Outsourcing applications development and maintenance continues to be prevalent among enterprises. Cost savings, improved application support and delivery are strong business and technology motivations that characterize this trend. IT departments tend to manage and govern outsourcing initiatives, while business and IT work together to define and sponsor them.

Designing a high-quality project management approach will inevitably lead to projects that are on track, on budget, on scope, and satisfy the needs for which they were undertaken. Once the enterprise has mastered project management fundamentals, conduct regular quality audits by assessing the nine project management knowledge areas. Doing so will help identify inefficient or incomplete processes...

IT Projects are characterized by changing technologies, uncertainty, and shifting business needs and objectives. Review core project management basics and increase the chances for ongoing IT project success.

This practical tool helps IT managers identify situations where a feasibility study would be the best method to employ for making a decision to either accept or reject a software project.

Enterprises continue to face the challenge of rapidly deploying high-performance applications across network infrastructures. Cross-functional teams can improve the performance of business applications and a network’s service level capabilities. This case study reviews how Company Z made a cross-functional team a success.

Enterprise software is a major investment for any enterprise. The process of defining requirements and evaluating vendors is long and arduous. Before signing the contract with the lucky finalist, the last step is due diligence.

Application demonstrations play an important part in the software selection process, and many stakeholders will be involved. Use this template to quickly customize a scorecard that stakeholders can use to rank vendors on important criteria.

Organizations that have vigilantly shortlisted a long list of application vendors into a few serious contenders should plan the demonstration day with the same level of care. Build a well-defined demo agenda, pick a cross-section of important stakeholders to participate, and develop a sound scoring strategy. Turn a vendor demo day into a valuable selection aid for choosing the best software...

During procurement, evaluate application vendors on a variety of disruption risks to identify problems that, while easy to spot, might otherwise be missed. Up-front risk awareness provides important input to the selection process. Scouting vendors first will better prepare the organization for unpleasant surprises.

Many enterprises contract to outside development teams to create new applications, to modify internally developed code, or to enhance packaged software. The risk of unsatisfactory performance within these projects is high. Understand the pitfalls of managing software development contracts and take appropriate action to reduce these risks.

An important tool in a feasibility study or project assessment report is a Cost/Benefit Analysis. Use this tool to help provide deeper insight to pros and cons of the project options under consideration.

When enterprises contract development projects, project success improves when they actively manage the contractor. Use this checklist at the beginning of a project and weekly during the project to identify which key controls are missing and need correction.

Many enterprises are overwhelmed by the prospect of implementing an ERP solution. Info-Tech’s project plan outlines the 20 steps of a typical implementation. Use the plan as a starting point for aligning internal resources and, if needed, getting outside assistance.

A feasibility study is an invaluable tool that helps companies assess the level of risk the company faces when selecting certain IT projects. Creating a feasibility study is a daunting task for newcomers, and angst-ridden for companies that lack documentation standards. Use this template to reduce documentation preparation woes, and create a standard for the company.

Creating a feasibility study is a daunting task for newcomers and for companies that lack experience in developing feasibility studies. Use this checklist as part of a quality assurance process to ensure the feasibility study document meets existing documentation quality standards.

As part of the ongoing vendor management process, IT professionals should monitor the business and application health of vendors. Use this tool to detect increased risks before they materialize into negative events.

Develop vendor risk profiles to anticipate disruption proactively, and have an action plan ready with application alternatives for the various disruptive scenarios that can occur.

Network infrastructures must consistently deliver reliable, quality services to enterprise users. To achieve this, application developers must work closely with the network team to verify that the network quality of service (QoS) and an application’s required performance metrics are in sync. Cross-functional teams should be formed and assigned this task.

With Business Intelligence (BI) fast becoming a significant part of how companies do business, the need for BI Competency Centers (BICCs) is increasing. Senior leaders must understand when a BICC is required and the strategies for implementation to avoid expensive organizational mistakes.

A key consideration for business-user training is documentation. Use the minimum manual approach for optimal training results.

Business user training is a key concern for many IT managers. Use Info-Tech’s criteria to evaluate programs and trainers and to ensure that training programs are effective.

Recent Info-Tech research finds that business process modeling efforts led by end users and business managers produce more successful enterprise application projects. Learn how IT departments with user-driven modeling build effective business process teams, and about the best practices they use to accelerate the success of these teams.

In today’s competitive market, Enterprise Information Management (EIM) teams must be swift and flexible to keep up with the demands of the business. Staff must overcome their fear of failure and plunge into unknown territory. Managers must make the transition from management to leadership to drive innovation and effectively contribute to overall business growth.

In the race for competitive advantage, many companies are using their available information assets to fuel their business strategy. Losing Enterprise Information Management (EIM) staff can hinder growth through loss of key business systems knowledge. EIM IT leaders must invest in talent development and employee satisfaction to reduce attrition costs and maximize employee retention.

Issue management is a practical necessity for IT projects. Determining the best approach to handling issues is an essential element of issue management. Use the ITA Premium “Issue Management Process Set-up Guide” to help guarantee issues don’t cause a project derailment.

It would be a rare project that didn’t have unforeseen issues. Issue avoidance is a laudable goal, but issue management is a practical necessity. Unmanaged issues add unnecessary costs, delays and risks to project delivery and erode business confidence in IT’s project capability. Define an issue management approach for every project to avoid nasty surprises.

Situational leadership is an effective model for managing and developing people. This model helps managers to be flexible and adjust their leadership style according to the individual and the situation. It not only helps managers increase the productivity and job satisfaction of their staff, but it also helps employees improve their performance and accelerate career development.

Issue management is a practical necessity for IT projects. A key element in effectively handling issues is the tracking of issues that arise during a project. Use the ITA Premium “Project Issue Log” tool to ensure issues don’t cause a project derailment.

The success of enterprise application projects depends on successful uptake by business users. The importance of training is often overlooked by IT managers. Understand the fundamentals of business-user training and follow a formal process for crafting the training plan.

Info-Tech finds that IT departments run into the same classic issues in getting the business on board when planning enterprise application projects. Understand the best practices for working through objections from end users and business managers, and make education and engagement continuous priorities.