Factors Contributing To The Failure Of The Queensland Health Project

Communication Issue

Discuss about the IT Governance and Strategy.

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The Queensland health project can be considered as one of the most significant project failure related to IS in the southern hemisphere in recent times. The project failure can be regarded as one of the best examples concerning an aspect of how important the factor of the government and strategy play in the concept of project management (Naughtin, McLaughlin & Hajkowicz, 2017).

Critical success factor can be considered very much vital in the proper working of any concept. It can be stated here that the Queensland Health payroll system had many critical factors, which directly lead to the failure of the system. Some of the essential elements are indicated below:

Communication Issue: The factor of communication can be considered very much useful for any process, which is related to the project management. It can be stated here that the concept of the active communication is directly imperative to the IS implementation project as the idea minimises the extent of the resistance related to the user and on the other hand the factor can be positively be associated with the aspect of the impact of the organisation. In the process of transferring knowledge, which is very much essential in communication factor, the communication between the vendors, consultant and client are very much necessary. In the case of the Queensland Health, the concept of effective communication was not utilised with the help of the consultants. The central aspect, which can be related to the issue, is that the employee who was involved in the Queensland Health were openly vehement to the consultants of the IBM (McCormack, 2015). The lack of a concept of faith was also seen in the IBM team who did not involve their best employee in the process. This concept directly failed in the implementation of the project.

Lack of requirement: The next critical factor, which can be stated in context to the failure of the project, was the lack of demand and the element of the complete underestimation of the cooperation of the project. It can be stated here that the complexity of the system mixed with the complexity surrounding the industry of the health care directly highlighted that the project implementation was very much challenging. There are different methodology, which could be implemented into the project like the Prince2 method, but in case of the Queensland, it is seen that it lacked a formulated project management strategy.

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Lack of Requirement

System testing: Extensive system testing can be considered one of the most vital elements, which can be related to the successful implementation of a project. In the case of the Queensland health implementation testing was not performed and only in the context of testing only a subset of employee (about 10%) were checked before doing the project live. After the system was made life, it resulted in a complete failure.

The first implementation of sin which can be stated is the lack of a proper ERP system. Furthermost it can be noted that the due to the cooperation of the system judgment of taking into consideration appropriate management of project process should have been taken into account (Morien, 2015). In this context, it can be stated that the lack of the proper scope and the planning of the project was a significant factor, which resulted in a false implementation process.

Focusing on the outcome of the project can be considered very much crucial for any process of project management scenario. The lack of the system outcome and the false complexity recognition can be one of the biggest reason for the failure of the project. IBM did lack the interest in the project, which affected the overall working and the implementation of the plan, as they did not involve an expert in the project.

In the aspect of the government-run organisation of health care, the organisation directly possessed a dream, which was utopian relating to the harmony existing between the groups of the stakeholders (Duffield & Whitty, 2015). The concept can be considered as very much unrealistic due to the factor of the turbulent political environment it would be directly be implemented. The planning phase plays a vital role in this context relating to the need of the software and the expectation of the service, which would be delivered, from the end of the software and the different policies of the government in the aspect.

One of the most critical implementation sins, which could be seen the Queensland was the “brownfield” in the concept it was directly based on the housing solution of the department. However, it can be stated here that the housing department was a comparative department which was smaller than the project of the Queensland which had less complexity relating to the Queensland health. Moreover, the planning, which was associated with the department of housing, did not take into consideration of utilizing the aspect of the Work Brain in the solution of the project nor they employed the element which is related to the prime contractor consultant methodology engagement (Forbes & Taylor, 2015).

System Testing

Phase 1: According to the principle of the COBIT governance framework the scope of the project can be considered very much vital in the working of the project. As seen the Figure 2 of the case study November 2007 was a time when the scope of the project was done. In the context of the stakeholders need due to the lack of the communication factor the scope of the project was not taken into consideration properly which lead to the failure of the project. In most of the cases which are related to the project management scope phase, the role of the stakeholders are very much important which play a very vital role, in this context if the communication factor were achieved in the background the project would reach the desired goal of success (Duffield & Whitty, 2015).

Phase 2: The concept of the acceptance testing or according to the COBIT governance framework the idea of monitoring and evaluation can be very much crucial. The testing phase, which was conducted from July 2009 to February 2010, was not done properly. On the other hand, it can be stated that due to the lack of the factor of the involvement of the stakeholders the issue mainly raised. Testing can be considered very much essential before any system is made to go live which testing was done appropriately the project would have been a complete success.

Principle 1: Meeting stakeholders need

In the concept of the Queensland, it is seen that the communication factor was lacking. In this context, it can be stated that the communication factor with the stakeholders was not created which eventually created a means of communication gap which ultimately lead to the failure of the project. If the communication factor were initiated into the development of the plan the project would have been a success

Principle 2: Separating governance form Management

The communication issue and the tension that raised between the Queensland health, IBM and CorpTech could have directly been prevented if appropriate governance technique was applied into the working. There was a lack of a proper governance structure in the implementation of the project and most of the situation; it should be taken into consideration that the factor of the government should be separated from the side of the management.

Enablers 1: Align, plan and organize.

In the case of the Queensland project, it is majorly seen that the factor of the complexity of the project was not taken into consideration. The complexity factor cloud has been taken into account if the alignment of the project was done using proper planning and organising.

Importance of Outcome

Enablers 2: Evaluate, Direct and Monitor

Due to the lack of the factor of the interest from the IBM, it can be seen that evaluation of the project was not done correctly due to the lack of the expertise into the working of the project. In most of the complex project, it should be taken into consideration that the monitoring factor of the project should be given utmost priority (Ralston, 2018).

Conclusion

The case, which is related to the Queensland health information system failure of implementation, can be considered a fact, which puts focus on how important the different factors of the project management play in a project. Mainly it can be seen in the plan that the element of communication between different sections of the plan is very much essential which if not taken into consideration properly can directly lead to failure of the project. The focus point in any project management scenario is to have a fixed goal, which is set during the planning phase of the project. This factor can directly help in the aspect of reaching a plan to the element of success.

References

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