Influence of initialization requirements on project performance: A case of financial information technology projects in Fintech International Limited in Kenya

Abstract

In IT and IS project management, there are many visible and invisible factors to be taken into account, representing multiple scenarios of past, present and future use of technologies, systems and processes. In light of this, IT and IS projects continue to fail globally at an alarming rate. Fintech limited majorly undertakes IT projects and in 2016; 10-15% of its financial IT projects faced serious problems. This is high considering that the institute for project management puts a red flag on any project difficulties or failure above 8%. Since initialization is the first stage in the life of a project, an initialization requirement is an important factor if good project performance is to be realized. The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of initialization requirements on project performance: a case of Financial IT projects in Fintech Limited in Kenya. The study was guided by the following objectives: to assess the influence of project scope on project performance in Fintech Limited, Kenya; to evaluate the influence of team selection on project performance in Fintech Limited, Kenya; to examine the influence of change management plan on project performance in Fintech Limited, Kenya; and to examine the influence of requirement sealing on project performance in Fintech Limited, Kenya. The study was anchored on the multi-dimensional performance model and the team effectiveness model. The target population was staff members. The total number of staff at the company being 130.The targeted projects were the last five (5) Financial Systems from each team lead based on IT projects implemented within the last 3 years; 2014, 2015 and 2016. The study adopted Krecjie & Morgan formulae to obtain the sample size of 97. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to gather information from the respondents. The researcher employed self-administration approach of data collection. The collected data was then summarized, coded and entered into the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 21 for analysis. Frequency tables, percentages and mean were used to present the findings. Mean and standard deviations were used as measures of central tendencies and dispersion respectively. The relationship between the dependent variable and the independent variables was tested using multiple linear regression model. The result of automated data analysis (SPSS) revealed that scope management, team selection, change management plan and requirement sealing jointly contributed to a 28.2% proportion of variation associated to project performance. In conclusion, initialization requirements indeed influence project performance of Financial IT projects in Fintech International Limited, Kenya. From the results; scope management and change management plan were the most influential variables on project performance of Financial IT projects in Fintech International Limited, Kenya. However, requirement sealing was the least influential variable. The study recommends the creation and strengthening of an independent authority to oversight and monitor best practices for initialization requirements for companies in Kenya