Question

WEEK 9 ASSIGNMENT

Answer the following questions:

1. With IT projects – what are some of the common risks associated with managing an IT project?
2. What are the potential consequences of not assessing the technical risks associated with an information systems development project? In what ways could you identify an information systems project that was technically riskier than another?

Answer 1

1)The common risks associated with managing an IT project?
⦁   They are mostly complex projects with many mutually connected activities and participants,
⦁   Risk immanency and uncertainty,
⦁   They should be realized in the given time and within the framework of anticipated
⦁   costs,
⦁   They are determined by goals and tasks that should be attained, defined by the manager, i.e. the user.
⦁   Necessity of competent experts, as well as sufficient material and financial resources, and so on
Thus, the projects of information systems development are very complex; therefore they are liable to the influence of many risks.

Phase of of the project life cycle Possible risk factors

1)All phases Insufficient time period for one or more phases
All information not included
Transition to the next phase without finishing one or more

2)previous ohases
Plan Unwritten information and plans
Badly done cost-benefit analysis

3)Defining Plan carrying out by the team members who
have not yet worked in the same or simillar
projects
Plan not in written form
Plan not completely carried out

4)Start The project team members have not taken
part in the plan carrying out
Plan is not assessed and verified by the
team members participating in its carrying out
Absence of procedures for conflic t solving
and maintaing high-quality information

5)Carrying out Changes of clients’ needs
Incomplete or wrong information relating to
the schedule of carrying out and necessary resources
Absence of reporting on project advancement
Leaving of the team members
Change of market conditions
Changes managment without consistent
analysis of consequences which can
influence the whole project
6)End Project results not formally acknowledged
by the project manager
New project is assigned to the team
members before finishing the current one

Failure to attain expected benefits from the project
•Inaccurate project cost estimates
•Inaccurate project duration estimates
•Failure to achieve adequate system performance levels
•Failure to adequately integrate the new system with existing hardware, software, or organizational procedures.

In what ways could you identify that one IS project is riskier than another?

There are many ways to identify that one IS project is riskier than another. The factors used to assess a project’s risk are as follows.
⦁   Project size
⦁   Number of members on the project team
⦁   Project duration time
⦁   Number of organizational departments involved in project
⦁   Size of programming effort (Example: hours, function points)
⦁   Number of outsourcing partners.
⦁   Project structure –oNew system or renovation of existing system(s)
⦁   Organizational, procedural, structural, or personnel changes resulting form system
⦁   User perceptions and willingness to participate in effort
⦁   Management commitment to system

• Amount of user information systems development effort.

⦁   Development group
⦁   Familiarity with target hardware, software development environment,
⦁   tools, and operating systems
⦁   Familiarity with proposed application area
⦁   Familiarity with building similar systems of similar size.
⦁   User Group
⦁   Familiarity with information systems development process
⦁   Familiarity with proposed application area
⦁   Familiarity with using similar project