There are various reasons as to why the Queensland project failed and these include the following; inherent complications in the social care and health sectors and the industry in general, lack of top management support which led to poor project management (Mell, & Grance, 2011). There was also the aspect of time limit and poor documentation which made the IBM contractors unable to complete the project. Other reasons included the lack of proper communication and training as well as a team structure that was poorly designed. There was also a complex stakeholder; client and consultant relationship and failure to test the system.
From the look of things, the blame cannot be directed on one particular end. A project as big as the Queensland’s IT upgrade, requires a high integrated stakeholder management. The government, the contractor, the consultancy and the health management were all to blame since they failed to play their part of the game (Redlich, & Nemzow, 2015). If all were responsible enough in their roles issues could have been identified before hand and a solution sought in good time.
The success factors for IT implementation projects includes simplified employment agreements and awards that do away with the complexities that may affect the efficiency and effectiveness of the payroll processes. There should be clear accountability lines, responsibilities and roles for a governance structure that is end to end. System assessment and evaluation for impact and readiness for change need to be done before going into live. There should be timely identification of potential risks and risk management strategies put in place.
The Workbrain software had never been substantiated to a proper position to be utilized in major projects as the Queensland. In this case, inherent risks related to the system were not identified. The team should have run the system in one location before they scaled to the entire health system or department. System testing was also the cause reason for poor use of Workbrain software.
To fix the problem the various stakeholders including the government, the health facility management, the consultant, the IBM contractors and any other should come after an audit report has been done (Cardona, 2013). Base on the identified issues and problems they need to accept responsibility and start the whole project again right from the beginning. Each of the stakeholders is to cost share the loss depending on the magnitude of errors and problems related to them.
Report question
Program design
The design of the report analysis involved the use of qualitative design technique to obtain information related to risks and risk management strategies. This involves the use of peer reviewed sources of data such as books, online journal articles and journals. Published sources that contain secondary information were also useful in the report.
Discussion
To avoid the types of risks identified above, the business requires integrating risk management strategy so that the business, systems, data and infrastructure remain protected against the threats. The following is the risk management strategy and how to go about it (Mitchell, 2010).
IT risk management
Managing the IT risks involves structured process that includes a series of tasks which are designed to serve the following; identify the risks, assess the risks, mitigate the risks, develop plans for response and finally to review the procedures involved in the risk management process (Ramgovind, Eloff, & Smith, 2010). One such comprehensive approach by the Australian emergency management agency towards risk management is based on the PPRR model i.e. (prevention, preparedness, response and recovery). The following are the common IT risk management strategies that help reduce the impact of these threats.
Risk management strategies
The risks and threats to IT systems, infrastructure and data have become an everyday reality in most of the modern businesses. Such businesses, data and systems need to be protected against hackers and theft by putting in place strict measures of security (Flyvbjerg, 2009). These are the strategies to implement.
Practical steps that improve security for IT systems
Creation of an online presence that is secure
If businesses have online presence, on needs to assess the website security, online banking, email accounts as well as profiles for social media. For instance the SSL technology (secure socket layer) is applied in encrypting transaction data and send card or customer details for authorization by the acquiring bank (Durmu?o?lu, 2009). It is critical to ensure that any solution that is considered for web hosting has the capability of supporting the protocol for the SSL.
IT and induction training on the staff
Existing and new staff need to be trained in the IT procedures, policies and conduct codes as an important element of the IT risk management strategy. Staff training helps cover key business policies and processes that include the following;
As the employer one needs to have legal obligations that help in the training of staff (Sobol, & Klein, 2009). The provision of support as well as training for new or existing employees is an essential aspect of staff training.
Business insurance
It is very hard for businesses to avoid or prevent all threats and risks related to IT. This makes the business insurance an element that is quite essential in the risk management and planning of business recovery (Knahl, 2009). One needs to regularly review and update the insurance especially for new or IT risks that are emerging such as the increased use of mobile devices that are personal while running activities in the workplace.
Response towards an IT incident
The business recovers depending on how the owner responds to the IT incident. In this case the process influences the ideas of the customers and the business reliability. An incident of IT can get confined to the components of IT in the business like the denial of service attacks that target the business (De Bakker, Boonstra, & Wortmann, 2010). On the other side the incident can also include the whole business crisis including the damage on its networks from natural disasters. The risk management plan for IT risks and the continuity plan of the business need to have the following elements.
The response plans for the IT incident
Response plans for IT risks are meant to identify the principal risks that threaten the IT systems and highlights the steps the business owner needs to take towards mitigating the effects of the damages (Yuriyama, & Kushida, 2010). These may involve the details of any key staff needed to be notified after the incident, the plan of communication, the actions of priority, contact list and an event log for making records.
Emergency response plan
Incidents that affect the IT systems may occur from a wider crisis that may include bushfire, flood, cyclone or an explosion. In such emergency cases the members of safety and staff of the public become the first priority (Wu, Ping, Ge, Wang, & Fu, 2010). Any incident for IT response plan needs to integrate and be supportive of response plans for emergency cases.
Recovery plan for IT incident
These recovery plans need to help the business to respond in an effective manner on the incidents or crises that affect the IT systems in the business. The plans of recovery can shorten the times of recovery and reduce the extent of losses and these may include;
A checklist for IT (information technology) risk management
To all the businesses that make use of IT technology systems, it is critical for the owners to be aware of the key steps that can be taken towards the minimization of the IT risks or incidents. The owners of the business need to come up with a checklist for IT risk management that should help them to determine the precautions that are basic and the various steps to be involved in the management of the IT risks in the business (Dikaiakos, Katsaros, Mehra, Pallis, & Vakali, 2009). The checklist involves or takes care of all the various IT risks known to exist and that have the potential of influencing the operations of the business. The checklist caters all aspect for risks such as software and hardware damage, viruses, malicious attracts, spam, human errors and natural disasters (Bhatt, Emdad, Roberts, & Grover, 2010). The checklist is a group of items that are highlighted for the business in terms of questions regarding the risks and the management risks that may affect the business IT systems and infrastructure and have a yes or no response in the end. It helps tell the business owners how well they are prepared in terms of managing and IT incident or risk that might occur (Kumar, & Van Hillegersberg, 2009). The checklist helps the business owners to always be ready for any of the identified risks based on the fact that these are issues that the business may not be able to tell when they happen. The idea is to ensure in case they happen, the business is ready to wake up to the occasion and through the management strategies, be able to recover its full operations and business continuity.
Conclusion
The IT risks include software and hardware failure, spam, malicious attacks, human error and viruses. They also include natural catastrophes such as floods, cyclones and fires. One can manage risks related to IT by carrying out a risk management assessment. The risk management plan for IT risks and the continuity plan of the business need to have the response plans for the IT incident, emergency plans of response and plans of recovery. The business also needs to have a checklist. The checklist is a group of items that are highlighted for the business in terms of questions regarding the risks and the management risks that may affect the business IT systems and infrastructure and have a yes or no response in the end. The checklist caters all aspect for risks. Staff training helps cover key business policies and processes that include safe handling of any emails that are infected, protection of the privacy towards the details of the customers and priority tasks in case an event of security breach happens online. Business need to ensure they implement the following practical steps that improve security for IT systems; securing computers wireless networks and servers, securing the system passwords, using anti-spyware and anti-virus protection as well as firewalls, using data backups such as remote or off-site storage, regularly updating software to their latest version, training staff for it procedures and policies and understanding the legal obligations towards online business
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