Blaize Reich

Management information systems researchers have not yet developed a generally accepted method to measure project performance. The performance measures developed by a consulting firm, the Standish Group, remain the most frequently cited indicators of IT project performance. This paper examine three classes of reason for observed differences in IT project performance including: the subjects and projects in the sample, the data collection method and the analysis method used. Summaries for differences across published methods are provided along with discussion of the pros and cons related to each measurement method. Our comparison suggests that both fast and simple methods and more rigorous methods can provide value. However, to achieve the ability to compare across studies, we should be clear as to which methods are used for a given

The panel will present research concerning demand for ICT related occupations/skills and discuss high school level ICT career awareness initiatives. Also present information on Business Technology Management (BTM) growth initiatives related to an Employment Skills Development Canada (ESDC) grant, and explore academic community engagement and existing BTM programs. Relevance to the Field and Panel Focus The Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC), Nordicity (for Industry Canada), and others, indicate that "information systems analysts and consultants" comprise the largest category of ICT occupations, and one of the fastest growing over the 2000-2010 decade. These and other studies identify consistent, ongoing current and projected gaps in the supply of such professionals in all economic sectors and regions of Canada. Combining analyst/consultant and "manager" National Occupational Codes (NOC) yields about 200,000 jobs -a quarter to a third of the ...

This research investigated CIOs'view of the changes driving and occurring in their in-house IT organizations. Results of interviews with 50 CIOs and IT leaders from 22 organizations in Canada and the U.S. suggest three main drivers of change for in-house IT organizations: rapid strategic business change, pervasive IT with an experienced user community, and e-business and technology complexity. These drivers are creating changes in all parts of the IT organization: structure and roles, application development, technology architectures, and skills and knowledge of IT practitioners. According to CIOs, their virtual, global IT organizations need to move even closer towards the strategic centre of the company, requiring increased business knowledge, improved ability to influence and negotiate, and a renewed focus on standardized architectures, metrics, and value creation.

ABSTRACT This paper evaluates the impact of two approaches to knowledge management in projects — one focused on aligning project documents (“the Plan-based approach”) and another focused on developing shared understanding between different teams within a project (“the People-based approach”). A theoretical model and hypotheses are proposed and explored using data from a survey of 212 IT-enabled business projects. Results indicate that the people-based approach is more strongly influential on a project's success in securing business benefits. Although the plan-based approach is less influential, it does positively influence business benefit attainment and also supports the people-based approach. Thus, attaining shared understanding within the project team and aligning key documents are both important goals for a project's knowledge management strategy.

... Apart from the difficulty in explaining the inner workings of technology, there are problems of agency inherent in this risk. When key members of the team leave the project, knowledge is lost (Eskerod & Blichfeldt, 2005; Gable, Scott, & Davenport, 1998; Schindler & Eppler, 2003). ...

ABSTRACT Although many IT service management frameworks exist, we still have limited theoretical understanding of IT service quality within a broader nomological network. Building on recent conceptual work on the IT service climate construct, this study empirically establishes it as a predictor of IT service quality using survey data from both IT units and their clients. Also examined was a set of antecedents which provide a foundation upon which a favorable service climate can be built. The IT service climate instrument, when incorporated into employee feedback initiatives, can provide guidance to IT executives about practices to improve service quality.

ABSTRACT This paper develops theory and tests the relationships between knowledge management and various aspects of performance in IT-enabled business projects. The proposed theory posits that knowledge management is instrumental to Project Performance when mediated by a new concept, Knowledge Alignment. The research model is tested on survey data from 212 IT-enabled business projects. Findings show that project managers who achieve Knowledge Alignment among the people and the artefacts from three parts of the project – the IT team, the business change team, and the governance team – can have a significant positive impact on the achievement of business value from the project. Achieving higher levels of Knowledge Alignment is shown to have no significant negative impact on attainment of schedule and budget targets. This is the first statistical study to demonstrate the effect of knowledge management and Knowledge Alignment on the attainment of project management targets and of business value in IT-enabled projects.

ABSTRACT In this research, we investigate how IT-enabled business projects can be managed to contribute value to the client organization. We take a knowledge view of this issue, and conceptualize knowledge management as a three dimensional concept comprising knowledge stock, enabling environment and knowledge practices. We suggest that knowledge management enables the creation and alignment of three types of project-based knowledge that are critical to achieving desired business outcomes: technical design knowledge, organizational change knowledge and business value knowledgesWe test this model with survey data from 212 IT project managers from around the world. The results statistically support the model's conceptualisation of the key constructs and show that knowledge management within IT projects contributes to the creation and alignment of the important project-based knowledges.This study contributes to research into IT projects by 1) integrating the wide variety of knowledge management literature into a single managerially-useful construct, 2) developing a model which connects knowledge management, through knowledge practices to the creation and alignment of project-based knowledges, and 3) demonstrating the validity of the model, its constructs and measures. The model has the potential to influence research into IT projects and to guide project executives towards the achievement of business value.

ABSTRACT This paper reports on a study of alignment between organizational and information technology (IT) objectives as found in the Canadian Forces at the base, or business unit, level. Eight Canadian Forces sites were examined to assess their current state of long- and short-term alignment and to determine which factors influence this alignment.This study determined that parts of a model developed to explain alignment in the far-profit sector were applicable to the Canadian Forces. One major difference stems from the historic practice of short-term (year to year) planning horizons in the Forces. This has created a situation in which no long-term alignment is present. Another, related difference was the lack of connection between business and IT planning due to the relatively immature business planning processes within the Forces.Based on this study, the authors recommend that the Canadian Forces pay more attention to the knowledge bases of people they hire and promote into IT positions and that they explicitly assist Administration branch personnel to gain more IT knowledge. We also suggest mechanisms to foster discussion of IT, such as steering groups and education sessions. In addition, if effective consideration of IT becomes a part of the business planning process, military organizations such as the Canadian Forces may begin to extract the full benefit and advantage from modern technological developments and procedures.RésuméNotre article rend compte d'une étude portant sur l'har-monisation des objectifs organisationnels et des objectifs en matière de technologie de l'information au niveau de la base—l'unité fonctionnelle—dans les Forces cana-diennes (FC). Nous avons étudié huit unités fonction-nelles des FC afin de déterminer non seulement où en est l'harmonisation à court et à long terme, mais aussi quels en sont les facteurs déterminants.Notre étude vise à démontrer que certains éléments du modéle qui a été mis au point pour expliquer l'harmonisation des objectifs dans les corporations à but lucratif s'appliquent également aux FC. Par contre, la pratique séculaire de la planification à court terme (une année à la fois) qui caractérise les FC s'écarte sensiblement de ce modéle et n'a donc pas permis d'harmoniser les objectifs à long terme (en d'autres mots, de développer une vision commune dans le domaine de la technologie de l'information). En effet, il n'existe aucun lien entre la planification des opérations et la planification liée à la technologie de l'information à cause de l'état plus ou moins rudimentaire des méthodes de planification opérationnelle utilisées dans les FC.Les résultats de notre étude nous amènent à recom-mander que les FC prětent une attention toute parti-culière au tronc commun des connaìssances que doìvent avoir les personnes appelés—par voie de concours ou de promotions—à occuper des postes liés aux technologies de l'information. Nous recommandons également que les FC aident activement les employés de la Branche des services de l'administration à acquérir de plus amples connaissances dans le domaine de la technologie de l'information. Nous proposons par ailleurs des mécanismes susceptibles de favoriser les discussions dans ce domaine, notamment au moyen de groupes d'orientation et de séances d'information. En outre, si elles tenaient compte des technologies de l'information dans le proces-sus de la planification opérationnelle, les organisations militaires telles que les Forces canadiennes pourraient commencer à tirer pleinement avantage des progrès techniques et des méthodes modernes.

Few studies have focused on estimating the relative effects of risk factors on IT project performance This paper discusses three predictive modeling techniques, regression, neural networks and classification trees, that could be used for such an estimate. A comparison suggests that classification tree techniques may provide more effective estimates than other techniques. A data set (n=227) with 9 risk factors is used to develop a classification tree estimate. Results from this analysis provide a classification tree with 8 nodes that demonstrates the ease of interpretation of the classification tree results. The results are relatively easy to understand and provide actionable information. While results are only preliminary, we conclude that a risk assessment tool based on classification tree techniques could provide a new and effective tool in the management of IT project risk.

... Apart from the difficulty in explaining the inner workings of technology, there are problems of agency inherent in this risk. When key members of the team leave the project, knowledge is lost (Eskerod & Blichfeldt, 2005; Gable, Scott, & Davenport, 1998; Schindler & Eppler, 2003). ...