Cost and time project management success factors for information systems development projects

Abstract

Successful development of Information Systems (IS) Projects has been a source of competitive advantage for many organizations. This paper proposes the Cost and Time Project Management Success – CTPMS, an essential measure in this context because projects must dynamically address cost and time success under an agreed scope. The goal of the paper is to identify the project management practices through which an organization can optimize the CTPMS of IS development projects. Because multiple factors can influence project management success, we analyze a real-world sample of 899 IS projects of a leading bank, using hierarchical models to account for the effects of predictors at four levels of analysis: portfolio network, project, project manager, and team. In addition to proposing and discussing a new measure of project management success for information systems development projects, we identified that project size, duration, postponement, and project manager formal power showed positive effects, whereas team size and team allocation dispersion presented negative effects. The results suggest guidance for factors such as team member allocation and prioritization, among others. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd and Association for Project Management and the International Project Management Association