Abstract
M.B.A.
The aim of this research was to determine why information technology software projects fail in South Africa in order to determine whether there is a cause and cost similarity between international first world and South African IT Software Project failures. This research topic was primarily chosen because there is a lack of research on IT Software project failure in South Africa.
The following objectives were defined to support the aim of the research:
To ascertain project cost failure statistics sources internationally from relevant
literature.
To ascertain from literature what has been said about causes/reasons of project
failure internationally.
To ascertain South African IT Software Project failure statistics and reasons by
means of a questionnaire.
To determine whether the literature on international IT software project failure
and South African IT software project failure compare. The research project was conducted amongst members of the Project Management
Institute of South Africa (PMISA). In addition, companies that are not members of PMISA were also contacted and requested to respond to an e-mail questionnaire. It is interesting to note that one of the reasons for projects being challenged and cancelled, deals with, or is related to, requirements. Changing and / unclear user requirements was always listed in the top three reasons for projects being challenged and cancelled. The top three reasons listed by The Standish Group also lists changing and / unclear user requirements in the top three. This research would therefore suggest that effectively dealing with changing and / unclear user requirements would significantly increase project success.
In conclusion, the comparison between South African companies and International companies revealed that the causes are for the most part the same, and the costs appear to be vastly different, but similar in trend. As is evident from the research literature, this research topic rarely studied, and therefore additional research can be done to explore this topic.