INFORMATION SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS AND THE SIMPT 2.0 CASE: HOW TO TURN AN ANTICIPATED FAILURE INTO A SUCCESS

摘要

This paper discusses the experience of the project for upgrading and extending a DSS of huge extent and complexity, devoted to transport management, which is still a neglected domain for IS research. This DSS belongs to an Italian Ministry and the project had the form of a public contract. For many reasons, this project was long-lasting and much troubled, and when approaching the testing phase it could have been considered failed. A case investigation through an action research reveals that drastic changes in project organization (actors composition and interaction), and in methodology (from waterfall to agile-like methods), adopted even in this late phase of the development process, contributed to turn an anticipated project failure into a success.