Although the discipline of information systems (IS) development is well established, systems’ failure, abandonment, and dissatisfaction with functioning systems remain widespread. This has generated a considerable amount of literature investigating the factors seen to contribute to IS success and failure. However, little attention has been given to the possible relationships among the factors most influential in IS success and failure. Therefore, we examine the development of a successful system and compare the factors associated with the system’s success against the factors most reported in the literature as being associated with systems’ failure. Project management practices may be affected by knowing whether success and failure are two sides of one coin or different in nature. The results of our exploratory study showed that four of the six factors identified by the participants in our chosen system as being the most influential in the success of the system were directly related to the factors identified from the literature as being most associated with IS failure. Although more research needs to take place, these results would suggest a considerable relationship might exist between IS success and failure factors.

Although the discipline of information systems (IS) development is well established, systems’ failure, abandonment, and dissatisfaction with functioning systems remain widespread. This has generated a considerable amount of literature investigating the factors seen to contribute to IS success and failure. However, little attention has been given to the possible relationships among the factors most influential in IS success and failure. Therefore, we examine the development of a successful system and compare the factors associated with the system’s success against the factors most reported in the literature as being associated with systems’ failure. Project management practices may be affected by knowing whether success and failure are two sides of one coin or different in nature. The results of our exploratory study showed that four of the six factors identified by the participants in our chosen system as being the most influential in the success of the system were directly related to the factors identified from the literature as being most associated with IS failure. Although more research needs to take place, these results would suggest a considerable relationship might exist between IS success and failure factors.

No abstract

When an information systems (IS) development project exceeds time, budget and functional constraints a point is reached where the decision has to be made to abandon it or attempt to save it. Some systems are of such value that management is prepared to take extraordinary measures to save them. This paper examines a case study of one such system whose development was saved from likely failure by a combination of good project management, intervention of a business sponsor and a synergistic relationship between management and the system developers. Organizational culture's role in the project's development is also examined in order to present a more holistic view of how the project's successful outcome was generated.

Although the discipline of information systems (IS) development is well established, IS failure and abandonment remains widespread. As a result, a considerable amount of IS research literature has investigated, among other things, the factors associated with IS success and failure. However, little attention has been given to any possible relationships that exist among the uncovered factors. In an attempt to address this, we examine the development of a successful IS, and compare the factors associated with its success against the factors most reported in our review of the literature as being associated with IS failure. This may be an important area of study given, for example, project management practices may be affected by knowing whether success and failure are two sides of one coin, or different in nature. The results of our exploratory study showed that four of the six factors associated with the success of the investigated IS were related to the factors identified from our review of the literature as being associated with IS failure.