Development of public sector information management systems: challenges and promising practices
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/IDD-03-2018-0008 |
| Published date | 20 August 2018 |
| Date | 20 August 2018 |
| Pages | 184-195 |
| Author | Hannan Khalid,Asim Noor,Javed Iqbal,Shahid Farid,Victor Chang |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Library & information services,Lending,Document delivery,Collection building & management,Stock revision,Consortia |
Development of public sector information
management systems: challenges and
promising practices
Hannan Khalid, Asim Noor and Javed Iqbal
COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan
Shahid Farid
Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan, and
Victor Chang
Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, China
Abstract
Purpose –More and more governmental organizations are switching to information systems to enhance their operations and reduce cost but the
development of these systems involves a lot of challenges. This paper aims to find out the challenges that project managers have to face during the
development of such systems and the practices they can adopt to address these challenges.
Design/methodology/approach –To identify the challenges, data have been gathered across six key project management areas. The six targeted
key areas are project integration management, project scope management, project time management, project cost management, project human
resource management and project communications management. The authors have coordinated with 11 managerial-level IT professionals using
semi-structured interviews and have gone through their communication archives.
Findings –Findings prove that practices such as focusing on cost reduction, informal congregations, trainings and frequent communication
between vendor and client help in addressing the challenges. Furthermore, learning from management experiences of the managers can assist
managers in similar role to create a pattern of success while working with governmental projects.
Originality/value –The authors peek into the development life cycle of a public sector project named as prison in formation management system.
The project has encountered numerous challenges and has been accomplished in significantly delayed time than designated.
Keywords Information systems, Public organizations, Challenges of information management system, Information management system,
Key project management areas, Practices of information management system
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
The chaos in developmentof information systemsbrings in tons
of complexity if project planning is improper. Development of
huge projects creates a lot of challenges for managers. The
challenges would normally pledge allegiance with the factors
that drive projects toward failure. Resultantly, projects are not
completedaccording to agreed-upondeadlines, cost and budget
constraints.The common scenarios can be observedby peeking
a little into informationsystems development industry (Mandl-
Striegnitz and Lichter, 1996). Pakistani software industry, in
recent past, has witnessed a number of projects aiming at
general population. These projectshave come up from different
organizationsand government as e-governmentinitiatives. Like
other software projects, these projects also face various
challengesduring the development.
The United Nations (UN) Public Administration Network
conducts a bi-annual surveywhich contains a section titled as e-
Government Readiness. It is a relative ranking of the countries
on two primaryindicators:
1 e-government readiness’state; and
2 the extent of e-participation.
The survey assesses 193 member states of the UN accordingto
a quantitative composite index of e-government. The goal of
the e-government initiativesis to offer improved public services
to citizens in a cost-effective and efficient manner (Soufiand
Maguire, 2007) and to ensure that the servicesoffered are easily
accessible to all the citizen (Rose et al.,2018). The
e-government initiatives enhance governmental transparency,
which is important as it allows the public to be cognizantof the
government working and the policies. Pakistan has alsostarted
to pull technological stringsto utilize the benefits offered by the
e-governmentprojects in recent years, but global ranking shows
that Pakistan is constantly lagging behind other countries. The
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on
Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight.com/2398-6247.htm
Information Discovery and Delivery
46/3 (2018) 184–195
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 2398-6247]
[DOI 10.1108/IDD-03-2018-0008]
Received 8 March 2018
Revised 6 June 2018
18 July 2018
Accepted 19 August 2018
184
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