Critical Success Factors

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Critical Success Factors

• Practical guide to identifying issues and
  measures.

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Critical Success FactorsBoynton Zmud, SMR, 1984

• Things that must go well for an organization to
  succeed
• Most managers identify five to seven factors
  that represent areas that need special and
  continual attention to bring about high
  performance.

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ExampleCritical success factors for a
supermarket

• Have the right product mix available at each
  store
• Keep it on the shelves
• Provide effective advertising to attract shoppers
  to the store
• Develop correct pricing

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Primary Sources for CSFsJ. F. Rockart, HBR, 1979

• Industry based factors
• Competitive strategy, industry position, and
  geographical location factors.
• Environmental factors
• Temporal factors

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Five Steps in the CSF approach?J.F. Rockart,
HBR, 1979

• 1. What objectives are central to the
  organization?
• 2. What critical success factors are essential to
  meeting the objectives?
• 3. What decisions and actions are key to the
  CSFs?
• 4. What variables underlie the decisions and how
  are they measured?
• 5.What information systems can supply these
  variables?

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CSF ProcedureUsually conducted in a series of
interviews

• Identify goals and CSFs that underlie the goals.
• Review previous results and identify performance
  measures
• Design and install the reports and supporting
  information system for them

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Strengths of the CSF ApproachBoynton Zmud,
SMR, 1984

• Provides effective support to planning processes
• Develops insights into IS services that can
  impact competitive position
• Received enthusiastically by senior management
• Serve as top level of structured analysis

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Weaknesses of the CSF Approach

• Junior managers have difficulty identifying
  organizational CSFs
• Managers not experienced with strategic and
  tactical planning have difficulty
• Some managers cannot derive information needs
  from their CSFs

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Guidelines for Using CSFsBoynton Zmud, SMR,
1984

• Excellent for information resource planning
• Prototyping can help identify information needs
• Managers should understand the principle area of
  business
• Senior level champions recruit participants from
  many levels
• Identify CSFs before defining the information
  systems that support them
• Interview at multiple levels of the organization