Project management case study presentation
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CaseStudyPresentationEXAMPLE.pptxCase Study 0
Dept. Homeland Security – Railhead Project
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Synopsis -1
The Railhead project, contracted to Boeing Co., intended to upgrade the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC)'s integrated terrorist intelligence database, called Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE).
Goal: To enhance information sharing and improve access of data fed from over 30 separate networks
Key contractor: Boeing, SRI International
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Synopsis - 2
The House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology, led by Miller reported:
Railhead software was tested by HP quality center
Passed 148 tasks, didn’t complete 26 others, and failed 42. examples below:
Fail to create reports,
Fail to find non-exact matches (e.g. suspected terrorist’s names)
Fail to use Boolean search terms, and, or, not.
The use of XML is inefficient and has security concerns
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Synopsis – 3
"The end result is a current IT system used to identify terrorist threats that has been crippled by technical flaws and a new system that if actually deployed will leave our country more vulnerable than the existing yet flawed system in operation today.”
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Synopsis - 4
The project is not only flawed but also behind schedule.
34 of 72 "action items" are past due,
Two are behind schedule.
Ten more tasks--five of them costing more than $92 million--are "significantly off-task.“
Hundreds of millions of dollars wasted
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Key Problems
Ethical Issues
Inappropriate use of money: $200M (out of $500M) for building renovation
Potential conflicts-of-interests between program director of contractor SRI international Earl Lyberger, and the governments’ program manager Dirk Rankin
Lack of oversight and poor management
The poor qualifications of some of the Boeing subcontractors
Battles among contractors have hampered the sharing of critical technical data
Morale
Contractor employees have been laid off to restrain escalating costs. The number of contractors has shrunk from more than 800 to just a few dozen.
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Discussion Questions to Class
Who is at fault?
How can we prevent such failures in future ?
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Possible Solutions
Auditing
Procurement Management
Communication
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Link to the Class
Team selection
Conflict management
Procure management
Project monitoring and control
Quality control
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References
http://calleam.com/WTPF/?p=339
https://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2008/08/27/railhead-problems-come-to-a-head.aspx
http://www.computerworld.com/article/2532656/government-it/terror-threat-system-crippled-by-technical-flaws--says-congress.html
http://www.zdnet.com/article/failed-government-it-the-mother-of-all-databases/
https://www.cnet.com/news/fatal-flaws-found-in-terrorism-database/
http://www.zdnet.com/article/failed-government-it-the-mother-of-all-databases/?target=#!
https://www.cnet.com/news/fatal-flaws-found-in-terrorism-database/
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Questions?
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