Unravelling the Factors Leading to the Success of Automated Software Projects

Software projects are becoming more complex and dynamic in the current global scenario, and consequently understanding the factors which affect the success of such complex projects becomes critical. Lot of research work has been done in this area, and high failure rate of software projects was reported. This study tries to understand the impact of various factors like process guidance by the tool, integration of task and information, work flow, transparency of information, and visualization of analyzed information on the success of the software project.

Design/Methodology/Approach: The success of the project, work flow, transparency of information, process guidance by the tool, visualizations of analyzed information and integration of task and information are measured through 30 items. The questionnaire measured all items on seven point Likert scale, and multiple regression was applied to find the impact of process guidance by the tool, integration of task and information, work flow, transparency of information, visualization of analyzed information on success of the software project.

Findings: Process guidance by the tool, integration of task and information, work flow, transparency of information, visualization of analyzed information of the project management software used in a software project have impact on the success of the software project. The study further establishes that process guidance by the tool has highest impact, integration of task and information has second highest impact, work flow has third highest impact, transparency of information has fourth highest impact and visualization of analyzed information has the least impact on the success of the software project. All these five factors explain 83.9% of the variation of success of the software project.

Research Limitations/Implications: The data were collected from 150 respondents and the size of data can be increased for better result. Process guidanceby the tool, integration of task and information, work flow, transparency of information, visualization of analyzed information, with respect to project management tool are only some of the factors considered in the paper to understand the software project success; other factors could also be combined to understand it in a better way. It could be studied in other countries as well.

Practical Implications: The findings show the impact of process guidance by the tool, integration of task and information, work flow, transparency of information, and visualization of analyzed information of a project management software, on success of software project which will help project managers in handling the team in a better way, and management in providing improved working situation for the software developers and project managers for good results in the software projects. They will also be guided for purchase decision of project management software. Guidance is not only provided to project managers but also to vendors dealing in such tool, as to what factors should be emphasized while developing such project management tools.

Originality/Value: Lot of work has been done to understand the factors affecting the success of software projects, but only few studies have conducted such study, with special reference to process guidance by the tool, integration of task and information, work flow, transparency of information, and visualization of analyzed information, and that to in the Indian context.