Frank, the IS department manager at the Kelso Company was brought in to the firm with a mandate to “get the IS department shaped up.” Kelso management was dissatisfied with a number of aspects of the IS department. The staff seemed to try to do as little as possible to satisfy the users of the systems. The general attitude was that users were a bother and kept the IS staff from doing ‘important work.’ Kelso management did not feel they were getting good value from the huge amount of money that was sunk into the IS budget every year. Frank was told, confidentially, that unless he could turn things around in the department over the next two years, management was prepared to outsource the entire IS department.

One of the first tasks that Frank undertook was a review of Kelso’s systems development methodology. One area that he was concerned about was the absence of any project assessment at the conclusion of a development project. Other parts of the methodology appeared sound, but the projects that had been undertaken over the previous five years were always late and over budget. It seemed to Frank that the same mistakes were being repeated over and over, and the development processes were not improving. He decided to mandate that project assessment be performed for all projects that had been completed in the last six months and for all future projects.

1. What is the goal of project assessment? How will it help an IS department like the one at the Kelso Company?
2. Discuss the purpose and benefits of performing a project team review. Discuss the purpose and benefits of performing a system review.