A Tale of Two Projects: why IT projects fail (and why they sometimes actually succeed)

This Case describes two similar outsourced IS projects that took place in Wellington, New Zealand (NZ) during the period 1992-99, with emphasis on the reasons why one project failed (the prime contractor repudiated the contract and the project was abandoned) and why the other succeeded. The same prime contractor was used for both projects and there were a number of other similarities, yet the outcomes were totally different. The Case provides lessons in some of the fundamental aspects of IS/IT project management, including scope, time, risk, human resources, procurement and quality management.