Week 2: Software for IM

This week our topic is software for IM.

Actually when I first read the word IM I didn’t realize it stands for Information Management, instead I thought about Instant Message. The awkward and embarrassing experience let me feel like my mind system failed! 

Information management is so critical that it repeatedly causes big enterprise collapse somehow over nights. 

Ultimately ERP, EA, CRM or SCM are just different version of IM.

One of most important things IM deal with is data. What data we need to keep and how to keep it, which brings the issue of data structure and architecture. 

Without doubts nowadays we have advantages than people decades ago, who manually sorted paper and hardcopy materials; we have software to do the trivial work.

However, some people say that software is not as friendly as granted. For instance a famous IT senior once said, “Not doing ERP is waiting for death, but doing ERP to chase death.” Isn’t that true? Countless of examples happens every here and there.

According to many studies, failure rate of software projects is between 50% – 80%. A conservative estimate is US $60 billion to $75 billion dollars every year wasted in US because of failed software.This link includes top 10 software failure of last year. Why not this year? Because we can never predict how bigger disaster will happen, probably, tomorrow?

In March 2011, the Commonwealth bank of Australia was forced to shut down its entire network of ATMs after a problem with its banking systems software caused the ATMs to overpay customers. Word got around quickly that the ATMs were issuing “free” money which allowed customers to draw more money than they had in their accounts (or indicated on the machines) and many people took advantage.link

By August 2011, Honda had recalled 2 million cars due to a software failure problem. The problem had to do with the transmission control modules of some of its models. Among the recalled models were the 2001 and 2002 Accord, 2001 to 2003 Civic, 2003 CRV, 2003 Pilot and 2003 Acura 3.2 TL. GM also recalled about 50,000 units of the Cadillac SRX crossover SUVs in June 2011 because of a software failure that may not allow the deployment of airbags for passengers sitting in the right rear seat in the event of an accident.Link. 

Also a story happened last month, Knight Capital, a financial services firm, lost over $400 million and a drop of 68-percent in stock, because of a glitch in its trading software. Link. Numerous similar stories happened, UK Air Traffic Control Upgrade Project, Sainsbury's $526m Project Failure, and Digital Trunked Radio System Failures in 2009.

Software malfunctions like the inability to accurately track data, lost orders because of program misconducts, or too much waiting time due to the low process rate cause big damage to business.

Following are five causes for mostly failures. Link.

• Lack of preparation. One of the most obvious reasons a project fails is poor planning at the outset. Managers who fail to properly scope a project, apply risk management principles and plan in time for quality assurance and security assurance are courting ruin.
• Business misfit. Even when an IT project is implemented beautifully, it can be a failure. If a technology or a process doesn’t fit with the business needs or sync with the way the organization operates the project has the potential to be a waste of money.
• Unilateral decision making. When IT fails to involve business leaders while planning new initiatives that affect business operations, the technology department risks a business misfit.
• Inflexibility. Unfortunately, some IT projects can be so rigid that they fail to allow the business to change processes or adjust to new situations quickly enough to profit from them. This inflexibility is a project killer.
• Scope creep. Lack of preparation typically begets the kitchen-sink syndrome, where project leaders add in every kind of feature and the kitchen sink to boot.

Three basic factors which can prevent the software development project failure. Link.

• Planning & Scheduling comes at first, good planning and scheduling makes the strong foundation for the software project.
• Cost estimation depends on the budget of the project, customer type and the size and effort to be put in the project.
• Managing the risk is a practical approach for decreasing the ambiguity and possible loss related with a software development project.

Obviously before investing a fortune on software to manage information, enterprises should take a serious look on themselves. Understand own characteristics like business background, industry features and operating patterns are indispensible. 

A high quality EA helps a lot in data collection and sorting, clarification of the requirements and priorities, analysis the business strategy and procedure. 

EA provides data for Planning & Scheduling, Budget & Cost estimation and lowers the risk by decreasing strategy ambiguity.