Emerging evaluation processes in consortium-based outsourced system development

Purpose – In large system development efforts organizational and managerial issues are often more challenging than technical ones. One of the key concerns of managers is the control and evaluation of the overall development effort. The purpose of this paper was to analyze the evaluation of system development process in a setting where there are multiple stakeholders in multiple organizations that develop a common information system (IS). The case is a consortium of universities that has developed a common student registrar system over a period of more than ten years.Design/methodology/approach – The authors used a social process model to analyze the episodes and encounters in the system development and evaluation process. The research approach can be characterized as action case.Findings – The authors found that in the early stages of system development the evaluation was emergent or even non‐existent. As the system was developed further and issues, such as delays and missing features, arose, there was a ...

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