This individual assignment requires you to critically evaluate a real world project. Specifically, you are required to accomplish following tasks:

Step 1: Go beyond the 'iron triangle' and research what constitutes a project success or failure in the project management literature and practice. A list of useful resources that can get you started on this is provided in the references (See #3:References below).

Step 2: Select one of three options as 'a case study project and examine the selected project for the criteria identified for project success/failure in Step 1:

1. Select a real world project that has sufficient information available in the public domain OR
2. You can also collect primary information to examine a project run by an organization or a project manager that you have access to OR
3. Select the case study project provided as a reference project for this assignment. The reference project is a published case study on a real world project that documents the strategic IT transformation of Accenture few years ago.
4. Case

In 2001 Accenture took the bold step of separating from its parent, Arthur Andersen. The new firm that emerged had a bright future ahead, but it also faced the challenge of building a new IT infrastructure that could support a global organization that consults on leading-edge technology. Accenture's CIO at the time, Ed Schreck, knew that becoming a master of your own trade was not an easy task. Frank Modruson, Schreck's successor and the person responsible for carrying forward the IT transformation challenge from 2002 on, had ambitious plans for the new technology infrastructure that was to replace Arthur Andersen's legacy systems. Difficult decisions had to be made. Should the firm continue with a decentralized approach to managing technology platforms, in which each country chooses its own IT platforms and has autonomy to run them? Or should the firm take a mixed approach, in which the same standard applications would run throughout the enterprise but would be managed independently by individual offices? Or should Accenture espouse a "one-firm" approach and boldly shoot for a centralized implementation of its most critical systems, with all its offices interconnected on the same "instance" of a software platform? Furthermore, should the firm retain its traditional conception of IT as cost center, or should it migrate to a scheme that recognizes IT as a service provision center that generates measurable value for the organization? These questions and many others drove Accenture's CIO team to undertake one of the most remarkable IT transformations in a global organization in recent years.

To understand best practices for transforming an IT infrastructure. To offer a step-by-step approach to rationalizing a billion-dollar-plus IT technology infrastructure. To understand the connection between strategy and architecture in delivering high performance for an organization. To understand organizational change strategies and approaches in dealing with complexity in very large companies.

Step 3. Conduct an examination of the chosen project case study and report your findings in the following format:

1. Background of the project that you have selected.
2. Discussion of standard criteria, such as the Iron Triangle or those emerging from the sources mentioned in the references or beyond.
3. Critical identification and justification of the criteria you think is appropriate- based on what you learnt in step 2.
4. Critical analysis of the case project based on the criteria chosen. For example, why the project was able or unable to meet the success criteria? How the project success criteria supports organizationalstrategy?
5. Presentation of appropriate conclusions on what factors led to the success/failure of the project.
6. Provision of suggestions or recommendations in the event that the project should be re-run in the future.