Anticlue

Project Management and HealthCare IT

Recently, I came across this article relating to Hospital IT Practice and Project Management.

Startling factoids below:
<--- Snipped from Article --->
Of the organizations surveyed, nearly 50 percent have 1-4 major IT projects currently under way. At the other end of the scale, about 16 percent or our respondents indicated that they have 17 or more major IT projects currently in progress. This is a relatively high number. For example, in re-engineering projects, most authors recommend no more than 4-5 major projets at once.

When Canadian hospital IT projects failed in the past, what caused the failure? We asked our respondents to rate the relative importance of various factors. The top five factors, said to be inadequate, were:
• Levels of funding;
• Control of scope changes;
• Operational support;
• Time;
• Senior management support.

Let's review these factors, most probably can be laid out easily. One of the first things to do in reviewing a project is before it starts, obtain a rough idea of how much it is going to cost. Consider the implementation costs, and the cost of maintaining that product over 5 years. At this point in time, there should be a clear understanding of whether one is purchasing or building the solution. This is a business case for providing the solution and needs to be presented to senior management. Probably best as a part of the budgetary process.

Next, get a clear understanding of what the product is suppose to do. A long to do listing, or "functional requirements". This should be done prior to any vendor viewings, and define an RFI, then even an RFP.

For the selection process, keep the long term cost of the product in mind, and as a criteria for the solution. (Have a deliberate purposeful plan for how to select, who is involved, and how to evaluate, and a timeline sequence of steps set up) After the product is selected, have the plan of implementation and maintenance needs created.

Therefore before the actual product is contracted, you have proactively addressed the Levels of funding, the operational support, time needed. You have the scope of work, so any scope changes severely affect the project should be documented. One has also needed to obtain senior management support for the project. These basic steps provide a greater opportunity for success.