QFD Methodology for Linking Project Success Factors to Outcomes in a Specific Business Case
Abstract
Defining Project Success (PS) outcomes and PS factors is not an easy task. A favorable outcome depends on the stakeholders’ perspective, the project type, the project life cycle stage, and organizational characteristics. In the present study, focusing on an individual business case, we develop a procedure for quantitative evaluation of the relations between various PS factors and outcomes based on the quality function deployment (QFD) method. A House of Project Success (HoPS) matrix is created using combined inputs from various managers and experts. This matrix summarizes the desired improvements in the PS outcomes and connect them to the relevant PS factors. Based on the HoPS matrix, outcomes and factors that maximize the desired results of the PS policy are chosen using the mean square error (MSE) criterion. The paper describes the implementation of the above methodology in two organizations, and two project types, namely weapons development and an ERP implementation, demonstrating different project success causal structures.