Abstract:
The acquisition of new IT systems is expensive and risky. Systems often fail to
provide the expected services, or may commit an organisation to a particular long-term
solution to its information management needs which can be very costly to change. The
purpose of this research was to help organisations to manage the IT acquisition
process with greater chances of success. In this research `Acquisition of IT' means the
whole process of initiating, implementing and then using an information technology
system.
The approach taken was to identify success factors for IT acquisition. A large number
of actual acquisition cases were examined, and a list was compiled of factors reported
by people involved in these cases to affect their success or otherwise. The relative
importances of these factors were then measured quantitatively by correlating the
degree to which each factor was present in the cases, with the degree of success of the
cases.
This work has produced: a comprehensive list of factors to be considered; a method of
defining what is meant by success for a given project; a description of the acquisition
project lifecycle; and an identification of the different roles played by different people
within an organisation.
It is shown how to integrate these considerations into a structured approach to
managing IT acquisitions. This integrated approach is called the Success Map.
Three mini case studies were included, and one of these was analysed in the light of the
findings.
In a supplementary section, fifteen guiding principles for people involved in an IT
acquisition are presented.
