Critical success factors (CSF) are those actions that must be performed well in order for the objectives or goals established by an organisation to be met satisfactorily. Within each CSF will be one or more key performance indicators (KPI). KPIs enable management to understand, measure and control progress in each of the CSFs. For example, an organisation may have set a goal of providing the highest-quality service that ensures each internal customer receives best value. A CSF in achieving that goal would be agreed SLAs. Here, a KPI might be published service levels to show clearly what has to be achieved and then, subsequently, to say what has been achieved. In another example, an internal perspective on productivity, a CSF, would lead to KPIs that highlighted abortive work, backlog and ability (or inability) to perform tasks concurrently. Measures of productivity could include:
- percentage of total work complete at a given time;
- percentage of activities planned against unplanned;
- percentage of total hours by customer type; and
- breakdowns against planned preventive maintenance hours.
Where customer perspectives are concerned, a CSF could be quality for which one of the KPIs would be complaints (or the lack of them) which, in turn, would equate to a measure of the number of complaints over time or, alternatively, a satisfaction rating.
References
Alexander, K., Atkin, B.L., Bröchner, J. and Haugen, T. (eds.) (2004) Facilities Management: Innovation and Performance. London: Spon.
Atkin, B. and Brooks, A. (2009) Total Facilities Management. Third edition. Oxford: Blackwell Science.
Barrett, P.S. and Baldry, D. (2003) Facilities Management: Towards Best Practice. Second edition. Oxford: Blackwell Science.
The Facilities Society (2014). SLAs and service specifications.
