Project management and computer centres

In last month’s column, I had written about how different companies make similar mistakes while selecting their IT project leaders. IT is a new area and, therefore, perhaps we can understand how such mistakes are made. However, it is not very difficult to find a way out.

Most companies implementing IT solutions are quite familiar with the implementation of other types of projects. You should draw upon your experience of selecting project leaders in such successfully executed projects. Say, you had implemented a project launching a successful product or construction of an office building or housing complex. Document the process that was used to select the team leader for that project and then substitute the word ‘IT’ wherever the technology relevant to that project got referred to in the document. This will give you an (N-1)th draft. Discussing this draft with a recognised IT consultant should show you the way forward in your selection process.

We must remember that selecting the right project leader may not be half the job done, but it is nevertheless a very significant part of the job, and could substantially reduce the project risk if done right.

The other day I visited a computer centre of one of the IT institutes run by a charitable trust. The manager/designer proudly told me that they had spent Rs 1.5 crore to build the centre. It was a very neat place—nicely decorated with glass panelling, access control devices and other fancy stuff. I enquired about the number of computers in the centre and was told that they had 40 P-III computers, all in a network, but they were using the old servers because the new one they had ordered for Rs 3 lakh had not arrived by then. I was also told that since they had run out of funds, they would add servers once they got an additional grant. My host pointed to the marble/ granite on the floor and walls, the furniture, glass panelling, etc, when I asked them how they had managed to spend Rs. 1.5 crore. I was quite shocked to hear that the computer centre had software and computers worth only about Rs 30 lakh or so—a very adverse ‘teeth to tail’ ratio.

This case was much worse than another situation I had come across in the mid-eighties, wherein a government department was trying to build a computer centre costing Rs 55 lakh. A detailed scrutiny of their proposal had revealed this break-up: Rs 21 lakh for building; Rs 19 lakh for electrical items; Rs 10 lakh for furniture, telephone, etc; and, Rs 5 lakh for the computer. The estimates did not include the cost of application software. They were to provide for it by asking for additional funds at a later stage. The scheme was to construct a two-storey building housing the computer centre on the first floor; the ground floor would be for other offices but the cost was allocated to the computer centre. The estimates for the electrical work included procurement of two large power generators, a main one and a hot-standby, supplying power to a hospital operation theatre as well. The estimates for the telephone/cabling included the cost of a telephone exchange catering to the needs of the staff colony. Such schemes are understandable (yet not pardonable) when prepared by a remote location in a funds-starved organisation in the mid-eighties. But it is impossible to appreciate them when you see them in the present time in the biggest metro in the country.

My suggestion to all organisations (trusts, corporates and government) is that they must carry out a thorough audit of data centre proposals at the ‘design and funds approval’ stage to eliminate all wasteful items and to minimise the decorative ones. The two cases mentioned above are not isolated instances but a representative sample of what goes on in the real world and what we must guard against. This happens not so much because of ignorance of people but because people succumb to temptations and buckle under the smallest pressure. My request to IT professionals is not to be a party to any such acts of professional dishonesty, whatever be the temptations or pressures.

I heard a very interesting suggestion to solve our language problems on the computer. It was made by a very eminent personality. I do not subscribe to this view, but I am, however, relating it to show you that making silly suggestions and mistakes is not the prerogative of lesser mortals alone—even the high and mighty do it. It was suggested that since half of our population was illiterate and would be learning any script for the first time, we might as well switch to using the Roman script for our local languages and teach them as such. This would enable them to work on computers too without being stumped by any language barrier. He stressed that such an action would solve both problems in one stroke.

People making such suggestions forget that language is an integral part of the culture as the people of a particular cultural group code their concepts and views in their peculiar way through the words spoken in that language and the script of that language. A part of the culture is lost forever if we abandon the script. Do we want that to happen?

Harsh Kumar is Advisor—IT at Hindustan Petroleum. He can be contacted at harshkumar@hpcl.co.in. The views expressed herein are his own, and do not necessarily reflect those of the organisation