Refresh Programme: Body of Knowledge 6th edition

Topic title/heading
1.1.5 Success factors
Definition
No more than a few sentences required – approximately 30 words. It should be succinct, and wherever possible, independent of the level of project/programme/portfolio at which the section is applied.
Success factors are elements ofthe context or management process of a project, programme or portfolio that should be controlled or influenced, and will increase the likelihood of success.
General
Generic description of the topic including universal principles independent of project/programme/portfolio levels in no more than 500 words. Any terms that tie the text to a particular level should be avoided. In some cases, especially in sections 1 and 4, this will be most, if not all of the content.
Success factors are elements of the context or management process of an initiative that lead directly or indirectly to its success. The presence of success factors does not guarantee the success of the initiative, but their absence may contribute to its failure. A critical success factor (CSF) is a success factor whose absence will lead to the mission for the initiative not being achieved.
The concept of a success factor comes from general management and is meant to focus management attention on important areas of concern. Although there are recognised general areas of success factors, such as having clear goals and objectives for an initiative, it is important that specific success criteria are identified within the initiative, especially where one or more of these is seen to be critical (i.e., a CSF).
Addressing a success factor, such as having a motivated team, requires management actions. These actions will likely include delegating authority to others and so it is important that the success factors are understood within the team. It may be the case that the success factor is structured into sub-factors to provide specific management focus at a particular level.
Recognised areas where there are factors that are known to contribute to success include:
  • having a clear mission (with clear goals and objectives)
  • a focus on business value
  • proper governance structure
  • having senior management commitment
  • timely and clear communications
  • effective planning
  • adequate funding
  • a motivated team
  • appropriate involvement of business functions
  • the external environment
  • effective monitoring and feedback.
These should be addressed as a matter of course in an initiative, but emphasis needs to be placed on success factors that are specific to the initiative.
Project dimensions to the topic
An explanation of the application of this topic at a project level is to be included herein no more than 420 words. Anything that applies to programmes and portfolios as well as projects should be included in the general section. This section may reasonably be divided into projects that are part of a programme, and those that are independent components of a portfolio.
N.B. The APM definition of a project is:
‘A unique and transient endeavour undertaken to achieve a desired outcome’.
Without agreement of what constitutes success for a specific project, differing views on its success both during the execution of the project and afterwards will be held by stakeholders. By agreeing on a small number of defined factors, management and team effort can focuson ensuring these success factors are satisfied.
The purpose of a project is to achieve a desired outcome through delivering products that have value to an organisation and the stakeholders.As a project progresses and reaches its close, the views of the stakeholders on project success become overwhelming and the stakeholders’ final judgment should be how the project contributes to the future shape of the organisation. This shift in focus needs to be addressed when determining the success factors, so that considerations beyond short-term success are given due weight when articulating a desired outcome and the measurements to be used.
There needs to be an understanding of benefits and future shaping of the organisation, this can provide a significant challenge for the project manager and team to demonstrate these can be satisfied, particularly as achievement has significant dependence on future governance and operational management. Consequently, there needs to be an understanding that satisfying the success factors requires commitment from the sponsor and other business stakeholders throughout the project. In particular, the relationship between the sponsor and project manager needs to be highly collaborative, working essentially as a fused team.
The project board should define the success factors and assess progress against them as a primary focus. The project management should use the success factors as guides to shape the products of the project. The project team should be aware of the success factors to guide their day to day work and decisions to ensure continued progress.
There are cases where different success factors can compete within a single project; e.g. time to market within a certain price may be one factor to be balanced against another factor requiring novelty in the project’s products. This might lead to trade-offs in terms of how the success of each factor is measured and to what level. In these cases the project board should recognise that targets set against measures should be described as a range with tolerances and the project manager should take care to understand the impact of decisions on competing success factors.
Programme dimensions to the topic
An explanation of the application of this topic at a programme level is to be included here, where applicable. Where the general principles need to be adapted, enhanced or extended for specific programme application, where content is different or additional to that for project aspects to this topic above, it may be added below in no more than 420 words. Anything that applies to projects and portfolios as well as programmes should be included in the general section. If there are no such applicable adaptations, enhancements or extensions, please enter the following text in the space provided ‘NO SPECIFIC ADAPTATION REQUIRED OF THE TOPIC FOR PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT’.
N.B. The APM definition of a programme is:
‘A group of related projects, which may include business-as-usual activities, that together achieve a beneficial change of a strategic nature for an organisation’.
Programme success depends on [a] meeting the objectives set for the programme in the business case and [b] delivering in a professional manner, preferably according to the organisation‘s programme governance standards.
The objectives should be measureable as far as possible either directly (e.g. cost savings, revenue, waste reduction, increased service take-up etc.) or indirectly (e.g. morale measured through reductions in absenteeism.)
Benefits should be mapped to outcomes and each outcome should have success or achievement criteria. Therefore achievement of benefits should be measureable through the achievement of outcomes and outcomes should have measures to be able to demonstrate successful delivery.
Measuring successful delivery approach should be via programme management performance measures, e.g. delivery to time/cost/quality, reporting, accurate and up to date programme information. Programme reviews including gateway reviews should also consider how well the programme is or has been managed.
Stakeholders will define the desired outcomes for a programme, e.g. through workshops perhaps using value management techniques.Success criteria for the programme should translate down into success factors for individual projects related to deliverables and management activities. It is expected that only some of the programme success factors will be relevant to a single project as project deliverables will map onto some programme outcomes and not others. Consequently, the programme management team should ensure that each project is kept as simple as possible, with a clear understanding of what constitutes success for that project.
The programme manager is responsible for ensuring that success criteria are defined for programme outcomes, project deliverables and for programme and project management performance. The Programme Management Office will normally support both the programme manager and projects through monitoring, analysis and reporting.
Portfolio dimensions to the topic
An explanation of the application of this topic at a portfolio level is to be included here, where applicable. Where the general principles need to be adapted, enhanced or extended for specific portfolio application, where content is different or additional to that for project and programme aspects to this topic above, it may be added below in no more than 420 words. Anything that applies to projects and programmes as well as portfolios should be included in the general section. If there are no such applicable adaptations, enhancements or extensions, please enter the following text in the space provided ‘NO SPECIFIC ADAPTATION REQUIRED OF THE TOPIC FOR PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT’.
N.B. The APM definition of a portfolio is:
‘A grouping of an organisation’s projects, programmes and related business-as-usual activities taking into account resource constraints. Portfolios can be managed at an organisational, programme or functional level’.
Success criteria relates to the portfolio in three ways:
1] Establishment of criteria that will form the basis of investment decisions and selection of new programmes and projects for the portfolio
2] Establishment of programme and project performance criteria
3] Performance of the portfolio
Investment criteria could include for example:
  • Financial criteria e.g. net present value
  • Investment risk
  • Resource demand and availability
  • Priority for the achievement of the stated benefits
  • Benefits horizon during which expected benefits are viable.
Programme and project performance criteria could include for example:
  • Delivery against key milestones and or milestone slippage trend
  • Delivery against budget
  • Delivery against scope
  • Performance of third party suppliers
  • Change control clearance
  • Risk/Issue action clearance rates
  • Stakeholder feedback
Portfolio performance criteria could include for example:
  • Number of programmes/projects on time/on budget/within scope
  • Annualised achievement of benefits vs. forecast
  • Actual vs. forecast resource usage
  • Portfolio level risk performance (i.e. increasing or decreasing)
Portfolio management will also need to monitor delivery against all three types of success criteria and take or recommend medial action. The Enterprise Programme Management Office (EPMO) is the recommended mechanism for establishing and monitoring portfolio level success criteria. For the establishment of generic programme and project management performance success criteria, an alternative is for a separate corporate quality assurance team to set governance standards. This group would work closely with the EPMO
Further reading
All cited references, and items for further reading should be listed together in a section headed, ‘further reading’.
You may use the Harvard system of referencing. This requires the author name, title, date of publication, publisher and place of publication. Provide us with these basic details and our copy editors will be able to complete the task.
Pinto JK, Rouhiainen, P (2001) Building customer-based project organisations, John Wiley, New York
Gilb T (2005) Competitive Engineering, Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford
Office of Government Commerce (2005) Common Causes of Project Failure: OGC Best Practice, Office of Government Commerce, London
Kaplan RS, Norton DP (1996) Balanced Scorecard, The: Translating Strategy into Action, Harvard Business School Press, Boston MA USA
Reiss, Anthony, Chapman, Leigh, Pyne and Rayner, The Gower Handbook of Programme Management (2006), Gower, England, ISBN 0-566-08603-4
OGC The Management of Portfolios (2011) TSO ISBN 9780113312948
OGC Gateway Lessons. Accessed on 20.3.11.

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