Application of Data Envelopment Analysis for the Evaluation of IT Project Success

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the problem of IT project success definition and measurement seen against the background of IT human resources management organisation. A review of the state of art of the problem shows that the assessment of IT project success is highly equivocal and subjective. Various methods may produce conflicting results. The paper proposes basically one novelty: an original approach to IT project success evaluation based on Data Development Analysis (DEA). DEA has been developed and used for years, but for other purposes. The new method, contrasted with two other which are based on other philosophies, is applied to a sample of Polish IT projects. This application shows that the new method in some cases completely changes the optics and emphasizes such aspects of IT projects which are neglected by other methods. It also shows that a combination of the proposed method with other IT project measurement methods may substantially increase the fairness of IT project team members and managers' appraisal, and hence the motivation of human resources in IT projects. (original abstract)