Re-escalation Cycles in Large Scale Government Information Systems

摘要

Government agencies and private sector businesses have spent billions of dollars on failed large-scale system implementations. Many of these projects escalated beyond original budget and schedule constraints before being terminated. In some cases, due to business or operational requirements, these projects begin again, only to re-escalate. This study examined this cycle via the Tax Systems Modernization (TSM) project at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to learn about the processes that lead to re-escalation cycles in large-scale IT projects. Based on our analysis, we believe that external agencies may play a role in both escalation and de-escalation based on the nature of their respective recommendations. Escalation may also he influenced by an inability on the part of management to adequately set priorities or feedback controls stemming from an additional lack of overall strategy, Finally, our research supports previous ideas that administrative turnover, cost awareness, and external shocks may be lead catalysts for beginning a period of de-escalation.