Critical success factors in the acquisition of communication and information systems: A litterature study

Experience shows that acquisition of communication and information systems (CIS) is often delayed, exceeds the original budget or is poorly adapted to the users' needs or other parts of the system. The purpose of this report is to provide a basis for continued work to identify principles that will lead to a more efficient acquisition of CIS for the Swedish Armed Forces. The objective is to identify critical success factors for the acquisition of CIS. This report is based on a literature study where critical success factors for acquisition and development have been identified. The success factors have been categorised and summarised into 21 principles that could contribute to a more efficient acquisition and integration of CIS. The principles can be categorised into principles for a: more favourable organisational culture, principles for maintaining an efficient procurement over time, principles for project start-up, principles for project work, principles for decisions regarding what technology to use, and principles for follow-up and evaluation. The results from this report should form the basis for a future study that examines and validates which of the identified principles are likely to contribute to more efficient acquisitions of CIS in the Swedish Armed Forces.