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Solved case study Virtual case file FBI
- 1. FBI Case Study VCF solved Executive Overview According to the article by Harry Goldstein, The story of the Virtual Case File (VCF) project failure in FBI began in the early 1990’s, When Larry Depew, FBI Special Agent identified the need for a database program that would help him and other agents of FBI to organize the information i.e. the reams of evidence collected during their investigations from wiretaps, interviews, and financial transactions over the course of two and a half years investigating Russian Mobsters with Italian mafia involvement in skimming off millions of dollars in federal and New Jersey state gasoline and diesel taxes. The inability of FBI Special Agents to use a software component to connect the dots, both on Agent Depew’s case specifically, and any new dots that might come along was the problem found by Depew. There was an extreme need to replace the existing system, the obsolete Automated Case Support (ACS) system, as it was extremely cumbersome, inefficient, and limited in its capabilities, and did not manage, link, research, analyze and share information as effectively or timely as needed. Therefore Depew ended up writing a database program on his own, that he used to trace relationships between telephone calls, meetings, surveillance, and interviews; but he still could not import information from other investigations that would help him in his investigation. This ended up the need to upgrade the IT infrastructure which would result in the creation of the FBI’s Virtual Case File (VCF) project. The VCF was supposed to automate the FBI’s paper-based work environment, allow agents and intelligence analysts to share vital investigative information, and replace the obsolete Automated Case Support (ACS) system. Instead, the FBI claims that the project went so terribly wrong that the bureau had to scrap the US $170 million project, including $105 million worth of unusable code. The project was completely scrapped in 2005 and the FBI started out again with a new project called “Sentinel”
- 2. Project Overview The FBI’s Virtual Case file (VCF) project began in the year 2000 when the bureau began to deal with its outdated IT systems infrastructure. On 17th July 2000, the FBI hired Bob E. Dies as Assistant Director in charge of the FBI Information Resources Division to create a plan for this IT transformation. Dies, who was a former executive with IBM, replaced Louis J. Freeh, who did not have the competencies required to complete this task. The FBI’s lack of IT competencies, and technical inexpertise, combined with their incompetence in delivering IT systems infrastructure, is a common problem that lead to this unnecessary and epic IT project failure. And Dies was just the first of five officials who would struggled over four years to lead the FBI’s sprawling and antiquated information systems, and get the VCF project under way. In September 2000, Congress approved $379.8 million over three years for what was then called the FBI Information Technology Upgrade Program. As it was divided into three parts, the program became known as the Trilogy. In May and June 2001, the FBI awarded a contract to DynCorp, for Hardware and network projects and Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), for developing software projects for a period of three years. DynCorp committed to delivering its two components by July 2002. SAIC agreed to deliver the initial version of the VCF in December 2003 instead of June 2004. In August 2002, the only early warning sign came from Matthew Patton, a security expert working for SAIC on the VCF development team. Patton blamed the lack of technical expertise on the side of the FBI, as well as SAIC management practices, declaring both organization’s incompetent. In the end, Patton was not granted top-secret clearance with the FBI. Also he could not take a position with SAIC due to their inability to base him in Chicago, and most importantly, Patton’s declarations and objections were ignored. In 2005, Glenn A. Fine, the U.S Department of Justice’s inspector general, submitted an 81-page audit of the FBI’s VCF project. In it he described eight factors that contributed to the VCF’s failure. Among the factors included were poorly defined and slowly evolving design requirements; overly ambitious schedules; and the lack of a strategic plan to guide hardware purchases, network deployments, and software development for the bureau. Fine concluded that four years after 9/11 terrorist attack, the FBI still did not have the software it needed to connect the dots with the data in their case files.
- 3. In May 2005, The project was abandoned before completion. The FBI spent $170 million on the VCF project, and in the end they are going with a customizable, off the shelf system. The solution is not to keep throwing money at the project, but to recognize the serious issues of the project’s failure. The real killers were significant management turbulence and the ever-shifting nature of the requirements. In the end, Trilogy project, like so many IT projects, was a total confusion for the FBI on how to define and implement Enterprise architecture, based upon user expectations. Had every step of this project be organized, it would be a successful project.
- 4. Project Management Knowledge Areas Project Scope Management: Project scope management includes the process of defining and documenting all the work that is required to successfully complete a project. To define a project scope, we must first identify Project objectives, Goals, Sub-phases, Tasks, Resources, Budget, and Schedule. The scope of the project helps to find the objectives of the project and the goals that need to be met to achieve a satisfactory result which was not defined by VCF venture. The resources and the budget were not planned properly and they failed to complete the project in given time as the schedules were overly ambitious. Also, There were uncontrolled changes made in the project and there was no scope change control which lead to the epic failure of the project. Human Resource Management Human resource management (HRM) in Project Management consists of all the processes that helps a project manager in organizing, managing and leading the project team. The success of any project depends on the Project Manager’s ability to a great extent to bring individuals from different backgrounds together to build a team that is very productive. In Virtual case file project, Larry Depew was appointed as project manager even without having any prior experience in IT. It is the duty of the Project Manager to effectively assemble, cultivate and manage the team which Depew failed to do. Project communication Management Communication is the most important part of project management. Effective communication is an essential competency that helps the Project Manager to keep the team informed about the different aspects of a project. It is essential for a Project Manager to develop this competency to successfully utilize it as part of the Project Communications Management knowledge area. Larry Depew lacked this competency. Ineffective and unclear communication leads to misunderstanding and this is what happened in VCF.
- 5. Key Issues There was a continuous disconnection between the FBI and SAIC from the beginning. Also, The FBI’s understanding of the requirements for the VCF project was not strong. Adding to these problems, there was a constant turnover of FBI Directors, the FBI’s lack of technical expertise, and lack of IT management. Of course the results would be disastrous for the VCF project. There was no proper scope management. VCF had unrealistic scheduling of tasks, overly ambitious schedules. The requirements were defined as “How” certain things should be done or look like instead of “What” the system should do. The project lacked management continuity and oversight. There was repeated changes in specifications. The project had scope creep as the requirements were continuously added to the system. There was code bloat and at one point of time the software had 700,000 lines of massive code. There was no enterprise architecture to describe how it wants to operate in the future, and VCF did not had a transition plan to achieve the goals. Human Resource Management involves the process of evaluating individual team member performance, providing feedback, resolving conflicts, and managing changes efficiently. There was inclusion of many FBI Personnel who had little or no formal training in (IT) projects as managers and even engineers assigned on the project lacked the technical knowledge required to complete it. Also, too many people were involved in this project and it created an environment of confusion. Communication is an inevitable part of project management. There was lack of proper communication between FBI and SAIC. SAIC engineers had to rework due to constantly changing blueprints. For example, the FBI told SAIC engineers to add a “page crumb” capability to all the systems after the eight teams had completed about 25 percent of the VCF project. This added complexity to the project and it delayed the development. No effective communication was carried out to solve this issue.
- 6. Resolution Had they made a proper scope for this project, it would be a great success. Firstly, Enterprise Architecture i.e. Blueprint is very important before starting any project. Blueprint at FBI could possibly make the project successful. There was no realistic planning as there was high pressure. The balance between their ambition and the available resources would have made the project successful. Huge size of code and limited flexibility made the changes in the software extremely difficult and time consuming. There were many software programmers involved in this case. Few programmers and flexibility in the coding system would have completed the project on time and made it less tedious. There would have been certain steps taken to avoid scope creep. The project would have been successful if Scope change control process had been used. There should be people with right knowledge on the job. In VCF project, Larry Depew lacked project management skills. Hiring an experienced project Manager would have led to successful completion of the project. Few people would have been appointed to do this project to avoid confusions. The FBI would have discussed the requirements with the internal members of the organization before having a word with SAIC members. The Communication of the VISION i.e the reason for the project, how to successfully deliver it, and what new benefits it will provide would have been openly discussed between FBI and SAIC. They would have appointed a Supervisor or Team leader in those eight teams which would handle the team and report to the project manager.
- 7. Relevance to IT project Management From a project management perspective, the lessons of the VCF cautionary tool are many. In the light of day, the role of project manager from both sides of the project, was not integrated into the project with any kind of authority. o System design - The system design process was well under way prior to the expansion of the intelligence mission, and the requirements for the processes supporting the intelligence mission were not included in the VCF design. For this reason, and because of the significant differences in IT requirements the FBI refrain from using the VCF as the foundation on which to build its analytical and data management capabilities for the intelligence processes supporting the counterterrorism mission. o Executive Support: Executive support can keep the project on track and help gather the appropriate resources needed to complete the project on time and in scope. o Enterprise architecture – The FBI’s efforts and results in the area of enterprise architecture were limited, and fell far short of what was required. o Program management - Program management emphasizes the coordinating and prioritizing of resources across projects, managing links between the projects and the overall costs and risks of the program. Internal development plans, and the development contracts with supporting organizations, should call for an approach that is based on a process of extensive prototyping and usability testing with real users. o Skills, resources, and external factors - the FBI lacks a human resource and skill base adequate to deal with the bureau’s IT modernization program. Specifically, the FBI is extremely short on experienced program managers and senior IT management team members with good communications skills.
- 8. Key Takeaways o Organizing - Lack of strategic processes lead to failures. It’s necessary to take a closer look at project organization and make a new strategy that will ensure successful execution. o Project Budgeting - Poor budgeting of a project can affect it’s execution. Therefore, a proper assessment is needed for figuring out if the project had incurred more costs than those possible within the approved budget and how to use them in future. Similarly, it should be checked if there was any lack of funding that led to project failure. In either case, proper budgeting is a must and should be done in advance for all future projects. o Scrutinize each Project Stage - Every stage of the project should be re-examined. This will help in determining those aspects of the project that were successful and the same can be applied in future ones as well. At most times, employees learn new skills or tactics from a failed project and implement them in their new assignments to gain enhanced levels of efficiency. At the time of the next project execution, the lessons learnt from a previous failed project should be communicated to all team members. The analysis made by project managers from their recent failures should become a part of enterprise knowledge, and help team members overcome similar issues in future. o Select Team Members carefully - Many a times, a project’s failure can be attributed to the shortcomings of certain team members. If one or more team members do not possess some essential characteristics, then a project might not achieve its desired goals. Thus, an in-depth evaluation of team members and their re-appointment to create a new team with specific skills is crucial for the success of a project.
- 9. o Setting Realistic Milestones - It’s good to evaluate specific project goals that were left unachieved. This will enable the project manager to assess those particular project objectives that acted as restraints in making the project attain desired results. For instance, if timeline issues were the cause of failure, then from the next project onwards, realistic project milestones should be set to give the team members enough time to perform efficiently. o Last Minute Requirements - A project may fail if additional features or changes are asked for in their completion stage. It is important to understand that new project features affect the scope, cost and timelines of the entire project. Attending to last-moment requirements/changes might lead to over-exceeding budgets and require employees to work over-time. However, none of these additions guarantee desired results and may lead to further disappointments. The key lesson to be learnt here is that change management should be implemented in the early stages of project development, and not towards its fag end.
- 10. Research Approach All case studies have limitations and this case is no different. This study provided a single case study of a failed U.S. Government project. It appears that the VCF project had many of the warning signs and characteristics associated with failed projects described in empirical studies over the past fifteen years. However, this is one case study, so future research should include other projects in order to provide a rich qualitative understanding of why and how projects fail. However, this projects leads to our understanding of project failure, or, rather, the ability to improve the likelihood of project success. I found that this report is actually the most comprehensive report that I found on the failure of the VCF project. It details the issues across the board, and puts forth detailed recommendations for the project based on their exhaustive analysis.