You are required to write a research paper on a project that has been challenged, failed, or succeeded. The project should be large enough to have caught the attention of the press. If you select a failed project, you will evaluate the project for what went wrong. If you select a successful project, you will evaluate the project for what went right to contribute to the project success.

YOU CAN ONE OF THE BELOW EXAMPLE TO WRITE THE RESEARCH PAPER

Internal Revenue Service

PROJECT: Business Systems Modernization; Launched in 1999 to upgrade the agency’s IT infrastructure and more than 100 business applications.

WHAT HAPPENED? By assembling a star-studded team of vendors, the IRS thought its $8 billion modernization project would manage itself. The IRS thought wrong. As a result, the agency’s ability to collect revenue, conduct audits, and go after tax evaders was severely compromised. This case study illustrates what can go wrong when a complex project overwhelms the management capabilities of both vendor and client. Some consider it to be the most expensive systems development “fiasco” in history, with delays costing the U.S. Treasury tens of billions of dollars per year.

Source: http://www.cio.com/archive/040104/

OR

EXAMPLE 2

Bank of America

PROJECT: “MasterNet;” Trust accounting system.

WHAT HAPPENED? In February 1988, hardware problems caused the Bank of America (BofA) to lose control of several billion dollars of trust accounts. All the money was eventually found in the system, but all 255 people—i.e., the entire Trust Department—were fired, as all the depositors withdrew their money. This is a classic case study on the need for risk assessment, including people, process, and technology-related risk. BofA spent $60M to fix the $20M project before deciding to abandon it altogether. BofA fell from being the largest bank in the world to No. 29.

Source: http://sunset.usc.edu/classes/cs510_2001/notes/masternet.pdf.