| Summary: | Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree
Master of Technology of Technology: Business Information Systems
in the Faculty of Business
at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology === This study evaluates the utilisation and effectiveness of contract clauses in
Information Technology (IT) and Information System (IS) projects in South Africa to
address and mitigate key risks associated with these types of projects. This study
established whether specific clauses were being utilised to address key risks, and
where clauses were being utilised, whether these clauses were effective in
addressing and mitigating the impact of these key risks. The need for the study
arose because the researcher had experienced on several occasions in his
workplace that contracts which appeared fail-safe during the negotiation stage did
not reach the proposed targets, let alone maturity of the agreement. To establish
whether colleagues in similar positions in computer-based organisations
experienced similar disruptions a quantitative questionnaire was distributed to
organisations in the Johannesburg area to gain an insight into their risk profile. Risk
could arise from the contract construction and/or wording. Reference was made to
the contracts in the engineering environment where standard contracts have been in
place for a number of years. Specifically the New Engineering Contract (NEC) of
2011 and the Professional Services Contract were consulted. The study
concentrated on four categories of risk identified in a literature review, namely
corporate management risk, project management risk, resource utilisation risk and
technology risk, which resulted in 42 sub-factors examined. The population of
suitable and relevant IT and IS companies could not be definitely established but the
researcher made telephonic contact with known organisations and 24 participants
agreed to participate in the exercise; 12 service providers and 12 clients of
providers, where 78% of participants experienced one or more of the risk factors,
and 53% used NEC standard contracts.
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