Lessons Learned from the 14-Year Systems Development of the Marine Corps StandardAccounting, Budgeting and Reporting System (SABRS)

摘要

In August of 1978 the Marine Corps initiated the development of a consolidatedfinancial management system. On October 1, 1992, after 14-years of systems development effort, the Standard Accounting, Budgeting and Reporting System (SABRS) was finally implemented throughout the Marine Corps. This thesis chronicles the 14-year SABRS systems development effort using using the historical case study research method. Data is presented from both archival sources and personal interviews. The SABRS project reveals some important general lessons about the systems development process that will prove useful to future project managers tasked with developing large-scale administrative information systems. These lessons learned include, but are not limited to, the importance of top management support, the role of the project manager as leader, rather than technical expert, the use of adaptive prototyping, the importance of fitting the right people to the right task, and the ability of management to alter its commitment to a failed course of action. (Author).