Increasing the Value of Research: A Comparison of the Literature on Critical Success Factors for Projects, IT Projects and Enterprise Resource Planning Projects

Annie Maddison Warren

doi:10.3390/systems4040033

Abstract

Since the beginning of modern project management in the 1960s, academic researchers have sought to identify a definitive list of Critical Success Factors (CSFs), the key things that project managers must get right in order to deliver a successful product. With the advent of Information Technology (IT) projects and, more recently, projects to deliver Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, attention has turned to identifying definitive lists of CSFs for these more specific project types. The purpose of this paper is to take stock of this research effort by examining how thinking about each type of project has evolved over time, before producing a consolidated list of CSFs for each as a basis for comparison. This process reveals a high degree of similarity, leading to the conclusion that the goal of identifying a generic list of CSFs for project management has been achieved. Therefore, rather than continuing to describe lists of CSFs, researchers could increase the value of their contribution by taking a step forward and focusing on why, despite this apparent knowledge of how to ensure their success, ERP projects continue to fail.

Highlights

IntroductionEnterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems have evolved into suites of packaged software solutions that support organisational and inter-organisational information needs and activities
Over time, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems have evolved into suites of packaged software solutions that support organisational and inter-organisational information needs and activities.Vendors promise their customers reduced cost of inventory, production, shipping, labour and Information Technology (IT) maintenance, arguing that this will lead to increased effectiveness and, potentially, that elusive competitive edge [1,2,3]
IT projects are subtly different from other types of project due to their close relationship with the organisational context and their users, while ERP projects are embedded within that organisational context

Summary

Introduction

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems have evolved into suites of packaged software solutions that support organisational and inter-organisational information needs and activities Vendors promise their customers reduced cost of inventory, production, shipping, labour and Information Technology (IT) maintenance, arguing that this will lead to increased effectiveness and, potentially, that elusive competitive edge [1,2,3]. This promise is too often broken, evidenced by the fact that the analyst firm, Gartner, estimated recently that 55%–75% of ERP projects fail to deliver their objectives [4]. The identification of CSFs for project management is, a mature and active area of research

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