Pitfalls in executive information systems (EIS) development

As identified by Watson, EIS failures are due to the following factors: Lack of executive support – The support during the period of development is very essential. The support from the higher management with regard to information transparency and belief for the system would define better activity lifecycle and speed in implementation. Often information gathering from higher management is poorly managed and lacks standard processes for recording mechanism.

As not enough documentation is done, the primary stage of IS development is miscarried and entire lifecycle suffers. Undefined system objectives – The system objectives are often revised and requirements are poorly defined. The scope of such systems is open and is never seized, thereafter making the system development in an undefined fashion. The system objective is not understood from the very beginning. The idea is to determine and set right goals for the system. Such initiatives are often neglected and not documented well.

Undefined goals push activities to a different path and lack enough direction to succeed (McNurlin, 2009). Inadequate support staff – The support staff are often inadequate and unskilled to handle the development. The high skill individuals are often lacking for the development of EIS, which demands effective resources with years of aligned experience. Such shortages pose a danger to the development. Improper planning – The planning of the EIS system development is often is not adequate and lacks risk management information.

The idea is to make the right judgment of the system in conjunction with various organizational objectives and the scope of the system. Such analysis often lacks and thus the system development fails. Planning the EIS system into various sub-systems for development makes the system development planned, however often the system knowhow makes it quite difficult to understand the entire system and thus the development of framework becomes difficult.