Factors which Influence Keeping within a Project Budget in IT Projects

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to analyse which factors influence keeping within a project budget in IT projects. A sample of IT projects was examined by means of a questionnaire, where IT project managers were asked to what extent they kept within the budget in their projects, as well as about various features of the projects, the project management processes used and the organisation where the projects were run. A statistical analysis was performed which indicated which factors have a substantial influence on the risk of exceeding the project budget. A real-world IT project was analysed from the point of view of the relation between the planned and the actual budget as well as of the occurrence of the factors identified in the statistical analysis. The value of the paper consists in the fact that it shows to IT project managers, on the basis of a quantitative analysis, how to influence positively the probability of keeping within a project budget.