Implementation of a project office to improve on project delivery and performance: a case study

• Authors: J Boonzaaier;J J Van Loggerenberg
• Venue: SAICSIT '06 Proceedings of the 2006 annual research conference of the South African institute of computer scientists and information technologists on IT research in developing countries
• Year: 2006

As competition increases, rising costs of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) come under the spotlight. As a result, there is pressure on ICT to deliver more with fewer resources. Unsuccessful projects became intolerable. Successful project management entails much more than completing projects in time and within budget. Quality, user satisfaction, effective team collaboration and effective resource management all contribute to project success. ICT unfortunately has a rather tarnished reputation when it comes to successful project delivery. Reasons why ICT projects often fail include poor planning, poor communication, poor project management skills, project complexity, ill-defined requirements and too many changes in scope. The ICT Department of the South African Reserve Bank is no exception. The main purpose of this paper is to determine whether or not the implementation of a project office in the ICT Department has addressed the problems identified in the literature and those previously experienced by the Bank.