16. Earl’s Canadian Comparisons Earl, L. (2004) An historical comparison of technological change, 1998-2000 and 2000-2002, in the private and public sectors Ottawa: Statistics Canada (also see Earl 2002)
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24. IT project failures Government IT projects July 2003 Report 200 http://www.parliament.uk/post/pr200.pdf “ • Difficulties with IT delivery occur in both the public and private sectors. However, the public sector has specific issues to address, including long procurement timescales, high publicity, the need for accountability and the political environment. • There are some factors which can lead to particular problems with IT, such as rapidly changing technology, difficulties in defining requirements and high complexity. • Much government IT is now delivered by external suppliers, so government needs to be an intelligent client. Departments require a range of skills to scrutinise bids, keep up to date with technology, be realistic about what systems are likely to deliver, understand commercial drivers and actively manage suppliers. • Breaking projects down into smaller parts increases the chances of success and makes contingency planning easier, but requires considerable time and effort. • It is important to include the final users in project development and provide time and resources for training.”