Embracing IT for Business Improvement in the Oil Industry: A Case Study

This case study presents a real project, which was undertaken in a major oil company in the Middle East. The Case was business-driven at the early stages of the project but then technology push superseded the business lead. The project was first initiated as part of the organisation´s plans to improve its performance through better use of IS/IT. The discussion starts with a brief description on the organisation´s background and the type of the IS/IT projects under consideration. This is then followed by a brief list of relevant sequence of events that took place since the start of the project. The list covers the main activities that the organisation had gone through to fully develop and implement the system. The analysis focuses on the critical organisational factors that have significantly influenced the successful implementation of the project. These are: 1. People (Staff, Skill, Head of IS/IT Department), 2. Business Process (Practices), 3. Work Environment (Leadership, Culture, Structure), and 4. IT Infrastructure (Systems).