Describes the rocky transition from an obsolete, non-integrated information systems in a new custom built system programmers in small, IT-dependent leaves the company that distributes the plant material. The old system is increasingly becoming a "burning platform", but the project to build a new system suffers from delays, business needs, and lack of IT knowledge on the part of top management. Transition threatens to take the company out of business, and the crisis is forcing COO to take responsibility project personally. After the new system goes live, however, it turns out bad and unreliable. company is even closer to collapse, and the chief operating officer of Penny Roberts must rally the team around the unpopular project, the success of which no one can guarantee. Education highlights include IT systems transition, IT management in small companies, and how to deal with IT-based, business-interrupting disaster. "Hide
by David M. Upton, Virginia A. Fuller Source: Harvard Business School 11 pages . Publication date: 07 Oct 2003. Prod. #: 604017-PDF-ENG
Related Case Solutions & Analyses:
ABB Deutschland (C)
Disability Issues in the Public Workplace
Porsche AG
Navy SEALs: Selecting and Training for and Elite Fighting Force
Moving Beyond Marketing: Generating Social Business Value Across the Enterprise
How Strategic Is Your Board?
Havas: Change Faster, Multimedia Case
Want to Innovate? Then Act Like a Start-up
Cancer Care Ontario: An Innovation Strategy for Managing Wait Times
How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation
