IS/ICT Outsourcing Decision Project in a Large Public Organization: A Case Study

Summary, in English

We describe and discuss an outsourcing decision project, in which a large public organisation decided to outsource its ICT and IS. Different phases and critical steps in the project are highlighted, and some critical issues are identified. First, it is clear that there were different definitions of “hosting” and these different definitions made it unclear what the project was about. The desired project outcome thus became unclear, which affected commitment during the project as well as commitment to the outcome of the project. It also led to the project plan having to be rescheduled and the project costs increased. Second, our analysis also shows that there were unclear descriptions of how hosting was currently made in the organisation. This resulted in several problems in the project, in particular, in making proposals from potential providers hard to evaluate. But, also some positive results, such as a clearer picture of what resources existed, was gained. The study suggests that, had there been, at the outset of the project, a clear understanding of (1) what the project was really about, (2) the project’s role in increasing control and decreasing costs, and (3) how the hosting was to be implemented, a lot of the difficulties could have been avoided.

• Författare: Sven Carlsson; Björn Johansson
• Avdelning/ar: Institutionen för informatik
• Publiceringsår: 2011
• Språk: Engelska
• Sidor: 137-162
• Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie: Journal of Decision Systems
• Volym: 20
• Issue: 2
• Länkar: http://dx.doi.org/10.3166/jds.20.137-162
• Dokumenttyp: Artikel i tidskrift
• Förlag: Taylor & Francis
• Ämne: Information Systems, Social aspects
• Nyckelord: Outsourcing; Sourcing Project; Outsourcing Decision; Case Study.
• Status: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt: ISSN: 2116-7052