Enterprise IT Projects
IT projects support various business objectives, such as start-ups, business transformation, system enhancements, and IT infrastructure maintenance. Each project varies in size and complexity, requiring a tailored approach to delivery.
Enterprise IT projects are large and complex initiatives with organisation-wide impact, requiring extensive planning, specialist resources, and governance. They transform core systems and drive change across several key areas:
- Technology upgrades: These projects often involve replacing legacy systems with modern solutions and enhancing scalability, security, and performance to meet business objectives.
- Data management: Enterprise IT projects improve how data is stored, accessed, and utilised, enhancing decision-making and operational efficiency.
- Process alignment: Rather than focusing on process optimisation, enterprise IT projects integrate processes with new technology to provide a holistic solution, addressing gaps where system functionality falls short.
- Organisational change management: The success of a technology implementation largely depends on the effective management of change within the organisation, extending to external partners and customers. Through targeted training and communication, they ensure a smooth transition to new systems and workflows.
These elements align with an organisation’s strategic objectives, delivering a comprehensive transformation that impacts people, processes, technology, and information.
Smaller-Scale IT Projects
In contrast, smaller-scale IT initiatives focus on specific needs constrained within one or more business areas. These projects enhance and maintain IT services and business operations, often arising from immediate operational demands. They are typically managed with more adaptable methodologies and frameworks and can be grouped into three main types:
- Enhancement projects: Improve, expand, or refine existing IT systems or services.
- Production support: Provides routine system maintenance and minor enhancements.
- Business projects: Develop tools for task automation used by a limited number of users within a business area.
Table 1 aligns the distinctive attributes of these categories, which can be used as a reference for tailoring approaches to meet specific project needs.
| Attribute | Enterprise IT Project | Enhancement Project | Production Support | Business Project |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Achieves strategic objectives, such as innovation or regulatory compliance. | Focuses on improving existing systems. | Ensures existing IT services' ongoing functionality and reliability and may deliver minor improvements to existing systems. | Implements tools for efficiency relevant to specific business needs. |
| Who sponsors? | Business | Business | IT department | Business |
| Who governs? | PMO | PMO | IT department | Business |
| Scope | Installation of comprehensive IT services, including technology, information, processes, and organisational change management. | Major enhancements or optimisations to existing systems may involve integrating new tools or introducing new features to improve efficiency and user experience. | Fixes to incidents and problems in existing systems, including maintenance and troubleshooting, may lead to minor enhancements or optimisations to existing systems. | Development of tools for task automation and operational efficiency. These projects may not directly involve IT but rely on technological solutions. |
| Size | Large | Medium to large | Small to medium | Small |
| Complexity | High. It involves multiple internal and external stakeholders, installing new systems or major upgrades of existing systems, and numerous system integrations. | Medium. It may involve multiple internal and external stakeholders, moderate changes or enhancements to existing systems, and limited system integrations. | Low to Medium. It may involve the internal IT department, multiple business stakeholders, and routine maintenance that may escalate to minor enhancements to existing systems. | Low. It involves internal business stakeholders and the development of tools that are not supported by the IT department ('unsupported tools'). |
| Impact | Transformative with organisation-wide impact | Operational efficiency across one or more business areas | IT service continuity | Operational efficiency in one or more business areas for minor enhancements or optimisations |
| Delivery model | Waterfall, Agile, or Hybrid | Waterfall, Agile, or Hybrid | Service management frameworks such as the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) | Agile or Ad-hoc for minor enhancements or optimisations |
| Standards | Project management and discipline standards | Best practices | Project management and discipline standards | Self-devised practices |
| Resource competency | Enterprise IT project professionals and discipline specialists who are both technology-agnostic and generally knowledgeable in various business domains | IT project professionals and discipline specialists who are both technology-agnostic and generally knowledgeable in various business domains | IT specialists in specific systems who are generally knowledgeable in specific business domains within an organisation. | Business domain experts who are skilled in integrating technology with business processes. |
The following key attributes guide provides management strategies for these IT projects, incorporating theoretical insights and practical examples.
