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Summary
 

IT Ineffectiveness

Summary
Chapter 1. IT Dilemma
Chapter 2. Success & Failures
Chapter 3. IT Costs
Chapter 4. IT Operations
Chapter 5. IT Director
Chapter 6. IT Standard Settings
Chapter 7. Application Management
Chapter 8. Vendor Selection
Additional Topics
* Computer Center Design
* Computer Center Planning
* Legal Issues
* Performance Evaluation
* Steering Committee
 
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                 According to the lecture of Dr.Kanchit Malaivong and the content from book , IT success and failures can be described in many categories of symptoms. These symptoms have stayed with the computer center from long time already and it is always a big concerns for every IT manager. According to me I have learned that dealing with business units or trying to satisfy the business departments have always been the most difficult task for everybody because there are always growing demands from the business and whenever IT department feel it difficult to deal with them, they are straightaway branded as ineffective.
                  Four main categories of symptoms of trouble we have seen in distressed IT department. A brief description of four areas are as follows:-
                 (1) Business Satisfaction (Level of satisfaction & confidence).
                 (2) Budgeting (IT spendings, internal resource costs,services and capital expenses).
                 (3) Projects (IT supports for buniess projects).
                 (4) Staffing (IT human resource management).
 
                 (1)Symtoms: Business Satisfaction
                 Senior management team and business units puts pressure on IT department to provide infrastructure, application, service levels and help business drive revenues, reduce costs or achieve better control.
                 * Business unit leader are dissatisfied with performance of IT.
                 * Business manager lack confidence in IT when IT commits to a deadline.
                 * Business users either don't know or don't understand priorities in the IT department.
                 * IT claims the business doesn't respect them.
                 * Business units blame IT shortcoming for missed business opportunity or failed projects.
 
                 (2)Symtoms: Spending/Budgeting
                 Typically symptoms of an IT department is out of control on spending or is underinvesting include:-
                 * Spending more than peer group companies.
                 * Large year to year expansion of IT budgets.
                 * High levels of outside purchasing , particularly services or consultants.
                 * Company failing to cover or exceed cost of capital on IT projects or other capital spending.
 
                 (3)Symtoms:Projects
                  Common symptoms of an IT department struggling with project management issue include:-
                 * No clear success to point to on the project front.
                 * Multiple project inventories; no consolidated project list.
                 * Confusion between to-do lists and projects.
                 * No project charters for projects underway.
                 * No framework to prioritize project management or completion.
                 * Project documentation incomplete or missing.
 
                 (4)Symtoms:Staffing
                  Staffing symptoms that reflect failures are the following:-
                 * No ownership of results by IT , particularly IT management.
                 * Worried IT staff.
                 * Large number of recent hires.
                 * Organization chart not clearly defined.
                 * No standardization of roles.
                 * Inexperienced IT manager.