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Abstract Today, organizations recognize the value of business performance management (BPM) as a
way of attaining strategic alignments and as a means of effectively creating and implementing business
strategy. Yet, many still struggle in implementing a BPM solution that is enterprise focused and that
enables strategic alignment. This article presents a framework for BPM and discusses the major critical
success factors that will influence the success of a BPM initiative.
development initiatives, others are unique to BPM implementations. The purpose of this article is to provide organizations with an understanding of BPM and its
potential value. First, BPM is introduced and a BPM
framework is described. Next, we examine the critical
success factors (CSFs) that are important to consider
when striving for a successful BPM implementation
114
Strategize
Take Corrective
Action
Plan
Monitor and
Analyze
Figure 1.
measure business performance over time. However, generating performance measures that are tied to strategic
value drivers can be challenging. Organizations often
struggle to identify metrics that accurately capture
progress on organizational goals.
By establishing metrics that are linked to business
strategy, the strategize step shapes the activities in each
step of the BPM framework that follow. As such, it is by
far the most important step in any BPM initiative.
Planning describes developing a program of action
on how to carry out the business strategy. This step
allows managers within different business units to set
goals, design projects, and develop budgets to support
corporate strategy.
The business units create plans that target the
achievement of the metrics established in step one. As
such, plans describe how each business unit will contribute to the corporate performance objectives. This requires
each business unit to maintain an enterprise wide focus
during the planning process. Business units must work
together in areas where there is overlap to ensure that
individual plans do not contradict.
Monitor and analyze facilitates the monitoring of
performance results against benchmark metrics. This
step helps evaluate individual and business unit performance. In addition, it enables users to drill down to
detailed information so that they can take appropriate
action.
The course of action prescribed in this step is
supported by both BI infrastructure and analytics. BI
infrastructure provides broad horizontal scope to raise
the BPM analytical perspective above the narrow view of
separate data silos by cutting across application domains
and subject data areas. In so doing, BPM analytics gains
the historic depth as well as the subject area breadth
provided by BI infrastructure.
Taking corrective action constitutes taking timely,
appropriate action to make changes in performance
issues that are uncovered during the monitoring and
analysis phase of the framework. In addition to alerting
users about potential problems, activities in this step
provide users with guidelines and suggestions as to how
to deal with problem situations.
The BPM framework presents the four building blocks
and an approach by which performance management
can optimize value to the organization. Yet effective
performance management has become a major issue for
companies striving to achieve a competitive edge. All too
often, performance management initiatives are ineffective in helping the organizational to achieve its strategic
goals. Some fail to maximize on the opportunities for
ramping up performance management because of inappropriate tools and methods. Awareness of critical
factors that influence BPM deployment will help to
ensure the success of a BPM initiative.
Champion
One of the first essential factors touted by industry
authorities and stressed in the academic literature is
the presence of a committed, energetic project champion. The project champion actively supports and
promotes the BPM project often providing information,
material resources, and political support (Jensen &
Sage, 2000). Generally, a visionary and politically savvy
executive, the champion often evangelizes the BPM
solution selling its value to the entire organization. He
or she especially builds support among key senior
executives and CXOs to secure funds needed for the
project.
Management of Resistance
Management of resistance to BPM is another factor that
is critical to a BPM project. An effective BPM solution
allows no one within the organization to hide his or her
performance or maintain silos of proprietary information. It gives various stakeholders across divisions and
different organizational levels access to the same
115
Management Support
Widespread support for the project from the upper management team is essential for the life of a BPM project
(Griffin, 2004). Gaining consensus and buy-in from senior
management early on in the effort can help establish
legitimacy and visibility for the project. Leadership and
strong support from the C-level executive team can help
subdue resistance and build a firm wide shared vision for
the BPM solution. Their commitment and support can
help sustain funding for the entirety of the project as
well as help in the creation and communication of critical metrics of interest to assess performance management (Politano, 2007).
Sufficient Resources
Resources required for a BPM effort include monetary
resources, people, and time. Effective BPM solutions span
the entire organization and require the implementation
of integrated data management infrastructure such
as data warehouses. Such infrastructure projects can
be very expensive, time consuming and resource intensive (Wixom & Watson, 2001). Past studies indicate a negative effect between the lack of sufficient resources and
system development projects.
However, the availability of abundant resources such
as plentiful monetary resources does not directly translate to greater project success. A recent study suggests
that a small team of business and technical people who
are highly motivated and charged with the mission of
delivering quick wins operating on a shoestring budget
can be more effective than BPM projects that enjoy bountiful resources (Eckerson, 2006). As such, managing the
BPM project with the right balance of sufficient
resources is essential to its success.
116
Table 1.
Critical Success Factor
1. Champion
Eckerson, W. Performance dashboards: Measuring, monitoring, and managing your business. New Jersey:
John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2006.
Fui-Hoon, F., Nah. K., and Zuckweiler, M. ERP Implementation: Chief Information Officers Perceptions of Critical
Success Factors International Journal of Human Computer Interactions. 16(1), 522, 2002.
Jensen, A., Sage, A., A Systems Management Approach for Improvement of Organizational Performance
Measurement Systems. Information Knowledge Systems Management, 2(1), 2000.
Nah, F., Lau, J., and Kuang, J. Critical factors for successful implementation of enterprise systems.
Business Process Management Journal, 7, 285296, 2001.
Reich, B., and Benbasat, I., An Empirical Investigation of Factors Influencing the Success of
Customer-Oriented Strategic Systems Information Systems Research, 1(3), 2000.
Wixom, B. and Watson, H. An Empirical Investigation of the Factors Affecting Data Warehousing
Success MIS Quarterly, 25(1) 1741, 2001.
2. Management of
Resistance
Frolick, M. and Ariyachandra, T.R. Business performance management: One truth. Information
Systems Management, 23(1), 4148, 2006.
Gruman, G. CPM software: an elegant way to measure business indicators. InfoWorld, October 08, 2004.
Hartlen, B. Playing politics: debunking the myths that block a successful BPM implementation,
Business Performance Management, June 2004.
Poon, P., and Wagner, C. Critical success factors revisited: success and failure cases of information
systems for senior executives Decision Support Systems 30(1), 393418, 2001.
3. Management
Support
Biehl, M. Success Factors for Implementing Global Information Systems Communications of the ACM, 50(1), 2007.
Eckerson, W. Performance dashboards: Measuring, monitoring, and managing your business. New Jersey:
John Wiley and Sons, Inc, 2006.
Fui-Hoon, F., Nah. K., and Zuckweiler, M. ERP Implementation: Chief Information Officers Perceptions of Critical
Success Factors International Journal of Human Computer Interactions. 16(1), 522, 2002.
Guimaraes, T., Igbaria, M., and Lu, M., The Determinants of DSS Success: An Integrated Model,
Decision Sciences, 23(2), 1992.
Havenstein, H. Data governance, Exec buy-in are keys to BI adoption. Computerworld, 40(40), 2006.
Korogodsky, A. Moving toward alignment, Bests Review, 104(9), 67, 2004.
Politano, T. Master data management: A key enabler for CPM. February 18, 2007, http://www.tdwi.org/
info.aspx?id=33659.
Nah, F., Lau, J., and Kuang, J. Critical factors for successful implementation of enterprise systems.
Business Process Management Journal, 7, 285296, 2001.
4. Sufficient
Resources
Biehl, M.Success Factors for Implementing Global Information Systems Communications of the ACM,
50(1), 2007.
Eckerson, W. Performance dashboards: Measuring, monitoring, and managing your business. New Jersey:
John Wiley and Sons, Inc, 2006.
Ein-Dor, P., Segev, E. Organizational context and the success of management information systems
Management Science, 24(10), 1978.
Wixom, B. and Watson, H. An Empirical Investigation of the Factors Affecting Data Warehousing
Success MIS Quarterly, 25(1) 1741, 2001.
5. Team Skills
Fui-Hoon, F., Nah. K., and Zuckweiler, M. ERP Implementation: Chief Information Officers Perceptions of Critical
Success Factors International Journal of Human Computer Interactions. 16(1), 522, 2002.
Wixom, B. and Watson, H. An Empirical Investigation of the Factors Affecting Data Warehousing
Success MIS Quarterly, 25(1) 1741, 2001.
6. User Support
Biehl, M. Success Factors for Implementing Global Information Systems Communications of the ACM, 50(1), 2007.
Eckerson, W. Performance dashboards: Measuring, monitoring, and managing your business. New Jersey:
John Wiley and Sons, Inc, 2006.
Guimaraes, T., Igbaria, M., and Lu, M. The Determinants of DSS Success:An Integrated Model,
Decision Sciences, 23(2), 1992.
Guggenheim, R. and Wadhwa, S. Sophisticated analytical tools help fuel successful disease
management. Managed Health Executive, 16(2), 6263, 2006.
Shin, B. An exploratory investigation of system success factors in data warehousing, Journal of the
Association for Information Systems, 4, 141168, 2003.
Wixom, B. and Watson, H. An Empirical Investigation of the Factors Affecting Data Warehousing
Success MIS Quarterly, 25(1) 1741, 2001.
(Continued)
Table 1.
Critical Success Factor
117
(Continued)
References
7. Effective
Communication
Biehl, M. Success Factors for Implementing Global Information Systems Communications of the ACM,
50(1), 2007.
Chan, Y., Sabherwal, R., and Thatcher, J. Antecedents and Outcomes of Strategic IS Alignment: An
Empirical Investigation, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 53(1), 2006.
Eckerson, W. Performance dashboards: Measuring, monitoring, and managing your business. New Jersey: John
Wiley and Sons, Inc, 2006.
Fui-Hoon, F., Nah. K., and Zuckweiler, M. ERP Implementation: Chief Information Officers Perceptions
of Critical Success Factors International Journal of Human Computer Interactions. 16(1), 522, 2002.
Lee, G. and Pai, J. Effects of organizational context and inter-group behavior on the success of strategic
information systems planning: an empirical study Behavioral and Information Technology, 22(4), 2003.
Hirschheim, R. and Sabherwal, R. Detours in the path to strategic information systems alignment,
California Management Review, 44(1), 87108, 2001.
Jensen, A., Sage, A. A Systems Management Approach for Improvement of Organizational Performance
Measurement Systems. Information Knowledge Systems Management, 2(1), 33, 2000.
Nah, F., Lau, J., and Kuang, J. Critical factors for successful implementation of enterprise systems,
Business Process Management Journal, 7, 285296, 2001.
Politano, T. Master data management: A key enabler for CPM, February 18, 2007, www.tdwi.org/
info.aspx?id=33659.
8. Clear Link
to Business
Strategy
Biehl, M. Success Factors for Implementing Global Information Systems Communications of the ACM, 50(1), 2007.
Frolick, M. and Ariyachandra, T.R. Business performance management: One truth. Information Systems
Management, 23(1), 4148, 2006.
Fui-Hoon, F., Nah. K., and Zuckweiler, M. ERP Implementation: Chief Information Officers Perceptions
of Critical Success Factors International Journal of Human Computer Interactions. 16(1), 522, 2002.
Poon, P., and Wagner, C. Critical success factors revisited: success and failure cases of information
systems for senior executives Decision Support Systems 30(1), 393418, 2001.
Stiffler, M.A. Move from managing to driving performance. Performance Improvement, 45(9), 1720, 2006.
Watson, H.J. Three targets for data warehousing. Business Intelligence Journal, 11(4), 47, 2006.
Zeid, A. Your BI competency center: A blueprint for successful deployment. Business Intelligence Journal,
11(3), 1420, 2006.
9. State of Existing
Data Management
Infrastructure
Ariyachandra, T. and Watson, H.J. Which data warehouse architecture is most successful?
Business Intelligence Journal, 11(1), 46, 2006.
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Journal, 11(4), 3744, 2006.
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Eckerson, W. Performance dashboards: Measuring, monitoring, and managing your business. New Jersey:
John Wiley and Sons, Inc, 2006.
Hwang, M.I. and Xu, H. A survey of data warehousing success issues. Business Intelligence Journal,
10(4), 713, 2005.
MacDonald, M. Beat the odds. CMA Magazine, 72(5), 1618, 1998.
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info.aspx?id=33659.
Poon, P., and Wagner, C. Critical success factors revisited: success and failure cases of information
systems for senior executives Decision Support Systems 30(1), 393418, 2001.
Reich, B., and Benbasat, I. An Empirical Investigation of Factors Influencing the Success of
Customer-Oriented Strategic Systems Information Systems Research, 1(3), 2000.
Wixom, B. and Watson, H. An Empirical Investigation of the Factors Affecting Data Warehousing
Success MIS Quarterly, 25(1) 1741, 2001.
10. Evolutionary
Development
Methodology
Poon, P., and Wagner, C. Critical success factors revisited: success and failure cases of information
systems for senior executives Decision Support Systems 30(1), 393418, 2001.
Vessel, D. Bridging the IT and business needs gap. InfoWorld, 27(22), 2730, 2005.
Team Skills
Process Skills
In order to understand and assess the key business processes within the organization and translate them into
meaningful metrics, a BPM project requires a team of
individuals skilled in business process analysis. These
individuals possess interpersonal and critical analysis
118
Technical Skills
In addition to a process skills team, the project requires a
team with sound technical skills that can translate the
metrics into a working application. The process skills
team works closely with the technical development team
to develop metric applications.
It is essential that these two teams work closely
together in developing a BPM solution. For instance,
strong partnership is necessary between process and
technical skills teams for data discovery and analysis. The
lack of close collaboration can lead to data discovery and
analysis taking up to 6080 percent of deployment time
(Gruman, 2004). It may also lead the technical development team to use existing metrics that may not
accurately reflect the predictive metrics needed for the
BPM solution.
User Support
BPM project success is also affected by the extent to
which users are involved in the development of a BPM
solution and engage in specific responsibilities and tasks
related to the BPM effort. User participation and support
ensures that user requirements are accurately captured
and communicated to the development team (Guimaraes,
Igbaria, & Lu,1992). It also enables users to be part of the
development process and gain a better understanding
and appreciation for the BPM solution. Consequently,
user support can lead to a solution that meets their
requirements which in turn leads to greater user satisfaction with the BPM solution (Biehl, 2007).
Effective Communication
Facilitation of communication between business and IT
functions leads to a mutual understanding of the organizations strategic direction and goals. In so doing, IT is
better able to understand and gather business
requirements and metrics, which can then be captured
in a BPM solution. Successful application of IT to a BPM
119
Data
The nature and quality of data within source systems
affects data integration efforts necessary to build a BPM
solution. The greater the extent to which data definitions
and structures are standardized across organizational
data sources, the more likely an integrated data repository can be constructed to support a BPM solution
(Politano, 2007). This ensures the validity and legitimacy
of the BPM solution as the only information source for
performance management within the organization.
Technology
In addition to the nature of data within the source
systems, the compatibility of the BI infrastructure tool
set and BPM application technologies with existing tools
and server technologies also influence the BPM implementation. Greater compatibility with existing technologies and vendor tools enables greater integration of the
BPM solution to the existing data management architecture within the organization.
Conclusion
Organizations have recognized the value of BPM to help
achieve strategic objectives. Currently, companies are
more conscientious of the importance of tracking how
well the organization is proceeding towards strategy
accomplishment. As a result, the importance and interest in BPM keeps expanding and growing in the industry
(Schiff, 2007).
BPM helps organizations achieve strategic objectives by
providing directions and motivation to all its members to
engage in tasks and activities that lead companies in the
right direction. The BPM infrastructure helps create metrics that accurately measure strategy execution and provides all stakeholders with the necessary knowledge and
information to succeed. To do so, BPM implementation
projects often take the form of enterprise wide implementation efforts that require support from all levels of the
organization as well as strong business and IT alignment.
Identifying the CSFs that influence BPM implementations helps an organization focus on the contextual variables that affect implementation success. Some of these
factors ensure BPM success by encouraging strong IT and
business alignment while others focus on effective IT
infrastructure development. By highlighting and paying
attention to these key factors during BPM deployment,
an organization can discover how these factors affect
BPM success. For example, the shortage of monetary
resources for the life of the project, a critical success
factor of BPM, will affect the successful BPM implementation. Similarly, the lack of a strong link to business strategy will hinder the creation of metrics that effectively
assess organizational action and performance leading to
strategy accomplishment. Using and paying attention to
critical success factors enables an organization to comprehend the reasons why a particular BPM effort may
fail. By observing CSFs, companies can effectively managed key contextual variables that influence the success
or failure of a BPM effort.
120
Author Bios
Thilini Ariyachandra is an Assistant professor of MIS in the
Williams College of Business at Xavier University. Her
main research area is BI and data warehousing. She has
published in Decision Support Systems, Information Systems
Management, Business Intelligence Journal and the DM Review.
Mark N. Frolick is a Professor of MIS in the Williams College of Business at Xavier University and the holder of
the Western & Southern Chair in Management Information Systems. Dr. Frolick has authored over 100 articles. His research has appeared in such prestigious
journals as MIS Quarterly, Decision Sciences, Journal of Management Information Systems, Decision Support Systems, and
Information & Management.
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