Cloud computing projects: critical success factors

Correia, Silvia Regina Veronezi; Martens, Cristina Dai Prá

doi:10.1108/RAUSP-06-2021-0107

Silvia Regina Veronezi Correia ^*Corresponding author Silvia Regina Veronezi Correia can be contacted at: silviaveronezi@gmail.com

Conceptualization (Lead)

Data curation (Equal)

Formal analysis (Equal)

Funding acquisition (Supporting)

Investigation (Equal)

Methodology (Equal)

Project administration (Supporting)

Supervision (Supporting)

Validation (Equal)

Writing – original draft (Lead)

Writing – review & editing (Equal)

PPGP – Programa de Pós-Graduação em Gestão de Projetos, Universidade Nove de Julho – UNINOVE, São Paulo, Brazil

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0427-9294

Cristina Dai Prá Martens

Conceptualization (Supporting)

Data curation (Equal)

Formal analysis (Equal)

Funding acquisition (Lead)

Investigation (Equal)

Methodology (Equal)

Project administration (Lead)

Supervision (Lead)

Validation (Equal)

Writing – original draft (Supporting)

Writing – review & editing (Equal)

PPGP – Programa de Pós-Graduação em Gestão de Projetos e, PPGA – Programa de Pós-Graduação em Administração, Universidade Nove de Julho – UNINOVE, São Paulo, Brazil

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0955-9786

Corresponding author Silvia Regina Veronezi Correia can be contacted at: silviaveronezi@gmail.com

Associate editor: Violeta Sun

Authors	CSFs
Fortune and White (2006)Fortune, J., & White, D. (2006). Framing of project critical success factors by a systems model. International Journal of Project Management, 24(1), 53–65. doi: 10.1016/j.ijproman.2005.07.004. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2005....	Realistic and clear objectives; commercial and sound basis for the project; effective monitoring and control; planning, review and acceptance of possible failure; senior management support; competent project manager; detailed/updated plan; realistic schedule; good leadership; good choice/correct experience of the methodology/project management tools qualified/adequately qualified/sufficient team/team good communication/feedback; political stability; environmental influences; past experiences (learning from); organizational adaptation/culture/structure; project size/level of complexity/number of people involved/duration; adequate budget; sufficient resources/well allocated; provision of training; proven/familiar technology; good performance by suppliers/contractors/consultants; risks addressed/assessed/managed; user/customer involvement; different points of view (appreciation); sponsor/senior project management; effective change management
Chow and Cao (2008)Chow, T., & Cao, D. B. (2008). A survey study of critical factors in agile software projects. Journal of Systems and Software, 81(6), 961–971. doi: 10.1016/j.jss.2007.08.020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2007.08.02...	Management commitment; organizational environment; team environment; team capacity; customer involvement; process management; process definition; agile software techniques; delivery strategy; nature of the project; project type; project schedule
Nasir and Sahibuddin (2011)Nasir, M. H. N., & Sahibuddin, S. (2011). Critical success factors for software projects: A comparative study. Scientific Research and Essays, 6(10), 2174–2186.	Clear requirements and specifications; clear objectives and goals; realistic timeline; effective project management skills/methodologies; top management support; user/customer engagement; effective communication and feedback; realistic budget; sufficient and qualified staff; frozen requirements; familiarity with technology/development methodology; proper planning; appropriate development processes/methodologies (process); updated progress reports; effective monitoring and control; adequate resources; good leadership; risk management; complexity, project size, duration, number of organizations involved; effective change and configuration management; support tools and good infrastructure; committed and motivated staff; good quality management; clear assignment of roles and responsibilities; good performance by suppliers/contractors/consultants; provision of end-user training
Sudhakar (2012)Sudhakar, G. P. (2012). A model of critical success factors for software projects. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 25(6), 537–558, doi: 10.1108/17410391211272829. https://doi.org/10.1108/1741039121127282...	Communication in the project; leadership; relationship between users and IT team; reduction of ambiguity; maximization of stability; technical tasks; problem-solving; technical uncertainties; technical implementation problems; system integration; top management support; realistic expectations; organizational policy; financial support; strength; user engagement; customer engagement; partnership with suppliers; events in the external environment; customer acceptance; output accuracy; output reliability; output opportunity; quality control; system documentation and procedures; team capacity/skills; teamwork; correct selection of the project team; team coordination; task orientation; project plan; control mechanisms; project schedule; management skills; clear goals for the project
*Imtiaz et al.* (2013)**Imtiaz, M. A., Al-Mudhary, A. S., Mirhashemi, M. T., & Ibrahim, R. (2013). Critical success factors of information technology projects. International Journal of Social, Behavioral, Educational, Economic, Business and Industrial Engineering, 7(12), 3154–3158.	Top management support; leadership; work team; clear goals; team capacity; financial support/budget; effective communication; process quality; training; monitoring project progress; customer/user involvement; risk management; effective monitoring and control; proper requirements; correct team selection
*Ahimbisibwe et al.* (2015)**Ahimbisibwe, A., Cavana, R. Y., & Daellenbach, U. (2015). A contingency fit model of critical success factors for software development projects. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 28(1), 7–33. doi: 10.1108/JEIM-08-2013-0060. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEIM-08-2013-006...	Higher level management support; organizational culture; project planning level; leadership; vision and mission; monitoring and controlling; change management skills; team commitment; internal project communication; team training; team composition; the project team’s experience with the tasks; general knowledge of the project team; lack of development team’s skill; the project team’s experience with software development methodologies; user participation; user support; training and customer education; customer experience; lack of end-user experience; technological uncertainty; development methodologies; project complexity; urgency; relative project size; changes in specifications; criticality of the project
Martins Muller and Dal Forno (2017)Martins Muller, F., & Dal Forno, G. B. (2017). Construção e validação de um instrumento de avaliação dos Fatores Críti em Projetos de software. Brazilian Journal of Management/Revista de Administração da UFSM, 5(4).	Capacity and competence of the team; experience of the team; commitment and motivation of the team; experience and competence of the project manager; relationship team/user; specification of requirements; definition of objectives and goals; schedule planning; project planning; risk management (prior analysis and treatment); training and learning of users/clients; development methodology; team size; team composition; team experience with the methodology used; appropriate process and methodology; infrastructure and support tools; support from higher management; commitment of higher management; project leadership; adequate resources (human, financial and material); organizational culture (of the client); user/customer participation; user/customer commitment; variable factors; realistic expectations of the user/client; internal communication of the project; estimates of previous realized costs; realistic budget; project complexity; project size; monitoring and effective control of the project; quality control; process tests
Stevenson and Starkweather (2017)Stevenson, D., & Starkweather, J. A. (2017). IT project success: The evaluation of 142 success factors by IT PM professionals. International Journal of Information Technology Project Management (IJITPM), 8(3), 1–21. doi: 10.4018/IJITPM.2017070101. https://doi.org/10.4018/IJITPM.201707010...	Ability to communicate at multiple levels; define the project appropriately; customer acceptance; ability to coordinate; stakeholders have a common understanding of success criteria before the project starts; clearly articulation of what should be done; competence of the PM; communication and collaboration between PM and project owners; listening; commitment; meeting user requirements; top/senior management support; meeting stated objectives; ability to deal with ambiguity and changes; keeping the team moving toward a common goal

Proposition dimension	Proposition	Theoretical basis	CSF analytics for cloud
a) Organizational	P1) The commitment of senior management/sponsor contributes to the project’s success	Chow and Cao (2008)Chow, T., & Cao, D. B. (2008). A survey study of critical factors in agile software projects. Journal of Systems and Software, 81(6), 961–971. doi: 10.1016/j.jss.2007.08.020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2007.08.02...
	P2) The company’s organizational environment contributes to the project’s success
	P3) The organizational environment of the project team contributes to the project’s success
b) People	P4) The capacity of the team (soft skills) contributes to the project’s success	Chow and Cao (2008)Chow, T., & Cao, D. B. (2008). A survey study of critical factors in agile software projects. Journal of Systems and Software, 81(6), 961–971. doi: 10.1016/j.jss.2007.08.020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2007.08.02...
	P5) Customer engagement contributes to the project’s success P6) The team’s technical knowledge is a differential to the project’s success P7) The PM’s knowledge of managing conflicts of interest contributes to achieving the project's success	*Wang et al.* (2016)Wang, C., Wood, L. C., Abdul-Rahman, H., & Lee, Y. T. (2016). When traditional information technology project managers encounter the cloud: Opportunities and dilemmas in the transition to cloud services. International Journal of Project Management, 34(3), 371–388. doi: 10.1016/j.ijproman.2015.11.006. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2015.... ; Sheffield and Lemétayer (2013)Sheffield, J., & Lemétayer, J. (2013). Factors associated with the software development agility of successful projects. International Journal of Project Management, 31(3), 459–472. doi: 10.1016/j.ijproman.2012.09.011. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2012.... ; Sultan (2011)**Sultan, N. A. (2011). Reaching for the cloud: How SMEs can manage. International Journal of Information Management, 31(3), 272–278. doi: 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.08.001. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010... .	Confirm the difference in relevance in the cloud
c) Proceedings	P8) Process management contributes to the project’s success	Chow and Cao (2008)Chow, T., & Cao, D. B. (2008). A survey study of critical factors in agile software projects. Journal of Systems and Software, 81(6), 961–971. doi: 10.1016/j.jss.2007.08.020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2007.08.02...
d) Technique	P9) The delivery strategy contributes to the project’s success	Chow and Cao (2008)Chow, T., & Cao, D. B. (2008). A survey study of critical factors in agile software projects. Journal of Systems and Software, 81(6), 961–971. doi: 10.1016/j.jss.2007.08.020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2007.08.02...
d) Technique	P10) Agile techniques contribute to the project’s success
e) Project	P11) The nature of the project contributes to the project’s success	Chow and Cao (2008)Chow, T., & Cao, D. B. (2008). A survey study of critical factors in agile software projects. Journal of Systems and Software, 81(6), 961–971. doi: 10.1016/j.jss.2007.08.020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2007.08.02...
	P12) The type of project contributes to the project’s success
	P13) The project schedule contributes to the project’s success
f) Contract management	P14) The items negotiated in the contract between customer and provider (agreed service level, access restriction, cost, type, quantities and prioritization of services) contribute to the project’s success P15) The knowledge of the PM in contract management contributes to the project’s success	*Wang et al.* (2016)Wang, C., Wood, L. C., Abdul-Rahman, H., & Lee, Y. T. (2016). When traditional information technology project managers encounter the cloud: Opportunities and dilemmas in the transition to cloud services. International Journal of Project Management, 34(3), 371–388. doi: 10.1016/j.ijproman.2015.11.006. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2015.... , Hofmann and Woods (2010)Hofmann, P., & Woods, D. (2010). Cloud computing: The limits of public clouds for business applications. IEEE Internet Computing, 14(6), 90–93, doi: 10.1109/mic.2010.136 https://doi.org/10.1109/mic.2010.136... ; Armbrust et al. (2010)Armbrust, M., Fox, A., Griffith, R., Joseph, A. D., Katz, R., Konwinski, A., & Zaharia, M. (2010). A view of cloud computing. In Communications of the ACM, 53(4), 50–58, doi: 10.1145/1721654.1721672. https://doi.org/10.1145/1721654.1721672... , Avram (2014)Avram, M. G. (2014). Advantages and challenges of adopting cloud computing from an enterprise perspective. Procedia Technology, 12, 529–534. doi: 10.1016/j.protcy.2013.12.525. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.protcy.2013.12... ; Wang et al. (2016)Wang, C., Wood, L. C., Abdul-Rahman, H., & Lee, Y. T. (2016). When traditional information technology project managers encounter the cloud: Opportunities and dilemmas in the transition to cloud services. International Journal of Project Management, 34(3), 371–388. doi: 10.1016/j.ijproman.2015.11.006. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2015.... ; Sheffield and Lemétayer (2013)Sheffield, J., & Lemétayer, J. (2013). Factors associated with the software development agility of successful projects. International Journal of Project Management, 31(3), 459–472. doi: 10.1016/j.ijproman.2012.09.011. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2012.... ; Sultan (2011)**Sultan, N. A. (2011). Reaching for the cloud: How SMEs can manage. International Journal of Information Management, 31(3), 272–278. doi: 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.08.001. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010...	Suggested CSF for the cloud context Confirm the difference in relevance in the cloud
g) Change and risk management	P16) Proper risk management contributes to the project’s success P17) Proper change management contributes to the project’s success	Avram (2014)Avram, M. G. (2014). Advantages and challenges of adopting cloud computing from an enterprise perspective. Procedia Technology, 12, 529–534. doi: 10.1016/j.protcy.2013.12.525. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.protcy.2013.12... , *Wang et al.* (2016)Wang, C., Wood, L. C., Abdul-Rahman, H., & Lee, Y. T. (2016). When traditional information technology project managers encounter the cloud: Opportunities and dilemmas in the transition to cloud services. International Journal of Project Management, 34(3), 371–388. doi: 10.1016/j.ijproman.2015.11.006. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2015.... ; Google (2020)Google (2020). Future of cloud computing, Retrieved from https://cloud.google.com/future-cloud-computing#form-report (accessed 11 May 2020). https://cloud.google.com/future-cloud-co... , Wang et al. (2016)**Wang, C., Wood, L. C., Abdul-Rahman, H., & Lee, Y. T. (2016). When traditional information technology project managers encounter the cloud: Opportunities and dilemmas in the transition to cloud services. International Journal of Project Management, 34(3), 371–388. doi: 10.1016/j.ijproman.2015.11.006. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2015....	Confirm the difference in relevance in the cloud
h) Communication management	P18) Effective communication contributes to the project’s success	*Wang et al.* (2016)Wang, C., Wood, L. C., Abdul-Rahman, H., & Lee, Y. T. (2016). When traditional information technology project managers encounter the cloud: Opportunities and dilemmas in the transition to cloud services. International Journal of Project Management, 34(3), 371–388. doi: 10.1016/j.ijproman.2015.11.006. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2015.... ; Sheffield and Lemétayer (2013)**Sheffield, J., & Lemétayer, J. (2013). Factors associated with the software development agility of successful projects. International Journal of Project Management, 31(3), 459–472. doi: 10.1016/j.ijproman.2012.09.011. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2012....	Confirm the difference in relevance in the cloud

Interviewee	Age	Gender (male/female)	Years	Years	Sector	National/Multinational	Years
I01	43	M	25	5	BPO	Multinational	3
I02	48	M	28	<1	Transports	Multinational	2
I03	36	M	12	<2	IT services	Multinational	5
I04	30	M	13	8	IT services	Multinational	2
I05	38	M	18	8	IT services	National	7
I06	50	F	25	2	Transports	Multinational	2
I07	25	F	7	4	Insurance	Multinational	5
I08	41	M	21	7	IT services	Multinational	6
I09	48	M	20	4	IT services	Multinational	2
I10	29	M	8	3	IT services	Multinational	4
I11	68	M	40	8	IT services	National	8
I12	54	M	30	12	IT services	National	12
I13	51	M	17	1	IT services	National	2
I14	40	M	22	10	IT services	Multinational	10
I15	38	M	16	4	BPO	Multinational	3
I16	41	M	20	<1	Transports	Multinational	2
I17	53	M	31	11	IT services	National	11
I18	54	M	20	3	Telecommunications	Multinational	3
I19	42	M	17	4	BPO	Multinational	3
I20	38	M	15	2	BPO	Multinational	3
I21	53	M	13	2	Telecommunications	Multinational	2
I22	41	M	15	3	IT services	Multinational	3
I23	52	M	30	8	IT services	Multinational	9

Critical factor for success	Description	Size	Average	Standard deviation	Median
Technical knowledge of the team	Documentation, coding, deliveries, quality, testing, simple design, previous experience	People	4.9	0.3	5.0
Commitment of senior management/sponsor	Commitment and leadership aligned with the project’s decisions and delivery	Organizational	4.7	0.5	5.0
Team capacity (soft skills)	Adaptation, communication, cooperation, motivation, creativity, delegation of tasks, conflict management, among others	People	4.7	0.6	5.0
Change management	Adequate control of changes in systems, with correct people involved, with processes and communication channels defined and properly explored	Change and risk management	4.5	0.6	5.0
PM’s ability to manage conflicts of interest	Conflicts of interest between customer and provider or with stakeholders, the sponsor or the team	People	4.5	0.6	5.0
Process management	Processes clearly defined, mapped and managed appropriately	Processes	4.5	0.7	5.0
Organizational environment of the company	Culture of cooperation, communication, adequate working environment, appreciation of people and work, etc.	Organizational	4.4	0.7	5.0
Internal organizational environment of the project	Environment in which the team operates properly – culture of cooperation, communication, adequate work environment, appreciation of people and work, openness to change	Organizational	4.4	0.7	5.0
Communication	Adequate communication with suppliers, teams or stakeholders, service providers and stakeholders in the project	Communication management	4.4	0.9	5.0
Customer engagement	Strong commitment, decision authority and readiness with the project	People	4.4	1.2	5.0
Contract items	Agreed service level, access restriction, cost, quantities, type and prioritization of services	Contract management	4.2	1.1	4.0
Risk management	Event management (threats or opportunities)	Change and risk management	4.1	1.1	4.0
Delivery strategy	Regular deliveries, value deliveries, key features first	Tech degree	4.0	1.0	4.0
Schedule	Activities defined and controlled by dates, effort and resources	Project	3.8	1.3	4.0
Project management techniques	Agile (scrum, etc.), traditional (cascade) or mixed	Tech degree	3.7	1.5	4.0
PM’s knowledge in contract management	Know and manage the items negotiated in the contract	Contract management	3.6	1.3	4.0
The nature of the project	Closed scope or variable scope	Project	3.4	1.1	4.0
Project type	Strategic, tactical and operational improvement	Project	3.2	1.0	3.0

Proposition	Confirmation of the proposition	Highlights
P1) The commitment of senior management/sponsor contributes to the project’s success	Yes	Collaborates with the resolution of problems, definitions and themes related to the project’s costs in a consumption model
P2) The organizational environment contributes to the project’s success	Yes	Highlights for freedom to err, collaboration and positive environment
P3) The team’s organizational environment contributes to the project’s success	Yes	Willingness to learn, freedom of expression, collaboration and multidisciplinary
P4) The team’s capacity contributes to the project’s success	Yes	Cloud has non-traditional solutions; adaptation and flexibility help the cloud model adhere
P5) Customer engagement contributes to the project’s success	Yes	Minimizes project risks; needs to participate in decisions and prioritizations; customer satisfaction is achieved faster, which can improve this relationship with the customer
P6) The team’s technical knowledge is a differential to the project’s success	Yes	It is critical in cloud; knowledge needs to be acquired; difficult to have cloud teams formed; technical knowledge helps to make good decisions
P7) The PM’s knowledge in managing conflicts of interest contributes to the project’s success	Yes	It mediates the issue of costs and deadlines and communicates between areas involved in the project
P8) Process management contributes to the project’s success	Yes	Absence of processes for the cloud model; different processes for cloud and on-premise that have diverse ways of deploying solutions
P9) The delivery strategy contributes to the project’s success	Not necessarily	Making partial deliveries is possible because today there are more modern software engineering tools that manage partial deploys that can be automated by DEVOPS
P10) Agile software techniques contribute to the project’s success	Not necessarily	PM’s techniques can collaborate with the success of cloud projects, especially agile techniques
P11) The nature of the project contributes to the project’s success	Not necessarily	Nature depends on organizational strategy and contract
P12) The type of project contributes to the project’s success	Not necessarily	The type of project is linked to the drive (prioritization, time, visibility) that the project will have within the company
P13) The project schedule contributes to the project’s success	Not necessarily	Controls and directs the project, manages expectations, but needs constant review and may not adapt to the reality of the project
P14) The items negotiated in the contract between customer and provider (agreed service level, access restriction, cost, prioritization of services) contribute to the project’s success	Yes.	Govern how cloud services will be made available and consumed; need to be reviewed so as not to interfere with the project’s progress
P15) The knowledge of the PM in contract management contributes to the project’s success	Not necessarily	It helps to understand the deadlines and constraints that can influence the project’s progress; several organizations have a specific area that assists the PM with contractual ones
P16) Proper risk management contributes to the project’s success	Yes	Minimizes project risks, whether because of ignorance of the cloud or anticipation of problems that differ from the on-premise model
P17) Proper change management contributes to the project’s success	Yes	Teams have the autonomy to manage change; rigid change processes hinder the agility of deliveries made possible by the cloud
P18) Effective communication contributes to the project’s success	Yes	Communication is used to talk about both deliveries and difficulties; it is important to talk about costs because this variable changes in the cloud model

[1] Corresponding author Silvia Regina Veronezi Correia can be contacted at: silviaveronezi@gmail.com

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Cloud computing projects: critical success factors

Abstract

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