The manual on ICT project management in social security is the result of work undertaken within the framework of the Technical Commission of the International Social Security Association (ISSA) on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) with the assistance of IBM. We are grateful to all those who contributed their experience to this manual.

Clearly, it is in the interest of both social security organizations and supplier companies that ICT projects meet expectations and succeed. Social security managers charged with implementing new technological tools are aware of and understand the need to manage projects in the best way possible. But the reality is that social security ICT projects are too often partial – and sometimes complete – failures. The reasons for this are many: complexity arising from importing legacy data; implementation of the latest technologies; integration of ICT systems and so on.