Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Business Administration Dissertations Programs in Business Administration 5-5-2019 Enterprise Implementations: The Impact of Systems Implementations Using Professional Services Consultants vs. Internal Resources and the Downstream Impact Post Implementations Yves Belmont Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.edu/bus_admin_diss Recommended Citation Belmont, Yves, "Enterprise Implementations: The Impact of Systems Implementations Using Professional Services Consultants vs. Internal Resources and the Downstream Impact Post Implementations." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2019.edu/bus_admin_diss/120 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Programs in Business Administration at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Business Administration Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University.
For more information, please contact scholarworks@gsu. PERMISSION TO BORROW In presenting this dissertation as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for an advanced degree from Georgia State University, I agree that the Library of the University shall make it available for inspection and circulation in accordance with its regulations governing materials of this type. I agree that permission to quote from, copy from, or publish this dissertation may be granted by the author or, in her absence, the professor under whose direction it was written or, in his absence, by the Dean of the Robinson College of Business. Such quoting, copying, or publishing must be solely for scholarly purposes and must not involve potential financial gain.
It is understood that any copying from or publication of this dissertation that involves potential gain will not be allowed without written permission of the author. Yves Anthony Belmont NOTICE TO BORROWERS All dissertations deposited in the Georgia State University Library must be used only in accordance with the stipulations prescribed by the author in the preceding statement. The author of this dissertation is: Yves Anthony Belmont J. Mack Robinson College of Business Georgia State University Atlanta, GA 30302-4015 The director of this dissertation is: Danny Bellenger J.
Mack Robinson College of Business Georgia State University Atlanta, GA 30302-4015 Enterprise Implementations: The Impact of Systems Implementations Using Professional Services Consultants vs. Internal Resources and the Downstream Impact Post Implementations. by Yves Anthony Belmont A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Of Executive Doctorate in Business In the Robinson College of Business Of Georgia State University GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY ROBINSON COLLEGE OF BUSINESS 2019 Copyright by Yves Anthony Belmont 2019 ACCEPTANCE This dissertation was prepared under the direction of the YVES ANTHONY BELMONT Dissertation Committee. It has been approved and accepted by all members of that committee, and it has been accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration in the J.
Mack Robinson College of Business of Georgia State University. Richard Phillips, Dean DISSERTATION COMMITTEE Dr. Danny Bellenger (Chair) Dr. Wesley Johnston Dr.
Balasubramaniam Ramesh iv DEDICATION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To Cerrette Therese Gaillou (Mother), Pierre Yvon Belmont (Father), and Carl Evans Belmont (Brother). Thank you for instilling in me the life values that fuel and steer me on my journey of life, and for illustrating, on a daily basis, what it truly means to love unconditionally as humane citizens of the world. Finally, but importantly, Isis Belmont, my spouse, life partner, and dog show ring assistant. Isis continues to love and support our union of marriage, and grow daily with me on our excursion through life.
To my various show dogs and fanciers, whom I enjoy time with, both inside the AKC Exhibitor ring and out. To all humans who experience inequality and misjudgment in personal and professional spaces, stay focused on your goals, execute them daily, and ignore the naysayers. I would also like to offer a heartfelt thank you and congratulations to my doctoral cohorts, class of 2019. A special thank you to Jennoa Graham, Ph., Irina Kogan, Esther Chance, and Alvin Glay.
From the first day of orientation (Wednesday, August 24, 2016), we developed a special bond that grew stronger as the program progressed; thank you and congratulations again! To all the esteemed professors, advisors, and administrative staff I’ve had the privilege of learning from, since joining the Executive Doctorate in Business program. v TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. iv LIST OF TABLES. viii LIST OF FIGURES .1 The Concept of Project Success .2 The Value of IT Project Success to Enterprises.
3 II LITERATURE REVIEW .1 Resource-Based Theory .2 History of Resource-Based Theory.3 Limitations of Resource-Based Theory .4 Information Technology and Sustained Competitive Advantage .1 IT Project Management .1 IT Project Management Failures .2 Identification of Software Project Risks .2 IT-Project Implementation Practices .3 Business Managers’ IT Competence .3 IT-Project Success.4 IT-Project Success: Project vs.5 Role and Impact of External Professional Services Consultants in Enterprise Implementations. 26 vi III METHODOLOGY .1 Implementation Resources: Consultants vs.2 Project Life Cycles and Project Implementation Strategy .3 End-User Benefits .1 Three pillars of great design innovation .2 Facts: Monetary Benefits .3 Facts: Nonmonetary Benefits .4 Time and Cost.5 IT-Project Success.1 Themes on the Role and Impact of External Services Consultants .2 Product/Service Effectiveness .3 Cost/Scope/Schedule/Quality Management .1 Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2 .2 The IPMA Competence Baseline .3 The Project Management Competency Development Framework .4 Risk and Issue Management .1 Event-Based Risk Management.1 Critical Success Factors.2 Understanding the Basics .3 Develop an Executive Project Summary .1 Building a Team That Covers all the Core Competencies .3 War Room Creation .1 The 8-Step Model .8 Performance of the Project Team and Organization.2 Professional Career Path Generation .1 Summary of Findings .2 Management Implications for Science .1 Value-Add for Management .2 Art versus Science .3 Conclusion and Implications.4 Limitations and Future Research .Error! Bookmark not defined. viii LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Respondent Matrix. 28 Table 2 Levels of Project Success According to the PMBOK® Guide—Fourth Edition.
58 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Relationships predicted. 5 Figure 2 Provide figure description. 22 Figure 3 Figure description. 36 Figure 4 Figure description.
39 Figure 5 Figure description. Word cloud from IT respondents. 52 Figure 8 Bullet point scope statement (Whiteaker, 2000). 53 Figure 9 The three levels of project success.
57 Figure 10 Risk management as a continuous project process. 63 Figure 11 The EBRM process overview. 66 Figure 12 Risk overview. 68 Figure 13 Executive project summary.
69 Figure 14 Process map. 73 Figure 15 The eight-step model by Professor John P. 76 Figure 16 RACI chart. 79 Figure 17 Project delivery system.
81 Figure 18 Project management career path. 82 Figure 19 The ROI process model (Philips & Philips, The Consultant’s Scorecard, 2nd Edition, 2011). 83 Figure 20 The art of project leadership, which gains importance with increasing project size. 88 x Enterprise Implementations: The Impact of Systems Implementations Using Professional Services Consultants vs.
Internal Resources and the Downstream Impact Post Implementations. by Yves Anthony Belmont August 2019 Chair: Danny Bellenger Major Academic Unit: Executive Doctorate in Business Large-scale complex Information Technology (IT) Systems Implementations, such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementations, with significant change management, often yield minimal return on investment (ROI); such projects often fail. This study aims to focus on the role, impact, and value of external professional services consultants within the ecosystem of large complex IT systems and ERP implementations. Each chapter will provide an extensive examination of various contributing factors and possible corrective approaches, starting with the theoretical arguments underpinning resource-based theory and its possible relationship to IT project success, with the involvement of external Professional Services Consultants.
The study will rely on a qualitative approach to examine the attributes of successful and failed IT projects, by comparing internal resources, external professional services consultant’s, and partnership models of project implementations. INDEX WORDS: Professional Services Consultants, Management Consultants, IT Project Success, Enterprise Resource Planning, Project Program Portfolio Management 1 I INTRODUCTION Information technology (IT) project success rates are increasing, as firms move toward cultivating a more modern space within their respective industries. Still, in 2015, a study showed that, overall, the situation was not optimistic, and the failure rate of IT projects remained high, outside of China. Further, the actual earnings are far below the expected returns from IT projects, (Chi et al.
However, after years of stagnating IT project success rates and project failures, as Pulse of the Profession report from the Project Management Institute (PMI) shows that success rates for IT projects are finally on the rise (Florentine, 2017). ICO reported poll results of 3,234 project management professionals, including 200 senior executives and 510 PMO directors, and separated organizations into two distinct categories, per Mark Langley, CEO and president of PMI: champions and underperformers, (Florentine, 2017). The report revealed that a significant increase in project success occurred between 2013 and 2016. The report pointed to a survey by Innotas (2016) that showed that 50% of businesses surveyed had experienced an IT project failure within the previous 12 months.
Three years later, those numbers had increased; on the 2016 Innotas annual Project and Portfolio Management Survey, which polled 126 IT professionals between January and March 2015, 55% of respondents reported having had a project fail, up from 32% in 2014 (Florentine, 2017). Despite this significant increase among the polls, further review of scholarly work yielded no evidence of a comprehensive methodological approach that, if followed, could yield higher IT project success rates.1 The Concept of Project Success The abovementioned issue brings up questions about which parameters are being used to measure project management success, in general, as IT project management is a subdivision of 2 project management. The concept of project success has long been regarded as the ability to achieve a goal within a given time, for a certain cost, and in accordance with certain quality constraints. The “time/cost/quality triangle” or “iron triangle,” or the “golden triangle,” that some professionals call the “Holy Trinity” or the “triangle of virtue” long sufficed as a definition of project success (Atkinson, 1999; Hazebroucq & Badot, 1996, p.
However, time and cost adherence does not always constitute project success, as projects that do not so adhere have been considered successful, while others that have adhered have been regarded as unsuccessful. For example, the Ford Taurus car was completed on time, in 1995, but turned out to be a disappointing business experience (Ika, 2017). Project success generally falls into one of the following categories, depending on the study: either they deal with project success criteria (or dimensions) or they examine critical success factors (CSFs). Hence, the “triangle of virtue”: time, cost, and quality as criteria for measuring success.
Some writers maintain that the quality criterion involves meeting functional and technical specifications (Ika, 2017). Given the uniqueness of projects and their temporary nature, research on CSFs will also take the project life cycle into account (Pinto & Slevin, 1988b; Ika, 2017). During project execution, the key factors are project mission, characteristics of the project team leader, troubleshooting, project schedules/plan, technical tasks, and client consultation (Ika, 2017). Although these elements are important to project success that relates to firm capacity building and competitive advantage, one must consider the overall strategic plan of a company.
Hence, it is necessary to clarify project success criteria, select project CSFs at the beginning of a project, and ensure that all stakeholders agree with their definition (Wateridge, 1995; Ika, 2017). 3 Engaged Scholarship Research Component Component Enterprise implementations: The impact of systems implementations using professional Area of Concern (A) services consultants vs. international resources and the downstream impact post implementation in organizations. Real Problem Setting What drives relative success of IT projects that involve professional services (P) consultants? Framework (F) resource-based theory Qualitative method with in-depth interviews 18 IT professionals with footprint complex Research Method (M) IT implementations.
1) Does the use of consultants vs. internal resources impact the success of the implementation? Research Question(s) 2) What are the existing Enterprise implementation strategies? (RQ) 3) What are the downstream impacts post implementation in organizations? What are the best IT project approaches for project success?