In September 2000, the project by the
name “FITUP” (FBI Information Technology Upgrade Project) was proposed by FBI.
The estimated time completion for the project was 3 years and approximately
379.8 $ millions was allocated to this project. Later on this project’s name
was turned into “Trilogy”. As the name suggests the project “Trilogy” was
divided into three parts:-
·
Upgrading of the
traditional software and hardware.
·
Modernizing the network
communication infrastructure.
·
Upgrading of the FBI’s
case management system (Virtual Case File).
The
whole project was delayed by almost one year and even it overran in cost as
well. The project that should be completed in 3 years actually took 4 years and
still was not completed. The first two parts were completed somehow but the
main goal of the Virtual Case File was not completed. There were many reasons
for the failure of the project just like the London Stock Exchange failure
case.
When
we dissect the failure of the FBI’s project then one could notice that there
were a series of mistakes that formed a chain of events that consequently led
to the failure of the project. One of the most important failure cause could be
the change of the project managers, CIO’s and the contract persons. In the span
of 4 years there were around 36 contract people, 10 project managers and 5
CIO’s who were change. Now it is really a big question mark on the World’s top
rated intelligence department to undergo such a mistake.
The
other most important cause for the failure of the project was the continuous
scope creep in the project that caused its failure. Since the 9/11 there were
continuously change in demand by the higher authorities. FBI was a criminal
catching agency but now it was heading towards “Intelligence” work. It was one
of the reason that led to the scope creep because by turning itself into the
Intelligence department it was very well understood that there was a need of
more advance systems and security experts.
Also
the requirements of the FBI’s project were very ill defined and they were
always increasing as the project was progressing. The “over wishful thinking”
was also a major cause of its failure. The outcome and schedule of the project
was more targeted to a desired outcome than an expected outcome. If the scope
and requirements were ket in mind then this would not have been the case.
The
FBI and the contractor’s deal were also not well aligned. There was no
penalties if the work was not done on time and the biggest mistake could be
that there was no milestone set by the FBI and this was an advantage for the
contractor’s as they could skip the milestone plus the penalties.
prepared by Z. Imran.
Sources:
1Strategic PPM ,Project and Portfolio Management
http://strategicppm.wordpress.com/2010/04/05/the-fbis-virtual-case-file-project-and-project-failure/
2 Anatomy of IT Disaster: how the FBI
blew it.
3 Infamous failure, classic Mistakes, and Best Practises by R.Ryan Nelson.
4 Hasan Cavusoglu, BAIT 510 handouts
of IT Project Management
6 Wikepedia
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