Critical Success Factors

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This section is about critical success factors. Critical success factors are those things which must go right for the horizontal unit to achieve its mission and objectives.

The advantages of identifying CSFs are that they are simple to understand; they help focus attention on major concerns; they are easy to communicate to coworkers; and they are easy to monitor. Clarifying the priority order of CSFs, measuring results, and rewarding superior performance will improve the odds that the horizontal unit will meet its objectives.

According to Jack Rockart, there are four basic types of CSFs. They are:

• Industry CSFs resulting from specific industry characteristics;
• Strategy CSFs resulting from the chosen competitive strategy of the business;
• Environmental CSFs resulting from economic or technological changes; and
• Temporal CSFs resulting from internal organizational needs and changes.

For the horizontal unit, determining CSFs requires thinking from the point of view of the businesses it supports.

Example of Critical Success Factors for I/S Department of Company XYZ:

Critical Success Factor	Source of CSF	Primary Measures & Targets
1. Align I/T resources with  SBU objectives	Industry	Improved scores from annual survey of SBU mgrs supported
2. Retain programming staff	Strategy	Retain 9 of or 10 super stars; Retain 85% staff / year
3. Keep within budget	Industry	Actual expenses less than budget; Actual headcount less than budget
4. Improve staff skills	Strategy	Approved I/S policy for one day per week for basic training
5. Ensure continuous  operations	Industry	Install and fully test full backup procedures by 12/31/96

 

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