Lack of Project Definition
– includes clear plan, goals
– also standards for testing

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Implementation Planning
Boehm (1981)

• Stage Relative cost of defect removal

requirements definition 1
design stage 3.5
coding stage 10
testing stage 50
after delivery 170

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Key factors for software

quality
Phan, et al. (1995)

• well defined quality goals

• good management of reusable code
• good quality assurance planning & control
• effective feedback

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Outsourcing

• Avoid problems by hiring specialists

• Becoming more popular
– Faster, less expensive
• Lose a great deal of control
– Tradeoff: cost & time versus control
• Don’t outsource core competencies

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User Involvement

• Meetings to specify design features

• Meetings during project
• Training
– a key part of many projects

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User Training

• Can build great system

– If users don’t use, system a failure
– Sound training helps explain benefits of system
• Common pitfalls
– Focus on software rather than business processes
– Focus on command sequences without discussing why
– Skimping on training time
– Tendency of users to solve problems the old way rather
than learn the new system

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Options to Deliver Training

• Web-based virtual training

• Computer-based training
• Video courses
• Self-study books
• Pop-up help screens

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Installation Options

• Parallel Installation
– very expensive
• Pilot Operation
• Cold Turkey
– not recommended

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Caveat
Kirby (1996)

• requisitioning information system

– food producer, interact with 36 existing systems
– High top management support
– Heavy user involvement
• Cost $3 million est., $5 actual; late
– accountants saw system would replace them
– plant people saw greater control by HQ
– sales force saw imposition, monitoring

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Summary

Top management support

User involvement
Clear system objectives
• for successful implementation, need
– implementation planning
– early system testing
– user training

© McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004