個案總覽

In market-leading firms, software development is often undertaken by in-house teams to address specific information systems (IS) needs — in part because nothing that fits specific needs is commercially available. These projects often end up taking longer than planned and exceeding ever-growing budgets.<br><br>In this case, in-house software development of an information system for Canadian Shield Insurance was finally nearing completion (over budget and behind schedule), and the beta-testing phase and some initial training sessions had begun. Not all the first impressions were positive, so when the director became aware of a recently introduced commercial offering that seemed like a very attractive alternative, he faced a dilemma: should he abandon the developed project, which amounted to five years of work and over $1 million, for a different system that might be a better option? The protagonist in the case had done a preliminary functional comparison of the in-house information system and the commercial offering, and he recognized that the new alternative might hold some significant advantages for the firm. The potential negative implications for his career and the careers of the people he worked alongside during the development project caused him to think about whether or not he should be informing others within the firm about the commercial alternative and, if he did, what position he should take.

In market-leading firms, software development was often undertaken by an in-house team to address specific IS needs - in part because nothing that fit these specific needs was commercially available. These projects often ended up taking longer than planned and exceeding ever-growing budgets. In this case, in-house software development was finally nearing completion (over budget and behind schedule) and the beta testing phase, along with some initial 'train-the-trainer' sessions, had begun. Not all the first impressions were positive, so when the director became aware of a recently introduced commercial offering that seemed like a very attractive alternative he faced a dilemma: should he abandon the developed project, which amounted to five years of work and over $1 million for a system that may be a better option? The protagonist in the case had done a preliminary functional comparison of the in-house information system and the commercial offering; he recognized that the new alternative might have held some significant advantages for the firm. The potential negative implications for his career and the careers of the people he worked alongside during the development project caused him to think about whether or not he should be informing others within the firm about the commercial alternative and, if he did, what position he should take.