Abstract

The article discusses myths, opinions, reality related to Management Information Systems (MIS) project management. The purpose in conducting this investigation was to, (1) find out how much faith can be placed in commonly held beliefs about MIS generally and MIS project management in particular and, (2) to identify through a research study the correlates of MIS project success. The study results support the sociologists' suspicions, that a surprising amount of fiction exists in the MIS field and that, to make significant progress in MIS, research needs to be performed to separate out what is fact. In view of the increased emphasis on management information systems and on managing the information system's function, as well as the dearth of reliable, data-based published material on the subject of managing MIS, the authors initiated a study with the purpose of finding answers to the question, what organizational and procedural factors are correlates of success with MIS projects? The results conclude that the MIS project must be highly user oriented, and the user is a manager in the organization who is seeking information which will facilitate his making more effective decisions.