Virtual Case File - Fail Study

Virtual Case File was a project of FBI that became one of the most notable software development failures. This project was part of FBI's Trilogy program, that was intended to modernize information technology infrastructure of the agency. By the time the Trilogy program was conceived, FBI was using many legacy systems and technologies, that were deemed obsolete. Apart from Virtual Case File, other parts of the Trilogy program consisted of upgrading IT infrastructure and architecture of the FBI and providing secure high-performance WAN and LAN networks linking offices of FBI, workstations and software within each office for every FBI employee. Goal of a Virtual Case File was to enhance the ability of agents to organize, access and analyze information. The Virtual Case File was the most ambitious project out of these three. The beginning of the Virtual Case File can be traced back to 1990s, when FBI's agent Larry Depew noted a need of a database system that would help him and his colleagues to organize and connect different kinds of data collected as evidence. Many agents during that time had problems working with current software components, archaic Automated Case Support system. Depew started writing his own program, that would surpass somewhat limited Automated Case Support. His program was supposed to trace relationships between telephone calls, meetings, surveillance and interviews. Inability of import data from other investigations gave foundation to formal creation of Virtual Case File project. Development of the project was contracted to the Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) in San Diego and was to be completed by late 2003. Virtual Case File was in development between 2000 and 2005 and cost FBI nearly $170 million. One of the main reasons this project failed was bad human resources management, big turnover of agency employees participating on this project and inadequate technical expertize on the side of FBI. During its development, Virtual Case...