Practical lessons from 40 system integrating projects

In developing an information system for a newly entered field of business, a customer cannot really finalize specifications, even if the specifications for the system have been decided and agreed on by both the customer and the system integrator (SI). To cope with this problem, the project manager (PM) of the SI evaluates each new request from a customer. The customer's requests should be evaluated in terms of their relevance to the six key project management points: price, cost, contract terms, specifications, team building and progress/quality. If the customer's request causes a change in the project's base line, such as a deadline, and it makes profitability less likely, this triggers a red card for the project. If the request may or may not adversely affect a plan, but nonetheless requires close attention, a yellow card is set. We describe the results of an analysis of the reports made by PMs of 40 projects for which negotiations with customers began from November 2001, and from which the accepted orders will be between 100 million yen (0.8 million dollars) and 12 billion yen. These reports made by PMs to the director show the degree of difficulty of system integration in a new market area and the lessons learned by PMs, which should form the basis for future actions.