Critical Success Factors (CSF) Guide

Prd. By : Mahmoud Zonouzirad
Projects & Management Consultant
May,10,2016
www.3Sintgroup.com

 1-What are Critical Success Factors (CSF's)?
 Definitions
 Being practical when using CSF's
 Academic Background/ History
 Types of Critical Success factors
 Five key sources of Critical Success factors
 How to write a good Critical Success factor
 Key Performance Indicators (KPI's) and Critical Success
factors
 The Critical Success Factor (CSF) Method
 Using Critical Success factors for Strategic and business
planning
 Examples of Success factors
 Sample Critical Success factor templates
 Critical Success Factors for Projects
 2-Key Success Factors & Samples
 References
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 Critical Success Factors (CSF’s) are the critical
factors or activities required for ensuring the
success your business. The term was initially
used in the world of data analysis, and business
analysis.
 Critical Success Factors have been used
significantly to present or identify a few
key factors that organizations should
focus on to be successful.
 As a definition, critical success factors refer to
"the limited number of areas in which satisfactory
results will ensure successful competitive
performance for the individual, department, or
organization”.
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 Which ever
definition you
use. make sure
that all managers
understand the
definition.
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 Critical Success Factor
an element of organizational activity which is
central to its future success. Critical success
factors may change over time, and may include
items such as product quality, employee
attitudes, manufacturing flexibility, and brand
awareness. This can enable analysis.
 Critical Success Factor
is a business term for an element which is
necessary for an organization or project to achieve
its mission. For example, a CSF for a successful
Information Technology (IT) project is user
involvement.
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 Critical success factors was proposed by:
RH Daniel (1961) & F Rockart (1979).
The idea is very simple:
in any organization certain factors will be critical to
the success of that organization, in the sense that,
if objectives associated with the factors are not
achieved, the organization will fail!
 The following as an example of generic CSF's:
 New product development,
 Good distribution, and
 Effective advertising
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 Before you start the journey looking at CSFs it is
important to realize that the specific factors
relevant for you will vary from business to
business and industry to industry.
 Therefore success in determining the CSFs for
your organization is to determine what is central
to its future and achievement of that future.
 Remember to only have 5-7 critical factors for
YOUR organization, and I am sure one of those
will be cash flow!
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Focus & Build
Requirements
To meet the CSF’s

Identifying CSF's is
important as it allows
firms to focus their
efforts on building their
capabilities to meet the
CSF's, or even allow firms
to decide if they have the
capability to build the
requirements necessary
to meet Critical Success
Factors (CSF's).
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 There are four basic types of CSF's They are:
 Industry CSF's resulting from specific industry
characteristics;
 Strategy CSF's resulting from the chosen
competitive strategy of the business;
 Environmental CSF's resulting from economic or
technological changes; and…
 Temporal CSF's resulting from internal
organizational needs and changes.
 Things that are measured get done more often
than things that are not measured.
 Each CSF should be measurable and associated
with a target goal.
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 Rockart and Bullen presented five key sources
of CSF's:
1) The industry,
2) Competitive strategy and industry position,
3) Environmental factors,
4) Temporal factors, and
5) Managerial position
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 There are some CSF's common to all
companies operating within the same
industry. Different industries will have
unique, industry-specific CSF's
 An industry's set of characteristics define its
own CSF's Different industries will thus have
different CSF's, for example research into the
CSF's for the Call centre, manufacturing,
retail, business services, …
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 Competitive position or strategy: The nature
of position in the marketplace or the adopted
strategy to gain market share gives rise to
CSF's Differing strategies and positions have
different CSF's
 Not all firms in an industry will have the same
CSF's in a particular industry.
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 Environmental changes: Economic,
regulatory, political, and demographic
changes create CSF's for an organization.
 These relate to environmental factors that are
not in the control of the organization but
which an organization must consider in
developing CSF's Examples for these are the
industry regulation, political development
and economic performance of a country, and
population trends.
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 Temporal factors: These relate to short-term
situations, often crises. These CSF's may be
important, but are usually short-lived.
 Temporal factors are temporary or one-off
CSF's resulting from a specific event
necessitating their inclusion.
 For Example Mobile 3G/4G Technology
Features such as VAS Services in Rightel
Operator in Iran to getting more market
share!
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 Managerial role: An individual role may generate
CSF's as performance in a specific manager's area
of responsibility may be deemed critical to the
success of an organization.
 For example, manufacturing managers who
would typically have the following CSF's: product
quality, inventory control and cash control.
 In organizations with departments focused on
customer relationships, a CSF for managers in
these departments may be customer relationship
management.
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Importance of the Success Factor
Critical SF Generally Important,
Independent of Own Position( Weakness or
Strength)
Position of the company or product
Own Weakness Own Strength
Critical
SF
Strategic
SF
Balanced
SF
Overvalued
SF
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 Finding information for writing CSF's
The information mentioned above can largely be accessed through the internet.
 CSF as an activity statement:
A “good” CSF begins with an action verb and clearly and concisely conveys what
is important and should attended to. Verbs that characterize actions: attract,
perform, expand, monitor, manage, etc.
Examples: “monitor customer needs and future trends”
 CSF as a requirement:
After having developed a hierarchy of goals and their success factors, further
analysis will lead to concrete requirements at the lowest level of detail
 CSF as a key influence factor:
Some CSFs might influence other CSFs or factors such as markets,
technologies, etc.
Such CSFs could be rephrased into “key influence factors” For example:
“physical size” or “trained staff”
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 A critical success factor is not a key
Performance Indicator (KPI). KPI's are
measures that quantify objectives and enable
the measurement of strategic performance.

For example:
 KPI = number of new customers/ response
time
 CSF = installation of a call centre for
providing quotations
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 Start with a vision:
 Mission statement
 Develop 5-6 high level goals
 Develop hierarchy of goals and their success
factors
 Lists of requirements, problems, and
assumptions
 Leads to concrete requirements at the lowest
level
 Relationship to Usage Scenarios
 Results of the Analysis
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 Statistical research into CSF’s on organizations
has shown there to be seven key areas. These
CSF's are:
1. Training and education
2. Quality data and reporting
3. Management commitment, customer
satisfaction
4. Staff Orientation
5. Role of the quality department
6. Communication to improve quality, and
7. Continuous improvement
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 PRIMO-F
1. People - availability, skills and attitude
2. Resources - People, equipment, etc
3. Innovation - ideas and development
4. Marketing - supplier relation, customer
satisfaction, etc
5. Operations - continuous improvement,
quality,
6. Finance- cash flow, available investment etc
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 Following is a sample list of the more
common success factors.
 This list should serve only as a guide to get
you started.
 The factors are grouped into three categories
of organizational competency, you will use
your own differentiators.
 Understanding of Market
 Marketing Variables
 Decision making
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 Understanding of Market:
o Sensitivity to changing market needs
o Understanding of how and why customers buy
o Innovative response to customer needs
o Consumer loyalty
o Linkage of technology to market demand
o Link marketing to production
o Investment in growth markets
o Knowing when to shift resources from old to new products
o Long-term view of market-development and resources
o Ability to target and reach segments of market
o Identify and exploit global market
o Product-line coverage
o Short time to market for new products
o Lack of product-line overlap
o Identification and positioning to fulfill customer needs
o Unique positioning advantage
o Strong brand image and awareness
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 Marketing Variables:
 Distribution coverage, delivery speed
 Co-operative trade relations
 Advertising budget and copy effectiveness
 Promotion magnitude and impact
 Sales force size and productivity
 Customer service and feedback
 High product quality
 Patent protection
 Low product cost
 Ability to deliver high value to user
 Large marketing resource budget
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 Decision making:
 Marketing research quality
 Information system power
 Analytic support capability
 Develop human resources
 Attract the best personnel
 Managerial ability and experience
 Quick decision and action capability
 Organizational effectiveness
 Learning systematically from past strategies
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Samples of CSF

Research has shown that to complete a project successfully the
following critical success factors apply:
1. Match Changes to Vision
2. Define Deliverables
3. Business Need Linked to Vision
4. Have a Formal Process to Define Vision
5. Organizational Culture Supports Project Management
According to a recent Gartner Institute study, 50% of all projects
were delivered above schedule and/or budget.
In 2010, the Gartner group updated their research to include lack
of executive sponsorship as a major contributor to project
failures.
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According to a 2012 Standish Group Report, the top success factors for
projects were as follows. The list is in decreasing order of percentage
factors responsible for success.
% - Success Factors
 18% Executive support
 16% User involvement
 14% Experienced project manager
 12% Clear business objectives
 10% Minimized scope
 8% Standard software infrastructure
 6% Firm basic requirements
 6% Formal methodology
 5% Reliable estimates
 5% Other criteria
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Objective Candidate Critical Success Factors
Gain market share
locally of 25%
Increase competitiveness versus other
local stores
Attract new customers
Achieve fresh supplies
of “farm to customer” in
24 hours for 75% of
products
Sustain successful relationships with
local suppliers
Sustain a customer
satisfaction rate of 98%
Retain staff and keep up customer-
focused training
Expand product range to
attract more customers
Source new products locally
Extend store space to
accommodate new
products and customers
Secure financing for expansion
Manage building work and any
disruption to the business
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Samples of CSF

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CSF & Strategy

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CSF Overall Types

Industry Critical Success Factor's (CSF's) resulting from specific industry
characteristics; these factors result from specific industry characteristics. These
are the things that the organization must do to remain competitive.
Strategy Critical Success Factor's (CSF's) resulting from the chosen
competitive strategy of the business; these factors result from the specific
competitive strategy chosen by the organization. The way in which the company
chooses to position themselves, market themselves, whether they are high
volume low cost or low volume high cost producers, etc.
Environmental Critical Success Factor's (CSF's) resulting from economic or
technological changes; these factors result from macro-environmental influences
on an organization. Things like the business climate, the economy, competitors,
and technological advancements are included in this category.
Temporal Critical Success Factor's (CSF's) resulting from internal
organizational needs and changes; these factors result from the organization's
internal forces. Specific barriers, challenges, directions, and influences will
determine these CSFs.
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Keys to a successful PMO - Critical success factors and
how to address them

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What Are 10 Critical Success
Factors For a PMO?
1) PMO defined its Value Proposition
2) PMO is Perceived as having Visible Impact on Projects
3) PMO is a Flexible and Consultative Organization
4) PMO has Extensive Commitment from Executives and Managers
5) PMO reporting is the Most Senior Level of the Organization to
have the Required Influence
6) PMO is a Worthwhile Function with Much Added value to the
Success of Projects
7) PMO has Meaningful and Visible Metrics
8) PMO Approach is Right for the Culture of Organization
9) PMO is Focused on Project Outcomes than Too Much Process
Adherence
10) The PMO has a Senior Sponsor in the Organization

1. Get the customer experience right
2. Tackle the proliferation of device types
3. Create a context-rich experience
4. Embed the right analytics
5. Build in reliability and resilience
6. Integrate with other systems
7. …and don’t forget security
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The important thing in successful mobile app
implementation is adherence to a systematic
approach to the development process which,
among other steps, includes:
 product definition
 effective management
 use of proper development tools and
technologies
 constant quality assurance
 resolving security and compliance issues
 customer support throughout the whole
period of the app’s life.
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2-KEY Success Factor

Dominant strategy
Plan
Clear definition of the project chart, goals, roles, and impacts Clarity (transparency)
Access to financial resources Efficacy
Set norms of quality Efficacy
Realistic calendar of tasks and activities Efficacy
Balanced budget Efficacy
Processes
Formal work methodology Efficiency
Solid infrastructures Efficiency
People
Team work Collaboration
Competencies Competencies (Trust)
Commitment Commitment
Power
Experienced managers Control and transparency
Sense of fairness Fairness
Contingency strategy
Risk and vulnerability assessments Efficacy and efficiency
In project management, multiple cross-cultural studies spread over decades have shown that
the basic Key Success Factors can be summarized as follows[8
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In a survey conducted by Capriza, 45 percent of
respondents found that current enterprise
applications were too complex and ‘“clunky” having a
negative impact on employee productivity.
To ensure companies achieve the best ROI from
mobile, this white paper highlights our five key
success factors for mobile app development:
 UX – UI
 APIs & Integration
 Security
 Change Management
 Technology
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Building a useful and reliable enterprise mobile
application is not an easy task, but it is important to
remember that, except for technological and security
limitations, there are no strict rules in the app
development process. Many best practices are
available for the developers to refer to, and in the next
few paragraphs we will mention just some of those
related to the list above.
Identify your needs and target users
Effective application development and
management
Quality assurance strategies
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 Chief executives define their own data needs. By: Rockart, John F.. Harvard Business Review, Mar/Apr79, Vol. 57
Issue 2, p81-93, 13p
 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION CRISIS. By: Daniel, D. Ronald. Harvard Business Review, Sep/Oct61, Vol. 39 Issue
5, p111-121, 11p
 THE CASE STUDY METHOD AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF STANDARDS OF EFFICIENCY.By: Lebreton, Preston P..
Academy of Management Proceedings, 1957, p103-103, 1p
 To our mind the first published work of this approach is by Rockart. This pages reproduced from RapidBI.com
 Management Control Systems: Text, Cases and Readings By Robert Newton Anthony, John Dearden, Richard F.
Vancil Published by R. D. Irwin, 1972 p151
 10 problems that worry presidents. By: Spencer, Lyle M.. Harvard Business Review, Nov/Dec55, Vol. 33 Issue 6,
p75-83, 9p
 "What are the essential factors that produce success in my company?" which for 1955 is getting close to the
beginnings of CSFs - so for those interested in the early beginings worth a look.
 http://rapidbi.com/created
 © RapidBI 2000-2009 all rights reserved © Mike Morrison 2009
 http://www.ictstartups.ir/fa/content/print/337
 http://m-malekan.blogfa.com/post/5
 http://128.ir/article/fa-964/75-%D8%B4%D8%A7%D8%AE%D8%B5-
 https://techspark.co/blog-the-seven-critical-success-factors-for-mobile-apps-and-services/
 http://usep-ic.forumsmotions.com/t160p20-assignment-6-due-december-30-2009-before-0100pm

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