£46m Project Failure

Police Scotland commissioned Accenture to deliver a system. Things went wrong from the start and resulted in a huge loss of public money and project failure. There is a lot to learn here from the i6 Programme where mistakes were made on both the supplier and client side of the relationship.

Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction
0:50 - Project Objectives and Benefits
1:35 - Contract Signing and Dispute Over Requirements
2:26 - Design Concerns and Escalation
3:03 - Overlapping Design Phases
3:38 - Dispute Over Scope and Change Control
4:03 - Late Milestones
4:22 - Product Testing and User Acceptance Testing - Defects Found
4:55 - Assurances from Accenture
5:44 - Delays, More Resources Needed and Additional Costs
6:29 - Contract Terminated and Settlement
6:56 - Audit Findings

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[nikolaigoodwin]

Really interesting Stuart. I was screaming ‘AGILE’ all the way through this; showing early models would have clarified the approach and given both parties some confidence. Embedding the consultants in the Police building would also have helped with understanding the Client needs and been a visible check in point. Great case study!

[davidmacdonald]

I was there, the minute taker at lots of those Programme Boards. They could be fraught occasions.

Worth saying though out of accuracy - the project never spent £46m. The police got all their milestone payments back, and it was them in their totality represented the £46m contract.

[t-j_a]

Hey, thanks for the great Video. I was reading the review to try to understand the whole project. The thing i dont get is what was the second milestone ??? They are talking about how only the first milestone has been accomplished. Later they talk about the high level design phase being the third milestone. But what is the second milestone. Do you have any ideas ?