As the role of information technology continues to broaden in scope and complexity, it is imperative that researchers as well as practitioners have some way to determine when a system is successful and why certain strategies lead to a successful system. According to statistics gathered by KPMG of Canada about 30% of all information systems development projects are cancelled after significant spending and about 55% are implemented with large cost increases (with scheduled overruns and with fewer features than promised.) Only about 15% of all projects are implemented according to plan. The goal of systems development empirical research is to provide insight into this detailed and complex process and to be able to provide prescriptive guidelines for practitioners. However, empirical research into the successful development of information systems has been plagued with numerous methodological weaknesses.
Chief among these is the inability to confidently measure the success or failure that results from a systems development project. Without a reliable dependent measure, no study can make a significant contribution to our body of knowledge in this area. This book has four goals: provide conceptual and philosophical foundations for measuring systems success; provides new approaches for understanding and identifying systems success; compares system success instruments; and, shows you how to validate systems success measures.