NASCIO survey: project management increases IT implementation success.

• Position: National Association of State Chief Information Officers

Billions of dollars are spent on government IT projects every year. Although many have good track records, project success rates have great room for improvement. Governments have demonstrated that applying the discipline of project management can greatly increase project success, but there is still much to be done. This premise served as the impetus behind the National Association of State Chief Information Officers' 2005 survey of state information technology project management practices.

Findings from the survey have just been released in Discipline Succeeds. Findings from the NASCIO State IT Project Management Assessment. Thirty-four state project management offices participated in the self-assessment from August through September of 2005. The trends found in their responses set the baseline for government IT project management progress.

Throughout the report, several core themes emerge as recommendations for the success of government IT initiatives:

* There is value in adopting an enterprise approach toward IT investments.

* Given the complexity of implementing IT projects both within and across government agencies, clarifying the governance structure during the initiation phase of the project is essential.

* Organizational change management must be viewed as an integral component of project management.

* Enterprise portfolio management can facilitate the alignment of statewide IT investments with a state's goals and objectives and enterprise architecture.

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