Volkswagen of America Managing IT Priorities Group Case
- Slides: 5
Volkswagen of America: Managing IT Priorities Group Case Presentation: Anand Sidharth Jenne Foo
What did Volkswagen get wrong regarding its method of prioritizing IT projects?
What did Volkswagen get wrong regarding its method of prioritizing IT projects? Sources of IT knowledge at its disposal Business unit relationships with the web-service providers Contract with Perot Systems Least costly is the Gedas USA group. (IT based subsidiary of the VWAG group) Complicated IT Project Approval Process. (minimum of five levels of approval to reach the Project Management Team ) 1. Internal cost factor instead of an external structure; 2. Significant differences in ROI calculations; 3. Changing timelines as costs are reduced. 1. Implement a strategic approval process thru the BPTO department
What did Volkswagen get wrong regarding its method of prioritizing IT projects? Categorization of Essential IT Projects • IT projects under Stay in Business (SIB) should not be ranked together with others. • Mainly for legislative & business continuity reasons. • Essential and not discretionary projects. Unstructured & flustered approach • Last-minute real-time phone consultations with business unit managers. Project-to-goal Alignment • The association of project-to-goal process in the last phase (Phase III) should be done at the initial stage rather than at the end. • All project goals should be aligned to corporate strategy.
What did Volkswagen get wrong regarding its method of prioritizing IT projects? Unofficial Accommodation • Incorrect prioritisation led to teams requesting unofficial accommodation when their projects where not approved. IT Knowledge Lost • They lost all IT knowledge twice due to outsourcing to different parties. • Later had to increase IT strength by almost 200%. Decentralised Adoption • Approach to e-business was process decentralised adoption of independent process unlike systems thinking and interdependent. Non-existent PMO • Surprisingly there was non-existent PMO even when multiple projects were underway.
