Chaotic order processing at Wang Laboratories had long been accepted by its customers as the cost of doing business with the computer giant. The tremendous growth of Wang left the company with a serious revenue tracking problem; Customers would often wait months for Wang to fill orders and process invoices. Repeated attempts by Wang’s understaffed AIS department to solve these problems always met with failure.

Finally, Wang Laboratories hired a small consulting organization to solve its revenue tracking problems and expedite prompt receipt of payments. The 18-month pro¬ ject turned into a doubly long nightmare. After three years and $10 million, the consultants were dismissed from the unfinished project.

The reasons for the project failure were clear. First, the project was too large and far too complex for the appointed consulting team. According to one consultant, the systems development process was so dynamic that the failure to complete the project quickly was self-defeating, as modifications took over the original design.

Second, management had no clear vision of the new AIS and lacked a strong sup¬ port staff. As a result, a number of incompatible tracking systems sprang up through¬ out the company’s distributed computer system.

Third, the consulting firm had little experience with the desired technology: a complex database that represented the heart of the new system.

Finally, the project had too many applications. Interdependencies among subprograms and subroutines left consultants with few completed programs. Every program was hnked to several subprograms, which in turn were linked to several other programs. Programmers would begin an initial program only to find that several subroutines were necessary. They eventually found themselves lost in a morass of subroutines with no completed program.

Wang’s ultimate solution to the crisis came from the internal AIS department. However, the revenue tracking system that the internal staff developed suffered quality problems for years.

Required The president of Wang Laboratories has asked you, as a member of the AIS staff, to write a memo explaining the failure of the systems development project.

a. Outline the specific reasons for the development failure. What role did the con¬ sultants play in the project’s failure?

b. Identify the organizational issues that management must address in the future.

c. Recommend any future steps the company could take to guarantee the quality of consulting services.