project management

Case Study B: The $10 Billion IT Disaster at the NHS The National Program for IT (NPfIT) in the National Health Service (NHS) was the largest public-sector IT program ever attempted in the UK, originally budgeted to cost approximately 86 billion over the lifetime of the major contracts. These contracts were awarded to some of the biggest players in the IT industry, including Accenture, CSC, Atos Origin, Fujitsu and BT. After a history marked by delays, stakeholder opposition and implementation issues, the program was dismantled by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat government in 2011, almost 10 years after Prime Minister Tony Blair initiated it at a seminar in Downing Street in 2002. The core aim of the NPfIT was to bring the NHS' use of information technology into the 21st century, through the introduction of integrated electronic patient records systems, online 'choose and book' services, computerized referral and prescription systems and underpinning network infrastructure. Despite the failure of many of these services to be delivered, the government, and ultimately taxpayers, incurred significant costs for the program, including contract transition and exit costs which continued to accrue to a total amount of more than $10 billion. Use this Case Study B, answer the question (5) below. Question 1: Discuss the role that project portfolio management plays in the success of a project, in terms of the goals, knowledge areas, tools and techniques using the NHS IT disaster above