factors contributing to risks in an acquisition. New technology creates new opportunities but also generates new risks. Uncertainty will depend on the type of application, organisational aspects, technology to be used, etc. Applications that are common across organisations and are well understood present little risk. Novel and/or specific applications have the potential to provide competitive advantage but may be more risky. Technologies are evolving rapidly and they increase the variety of possible solutions. Today's IS designers are confronted by distributed systems, graphical user interfaces, new data storage systems, integration of technical and business applications, integration of packages, multimedia, etc. In the future they may confront virtual reality and other new technologies. Such technologies create new opportunities but generate their own risks that must be managed. An information system is increasingly perceived as a complex system, which includes human and social aspects, where technology is only one part of the whole. The highest risk potential lies in these human aspects – e.g. the migration of legacy systems has complex organisational implications that need to be taken into account. Understanding one anotherFranckson, M. and Verhoef D., editors (1999), ‘Specifying Deliverables’, Information Services Procurement Library, ten Hagen & Stam, Den Haag, The Netherlands, Franckson M., 1994, 'The Euromethod Deliverable Model and its contribution to the objectives of Euromethod', in Methods and Associated tools for the Information System Life cycle, A.A Verrijn-Stuart and William Olle editors, IFIP, Effective acquisition of an information system and related services requires clear descriptions of the desired final state and the current situation. It is important that the customer and supplier have the same understanding of the current situation and the information system and related services to be achieved. It is important to remove obstacles to the mutual understanding between customers and suppliers from different countries. These obstacles stem, in part, from the existence of a large variety of methods, each having its own concepts and vocabulary. Customer-supplier communication becomes difficult when terminology is used which is interpreted differently by each of them. The successful introduction of modern systems and related services demands the involvement of many people with different roles, responsibilities, functions, experiences and backgrounds. Effective communication is essential for mutual understanding. Controlling ambitions and costs The costs of acquiring or enhancing an information system and keeping it in operation are often under-estimated. One important reason is the tendency for ambitions to increase during the production process, sometimes