Here's an interesting article in the Times business section:
IT forces change on Whitehall
Ministers have often used new technology - courtesy of EDS - as a none-too-subtle blind for deeper changes: new policy, for example, or a shake-up of the civil service.
He cites the joint personnel administration scheme, which unifies the pay offices of the army, navy and air force, in some cases breaking service traditions that have built up over centuries. It is a mammoth IT task, Thomas said, but one that had much broader goals.
“It happens to be the world’s largest Oracle human-resources system, and producing it is quite tricky in IT terms. But when you get up close, you see that it’s all about enabling the MoD to harmonise personnel management and pay between the three forces.
“It will save about £100m a year, and that can buy a lot of frontline kit. But breaking into the shared values in the army, navy and air force is a very emotional thing to do.”
“In really good government programmes, there is [a clear link] between the design of the policy and the implementation of it. On bad projects, people will come with a plan with no thought to implementation.”
