Developing a framework for measuring IT project success in developing countries : a case study of Uganda

Abstract

Over the past years, measuring project success had been concentrated on the performance of project management more especially on cost, time and quality but not considering product operation and involvement of the clients and the employees. In Organizations and Companies, Successes on a project means that certain expectations for a given participant were met, whether owner, planner, engineer, contractor or operator. However, these expectations may be different for each participant and the study of project success and project frameworks is often considered as one of the vital ways to improve the effectiveness of project delivery (Chan et al., 2004). It is reasonable to believe that, if we meet the quality, time and cost targets for a project, it will be considered successful. Apparently, there are other factors that stakeholders deem to be important in determining project success. If Project implementation methodology adopts other relevant criteria for successful projects, organizations/companies would experience improved project execution and delivery. The study used the National Information Technology Authority Uganda (NITA-U) and other IT project management firms like Government (UCC), Airlines, Banking, SMEs in order to widen the scope for our research focusing on IT project management. The main objective of this research is to develop a framework for measuring IT project success, the specific objectives for the study were, To determine the factors for IT project failure and success in the developed framework for developing countries, To identify the appropriate measures that can be used to achieve the IT project success, To assess the relationship between the framework criteria and IT project success in developing countries. The research design used here was a cross-sectional research design and involved quantitative and qualitative approach to data collection but also literature review approach was used to compare several project frameworks. The survey results showed that Time (74.4%), Cost (55.6%) and Quality (51.1%) still remain the important criteria for assessing the performance of IT projects in the minds of professionals. However, the users seemed to consider Time and Cost more important than Quality. Project should also target at satisfying the needs of the key stakeholders. The key stakeholders for an IT project are: the software users’ satisfaction (77.8%), and the customer satisfaction which stood at 55%% from the data got from the respondents for this study. From both the survey and the literature reviewed the researcher has made modifications to the four basic perspectives based on the following views: The I.T. projects are commonly carried out for the benefit of both customers and software users. Project personnel and project team should be as internal customers that should benefit from the project. If we give more attention to human resources, we will then have an excellent basis for improved results in the rest of the perspectives. From the study several measures were suggested in order to achieve the project success like good planning, adequate resources, Effective communication, Cost and time measures of control Deadlines & budgeting, Good risk management. Any project is only good if it is functional. Nothing else matters much if for example a software program is not accepted by its users. Therefore, having a clear definition of project success as the establishment of a set of success criteria is of utmost importance for every project-oriented organization. If an organization does not know early on the project how they are going to measure its business success, they will surely be faced with unpleasant situations in the long run.