Godfred Yaw Koi-Akrofi

Henry Matey Akwetey, Paul Danquah, Godfred Yaw Koi-Akrofi et al.

A technology platform that is gradually bridging the gap between object visibility and remote accessibility is the Internet of Things (IoT). Rapid deployment of this application can significantly transform the health, housing, and power (distribution and generation) sectors, etc. It has considerably changed the power sector regarding operations, services optimization, power distribution, asset management and aided in engaging customers to reduce energy consumption. Despite its societal opportunities and the benefits it presents, the power generation sector is bedeviled with many security challenges on the critical infrastructure. This review discusses the security challenges posed by IoT in power generation and critical infrastructure. To achieve this, the authors present the various IoT applications, particularly on the grid infrastructure, from an empirical literature perspective. The authors concluded by discussing how the various entities in the sector can overcome these security challenges to ensure an exemplary future IoT implementation on the power critical infrastructure value chain.

Henry Matey Akwetey, Paul Danquah, Godfred Yaw Koi-Akrofi

The increasing critical dependencies on Internetof-Things (IoT) have raised security concerns; its application on the critical infrastructures (CIs) for power generation has come under massive cyber-attack over the years. Prior research efforts to understand cybersecurity from Cyber Situational Awareness (CSA) perspective fail to critically consider the various Cyber Situational Awareness (CSA) security vulnerabilities from a human behavioural perspective in line with the CI. This study evaluates CSA elements to predict cyber-attacks in the power generation sector. Data for this research article was collected from IPPs using the survey method. The analysis method was employed through Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to assess the proposed model. The results revealed negative effects on people and cyber-attack, but significant in predicting cyber-attacks. The study also indicated that information handling is significant and positively influences cyber-attack. The study also reveals no mediation effect between the association of People and Attack and Information and Attack. It could result from an effective cyber security control implemented by the IPPs. Finally, the study also shows no sign of network infrastructure cyber-attack predictions. The reasons could be because managers of IPPs had adequate access policies and security measures in place.

Godfred Yaw Koi-Akrofi

The study intended to unravel critical IT project showstoppers which tend to halt IT projects temporarily or permanently, and ultimately cause them to fail, by positioning them in the systems development life cycle (SDLC) framework. Interviewing 8 IT project and program managers of the banking and telecommunications industries in Ghana individually and in a group, 19 critical showstoppers were identified spanning the whole SDLC. Generally, it was observed that for the successful completion of IT projects, the expertise and availability of project managers and team members are critical. Again, the project manager must be able to prove that the project is in line with the objectives and strategic direction of the business, is being mounted to gain competitive advantage, and has a solid business case. Thirdly, funding is key at all stages of the cycle, as well as approval for continuation at various stages.

Godfred Yaw Koi-Akrofi

The general objective of this work was to contribute to the general body of knowledge and research work in the area of managing IT projects successfully. The office of Government commerce of the UK Government in conjunction with the National Audit came out with a guideline in 2007 which list out eight causes of project failures. Six out of the eight causes were attributed to governance issues (Aon, 2011). This shows clearly that governance activities in project management are really important, and failure to place premium on them can result in failure of projects. The research work was therefore intended to come out with IT governance frameworks that can help resolve the problem of failure of IT projects resulting from governance issues. Four IT program managers and eight IT project managers were talked to on a variety of IT project governance issues. The frameworks were developed based on a combination of literature, experts (IT project and program managers of the telecom industry in Ghana) input, observation, and so on. The governance frameworks depicts project management processes, project activities, project governance activities, roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders, key milestones, approval bodies, signatures, and so on, to ensure successful delivery of IT projects.

Godfred Yaw Koi-Akrofi, Joyce Koi-Akrofi, Henry Akwetey Matey

The objectives of this study was to bring out the understanding of the concept of agile IT project management; what it is and what it is not. It was also aimed at comparing the pros and cons of both agile and traditional methods of IT project management in a typical industry setting; the challenges of going purely agile, and so on. It is purely a review of literature of peer reviewed papers sourced mainly from Google Scholar. It was revealed that agile outweigh the traditional methods in terms of benefits, but its implementation poses a lot of challenges due to a number of issues, paramount among them being organizational culture and empowerment of the project team. This has resulted in a number of industries sticking to the traditional methods despite the overwhelming benefits of agile. In another school of thought, the combination of the two paradigms is the way forward.

Godfred Yaw Koi-Akrofi, Eleanor Afful, Henry Akwetey Matey

The objectives of this study were to research into the interdependencies IT project control variables, and also come out with frameworks to help IT project managers understand how to effectively control these variables to ensure the success of IT projects. The study employed six control variables: Cost, Time (Schedule), Scope, Quality, Risk, and Benefits. A qualitative approach was adopted, where selected IT program and project managers of the Telecom industry in Ghana were interviewed individually and in a group based on a set of questions. The findings, espoused in the frameworks, reiterated the theory of the dependence of one control variable on the other, and the fact that varying one affects the others positively or negatively in relation to IT project success, as is the case for the iron triangle. Again, key activities of the control variables necessary to ensure IT project success were discovered.