Case Study: NYCAPS and CityTime: A Tale of Two NewYork City IS Projects

1.      How the important were the NYCAPS and CityTimes project for New York City ? What were their objective? What would have been their business benefit ?

In term of improving efficience and cutting cost, both project were extremly important for New York City. The goal of the NYCAPS project was to create a morden, automated system for managing and updating personal imformation for the City’s workforce, including employee benefit imformation. The City was using individual Citywide system, 200 individual agency system, and a maze of paperwork.

The CityTimes project depended on pen and paper to record overtimes payments city workers. It was hoped the system would automate that and improve accountability throught the government.

2.      Eveluate the key risk factor in both project

The key risk factor in both project were out-of-control time and cost, lower quality of project output and problem that so far have prevented either projet from being complete. All of this risk factor were heightened by lack of qualified project management.

      3. Classify and describe the pproblem each project encountered as the NYCAPS and    CityTimes system were being implemented. What people, organizations and technology factor were responsible for these problem?

i) Management

A lack of qualified and responsible oversight, a lack of management and a lack of leadership led to failure of both project. The NYCAPS project was controlled by government officials. Therefore missing many opportunities to lower deverlop costs. The City Times project was managed by the City’s budget direct whose background was in law, not project management or technology.

ii) Organizations

The NYCAPS project monitor reported chronic mismanagement, cost overrun and general waste plagoing the project. But the city continued ahead with the project without making any  significant changes. Next, other city government branches left the project mostly to him. Moreover, the City Comptroller never audited the project despite numerous warning about the project from staffers.

iii) Technology

The technology requirement, on the surface, were sound automate manual system. This system provided ways to audit input and output, reduce cheating and froud through better technology and replace outdated legacy system with newer technologies. Beside that, even though one of the objective of the NYCAPS system was to updates it. In additional, the newer system was designed to run on the same old legacy system used  in the previous patch work system

4.      What are the similarities and difference in the management of both project?

Similarities and difference in the management of both project is used hourly billing versus fixed cost payments at one times or other. Beside that, a long with impoper management and oversight, invites fraud , waster and abuse. Neither project had an experienced project manager at the top that was qualified and that had the proper authority to effectively control the project.

In additional, the NYCAPS project was totally controlled by one company, accenture. The CityTimes project was controlled by one contractor, but used a lot of subcontractors to complete the work. To complete the work must have a lot of accountability even worse. The term of the project’s contract were constantly changing.

5.      What was the business impact of these boctched implementation? Explain your answer.

Firstly, new system improve efficienceis, reduce cost, reduce fraud and waste. This system can provide executive, manager, and employees with better information on which to make better decisions. None of these business benefits was met because of the botched system implementations.

6.      The first step in managing risk involves identifiying the natural level of risk confronting the project. Implementer can then hendle each project with the tools and risk management approaches geared to its level of risk.

i) Managing technical complexity

Managing technical complexity mean the project leaders need both heavy technical and administrative experience. The must be able to anticipate problem and develop smooth working relationship among a predominantly technical team.

ii) Formal planning and control tools

Formal planning tools and formal control tools for documenting and monitoring project plans are an absulate. Beside that, gantt charts and PERT chart are very helpful for monitoring plans and allowing manager to determine early on when the project is veering off course. These tools can help manager identify bottlenecks and determine the impact thet problem will have on project completion times.

iii) Increasing user involvement and overcoming user resistence

External Intergration tools consist of ways to link the work of the implemention tean to user at all organizzations levels. Moreover, project with relatively little structure and many underfined requirement must involve users full at all stage.