Translating Information and System Quality Factors into Implementation Success

Substantial resources are being invested in IT projects. While improving, project failure rates are high. Both tangible and intangible factors critical to IT project success can be identified and assessed through a feasibility analysis framework. It is possible to affect the success of an IT project by addressing one or more of these factors during each phase of system development. End user satisfaction and technology acceptance are intangible factors that can affect successful IT implementation. How effectively the end user interacts with a new system has significant impact on the likelihood of gaining the intended benefits of the system: improved business knowledge, improved business processes, and improved business communications. However, end user acceptance is often overlooked by system owners during the system development process and the result is a failed project. Researchers have identified factors affecting user satisfaction and technology acceptance and have developed a model that categorizes these factors into those that relate to system quality and those that relate to information quality. This study includes a model which embeds dimensions of information quality and system quality into the development life cycle. The model focuses on the deliverables produced during each phase of the FAST system development lifecycle. When factors shown to influence user satisfaction and user acceptance are incorporated into the system development lifecycle phases, the likelihood of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use is increased. When a system is perceived as useful and easy to use by system users, the probability of the system producing the intended benefits needed to improve business knowledge, processes and communications are increased.