Key success factors to business intelligence solution implementation

Business intelligence (BI) solutions have been adopted within organizations as a mean to achieve a more grounded decision making process that results in better organizational outcomes. Nowadays, about 70% to 80% of business intelligence implementation projects fail due to both technological and managerial issues. Multi-methodology proposed by Mingers (2006) was followed to develop the research in four phases: appreciation, where documental search was conducted through a literature review; analysis, where hypothetical structures related with the key success factors were proposed; assessment, where key success factors were assessed along with experts; and action, where research results discussion was shown. As a result, 13 factors that affect the business intelligence solution’s success were identified. Those factors contribute to improve planning and implementation of business intelligence projects, accomplishing in a greater extent the purposes of these projects.


INTRODUCTION
For companies and institutions to survive in the economy and in the business world, decisions must be accurate and made on time (Karim 2011;Olszak 2016).To have trusted, accurate and timely decisions, information needs must be ideally satisfied (Rajterič 2010) since the amount of time between making a decision and its feedback (which requires a new decision) is shorter every time (Folinas 2007).For companies to remain competitive in the new economy they must dynamically respond to both environmental changes and customer requirements (Velicanu and Matei 2008).
In practice and despite the facts mentioned above, it has been noticed that a great proportion of BI projects fail.According to Gartner Inc. about 70% to 80% of BI projects fail (Ortega 2013;SAP 2013).Pham et al. (2016) estimated a rate of failure approximately between 65% to 70%.Castelán et al. (2010) claim this proportion is about 40% to 50% for systems based on data warehouses, such as BI systems, because of issues that were not considered early on.This is consistent with another study that reveals that in addition to failing, they are also abandoned at the same rate (Herrera, 2011).
Failures in the use of BI implemented solutions are significant as well.In a few cases this type of solution tends to be discarded or fails to be implementations.About 10% to 20% of projects that did not fail in the preimplementation stage are executed result subutilization by those users that were supposed to use them (Arnott 2010;Yeoh and Popovič 2016).
However, existing problems in the BI project field can be seen from different perspectives.From a general point of view, there are two groups that summarize the presented failures: managerial obstacles and technological obstacles (Sakulsorn 2011).From a specific perspective there are problems related to the project leaders, sponsorship, solution requirements, designs, training, tools, tracing, posted objectives, estimated time to execution, data, data sources, problems with the technology handling, user needs, and investments, among others (Ahmed 2014;Castelán et al. 2010;EMC Consulting 2010;Gurjar and Rathore 2013;Herrera 2011;SAP 2013).
Those failures produce problems within organizations such as wasted of resources, time, and costs of opportunity of invested capital, as well as an inability to achieve expected benefits (Ortiz 2014).Taking into account the given failures when thinking about BI solutions and the problems that arise at the time of sharing information at an organizational level, this research aims to give a conceptual framework of key success factors to improve BI solutions success within organizations.All of these take contributions from several authors, validate those contributions at an organizational level and generate factors or specific characteristics that allow organizations to get greater effectivity rates in the adoption and implementation of these type of projects.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
Given the high failure rates, sub-utilization and the withdrawal of BI solutions, the need to approach issues that encourage good planning, use, implementation and holding of these type of solutions is evident.For that, researchers have attempted to identify those factors that could contribute to BI solution success, and are linked to benefits that could be potentially achieved (Ramamurthy and Sen 2008;Srikant 2006;Solomon 2005;Shin 2003;Hwang et al. 2004 cited in Hawking andSellitto 2010).These factors have been called "key success factors".Issues such as solutions adoption, complexities in implementation, and business purposes justify a more focused study of key success factors for BI solutions (Yeoh et al. 2008).
The challenge for organizations is to identify factors that have the greatest influence over their BI systems (Sangar and Iahad, 2013), which is why the topic of key success factors becomes a useful concept to understand the events during a BI project.Further, it becomes a construct easy to understand by managers, executives, technology information professionals and other people from areas that can carry theory into practice (Arnott 2008).

Key success factors
"The theory of KSFs gives good basis for stating what criteria should be followed during implementation of BI applications" (Olszak 2016, 112).Key Success Factors are defined in the literature as those critical areas where everything has to work correctly for business to flourish (Umble and Umble 2003, cited in Sangar and Iahad 2013).Equally, they are seen as high level considerations that differ from a set of deliverables at the end of a project (Yeoh et al. 2006).The definition made by Olszak and Ziemba (2012) goes further and claims that they are seen as a set of tasks and procedures that must be approached to secure the BI systems achievements during their formulation and promotion.This is used as the definition in this research.

Key success factor in BI solutions
Literature presents different key criteria to ensure BI solution success (Table 1).In turn, these factors present key characteristics that describe in a detailed way the meaning and composition of each factor.

Directives and top management
The engagement of the key members of the management team relates to the BI project (Table 1).According to Cidrin and Adamala (2011), a high level of top management support is associated with a high level of BI project success.Likewise, it helps to manage the change process and battle the resistance against project (Arnott 2008).
Leadership figures have important influence since if these executives exert a significant influence, they will be seen as leaders, and, employees will tend to follow them (Hobek et al. 2009).

Business linking
According to an interviewed person from the study by Yeoh et al. (2007Yeoh et al. ( , 1362)), "a BI system that is not business driven, is a failed system".Also Salmasi et al. (2016, 26) stated that "For BI success in an organization, information systems must meet the business needs".A solid business model must incorporate all strategic proposals that the project will approach, needed working resources, possible risks, costs to take on and deadlines to execute the project (Table 1).Thus, the model will provide justifiable motivations by which the adoption of a new solution changes the existing practices (Yeoh et al. 2007).

Key characteristics References
Directives and Top Management

People and Human Talent Teams
-Support from an external consultant in the start phase -Formal an interactive engagement with participation of the end user during project life cycle.-Appropriate mixed skills team -Well defined user expectations -Balanced skills and composition of the team -Arnott 2008; Dawson and Van Belle 2013;Olszak and Ziemba 2012;Sangar and Iahad 2013;Yeoh et al. 2006;Yeoh et al. 2007;Yeoh and Koronios 2010;Pham et al. 2016;Yeoh and Popovič 2016.

Learning and Skills
-Education and suitable and formal user learning -Easy learning solutions -In-site education, learning and support -Team knowledge and skills -Committed experience from the business side Chan et al. 2013;Sangar and Iahad 2013;Yeoh et al. 2006;Yeoh et al. 2007;Olszak, 2016.2008;Chan et al. 2013;Cidrin and Adamala 2011;Hawking and Sellitto 2010;Olszak and Ziemba 2012;Sangar and Iahad 2013;Yeoh et al. 2006;Yeoh et al. 2007;Yeoh et al. 2008;Yeoh and Koronios 2010;Pham et al. 2016 The project must have a clear link to the business, this way it will be economically supported in terms of its economic value (Arnott 2008).According to Yeoh and Koronios (2010), the main cause of BI solutions failure is not technological but a poor alignment with the business, its vision and objectives.This result in the impossibility of satisfying both the business and the costumers' needs and objectives.

Project leader or "champion" set up
This makes reference to a team leader appointment, in a few cases it is the same Chief Information Officer (CIO) (Table 1).This person must have enough technical and functional knowledge and at the same time he/she must have excellent interpersonal abilities to solve organizational conflicts (Yeoh et al. 2006).This makes choosing a leader a challenge as that person will carry the project baton, and foresee organizational challenges and course changes on time (Yeoh and Koronios 2010).He/she will see the solution from an organizational and strategic perspective, not only technological.If he/she understands both business and technology, he/she could translate business requirements in the technological architecture and vice versa (Yeoh et al. 2007).

Strategy
The fixed strategic vision is summarized in the results obtained by Yeoh et al. (2007).Their findings suggest that a long-term strategy results in a continuum improvement at an organizational level, and the impact of the solution and the expected results depend on its understanding (Table 1).Top management must be committed and give the needed support for project success (Yeoh et al. 2006).
The project must have a vision of BI as well, it must provide needed resources to fulfil it and must insist on the use of information at the decision making process (Watson and Wixom 2007).Equally important are the goals or objectives.It is a fundamental input to have a clear way to which the organizations want to reach.It also works to dispose the resources, actions, processes and everything needed to reach a desired state.Although the company may fix it, sometimes there is doubt about their use from the employees in their daily operations (Popescu 2012).

Change management
A change management program is important in the sense that it reduces implementation resistance and in the way that it favors its adoption (Hawking 2013) especially when technologies are ongoing, because it is the moment in which there are greater possibilities for changes to happen (Hobek et al. 2009;Fourati-Jamoussi et al. 2016) (Table 1).
Communication is an important factor for the change management.It must appear in the project formulation step so employees can prepare on their own to receive change (Hobek et al. 2009) and for them to know first-hand the impact it will have at individual level (Hawking 2013).

Project
The BI project is one of the most important factors, considered to be a key one.The authors (Arnott 2008;Hawking and Sellitto 2010;Yeoh et al. 2006;Yeoh et al. 2007) claim a marked emphasis in the scope is an important issue for the success of the BI project.With that, the main objective of its formulation, deadlines, advances and final results can be achieved, framed and aligned with the business purposes strategically posted early by the top management (Table 1).

People and human talent teams
Individuals as project members must have appropriate experience, knowledge and skills (Arnott 2008;Rouhani et al. 2012;Salmasi et al. 2016).
According to interviews made by Yeoh et al. (2007), they showed that experts agreed that team conformation and the skills of people engaged in the project greatly influenced its implementation success.It is ideal that participant teams are composed of people from diverse areas, who have technical expertise and a deep business knowledge (Burton et al. 2006cited by Yeoh et al. 2007) (Table 1).

Learning and skills
It is important that organizations provide workers with the skills and knowledge to use the BI solutions (McCalister 2012;Arnott 2008;Wixom andWatson 2001, cited by Chan et al., 2013).
Taking into account that this kind of project demands high technical engagement, it must dispose a team that gives support and more precisely training in order to educate and shape everyone about the BI project (Adamala and Cidrin 2011; Olszak 2016.)(Table 1).That team can be shaped by people supporting both the technical and human parties.Based on this training it is important that people give feedback about their experience since they will continue to use the BI solutions (Bălăceanu 2007;Muntean 2007).
Learning tools enter here to mediate.They must be offered and disposed to acquaint people with the new solution environment, since human behavior related to decision making is not generally aligned with tools capacity (Feng et al. 2009).

Information and technology
This key success factor is one of the most used in BI research, since it is focused on architecture, software and tools development and tangible elements whose impact is reflected in practice by its operative characteristics (Loshin 2013).
According to Yeoh et al. (2007) the first step is to do a requirements analysis whereby a solution can secure the shape of organizational conditions over the time.
As second step that analysis must conclude in a match between organizational needs and their alignment in the company's strategic framework whereby it fulfills the proposed objectives and posted vision (Knoben and Oerlemans 2006).
A Choosing a solution is the last step; it should be matched to the organization's needs (Arnott 2008).It must require a detailed plan formulation.If the organization is supported only by tools without a plan, purchasing solutions will become a distraction to the proposed goals (Loshin 2013) (Table 1).

Resources
Generally, this factor is seen from a clearly economic view, mainly for the top management which assess this kind of project through costbenefit relations.While it is not a mistake, is clear that intellectual, economic and physical factors have equal weight within a BI project since suitable handling and engaged management are key to real and verifiable benefits (Hobek et al. 2009;Yeoh et al. 2007) (Table 1).

Metrics
Metrics are always important to know projects results and in this case, it is not an exception.Following the research proposal of Nemec (2011) based on a literature review focused on DeLone y McLean studies, dimensions posted by these authors in their information systems success model can be seen as key factors when a BI project is assessed (Table 1).
Nemec (2011) formulates issues like benefits, utility, quality and satisfaction, which are perceived by users as influencing elements in a BI solution's success.It will result in relevant information about acceptance and real use that could be obtained by the project.

Environment
Organizations that do not have information to process, need information systems that can improve that situation and give them a better understanding about environment forces, with which they can improve their performance by producing and using useful information (Sangar and Iahad 2013).

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The methodology used is the multi-methology proposed by Mingers (2006), which follows the phases: appreciation, where document search is conducted through a literature review; analysis, where hypothetical structures related with the key success factors are proposed; assessment, where key success factors are assessed along with experts; and action, where research result discussion is shown.

Literature review
Bibliography and references search were conducted in: Scopus and Web of Science and in a small amount in Google Scholar.Indexed journal articles, conference proceedings, book sections and corporate reports on BI were collected.It was conducted by equations restricted to databases: EBSCOHost (Business Source Complete and Academic Source Complete), Jstor, Emerald, IEEE, Science Direct, Springer Journal, Springer Books and Taylor & Francys.Once documents were obtained, a detailed check of abstracts and keywords was done to corroborate the material's relevance to the research.Table 2 shows the process outcomes.A total of 12 documents that explicitly treat the topic key success factors on BI solutions were found.

Document codification
According to Serbia ( 2007), a topics analysis was conducted.By using the NVIVO10 software, it was structured as: a primary node with the topic Key Success Factors on BI and twelve secondary nodes, ten of which are matched with the referred authors.Similarly, twelve tertiary nodes that represent the main identified factors according to a systematic literature review on this topic were formulated.This structure was established taking as reference the topics analysis conducted by Fernández Núñez ( 2006), referring to free text analysis through Key Words in Context (KWIC) to proceed to codify the contents on those nodes.
Next, this node structure is presented (Figure 1).The discontinuous line refers to contributions and its complement of author and exposed factors.

Information collecting
Interviews of seven experts in the field who have participated in research or implementation of BI solutions were conducted (Table 3).According to Morse (1994) and Kuzel (1992) cited in Guest et al. (2006), a suitable number of interviewed participants in a qualitative study ranged from 6 to 8 people.
Other studies (Fairer-Wessels and Malherbe, 2012; Fusch and Ness 2015; Mason 2010) argued that despite not having an ideal number of participants, saturation of information is a good stop index.
Each interview was made up of 30 questions (Appendix 1), two general questions to begin and end with a closer and conclusive conversation and 28 more focused on key success factors identified on literature that was exposed early on.
Based on the application, interviews duration ranged from 35 minutes to 82 minutes.Six were conducted in person and one on Skype.
Table 3 Experts participating in the study.This summarizes the main information about the experts who participated in the research.It contains basic information like degrees and practical and academic experience.Note: The distribution number is based on the order in which experts were interviewed, so this is not an important or significant factor in this research.

Information analysis
Interview processing was done with the NVIVO10 software based on a word frequency query applied to the seven documents of the interviews.It was a primary landscape of terms and keywords that were important in context, which were coincident with the early identified factors in the literature on key success factors in BI.With those terms a node structure was generated to classify and group information obtained from interviews.Table 4 shows the node classification and denomination that was used in the interviews processing.Table 4 shows the number of resources that were linked to the codification, which range from 0 (when no resources allude to each factor) to 7 (the maximum number of documents of experts interviewed).Likewise, it shows the number of references (codifications) made for each considered node.Almost all of the factors achieve the maximum number of resources, which means that most factors were treated by the experts in the interviews.
After identifying the primary and secondary nodes based on interviews, one-by-one-factor analysis was made.Pieces of interviews were taken to support the exposed ideas and outcomes as well as a text matrix summarizing the experts' arguments that support the outcomes.
According to the gathered information from the experts, a general structure which characterizes success factors in BI solutions in organizational environments was posted (research results).This structure is aligned and matches with the reviewed literature and is a product of a detailed content analysis of conducted interviews with the NVIVO10 software.

Proposition of hypothetical explicative structures to study the phenomenon
According to the identified factors from the literature, a single applicable hypothetical structure was formulated for each factor: HS0: The identified factor does not affect the BI solution's success HS1: The identified factor affects the BI solution's success

RESEARCH RESULTS
From the topics analysis of conducted interviews, results show that twelve pieces of literature identified factors that are consistent with experts' perceptions about BI solutions success, adding the Professional Networks factor according its importance to the experts.Figure 2 shows the obtained results.
Figure 2 shows the importance of every factor to the experts based on keywords attributed to each one, depending on the context in which each keyword was used by the experts.It should be noted that for this analysis 25% of the interviewees' transcript in the interviewed documents was used.Words or elements with less importance (which did not have a strong enough consistence to constitute an independent factor) according to this analysis, were classified within the thirteen posted factors.
The next part focuses on presenting detailed research results after making an analysis of content based on the codification.Table 5 summarizes some of the experts' arguments taken from the documents of the interviews in support of the affirmations.

Directives and top management success factors
According to the experts there are four important characteristics around this factor.As a first step, making a decision about developing a project or implementing a solution is a top management affair: a manager, an owner, a steering committee or, by default, a third party with influence at the managerial level.All this leaves aside suppositions that the decision is made by organizational technology areas, as is commented on by the experts.A second step is the deep knowledge about the request.A manager or top management executive of an organization is who decides what he/she needs.Although it could lead to misrepresentations and, sometimes, to incorrect BI project conceptions and developments due to the power or the political position these people may have within organizations, decisions could be made with expensive and useless projects, and may also discard more useful and viable projects because of individual decisions.
The third characteristic is the existence of a sponsor who is going to authorize and fund the idea of developing a BI project in an organization.The future of this kind of solutions depends on the top management's credibility since they will provide resources (mainly financial) and will sponsor efforts to achieve their objectives and goals.
Finally, handling of power and politics plays a fundamental role.It is evident that when experts say that these are projects focused on the top management, which is political by nature, forces that go beyond single decisions, requests and social relations are played.For instance, there are deep-root personal interests when there is a pursuit for personal favoring or figuration.In spite of that, it may be a positive point since it helps to analyze engaged actors in the project, and by this way to determine the best way to reach them, taking into account that there will always be detractors and followers with different levels of power and influence.Table 5 Expert's arguments regarding to identified factors.This summarizes some of the expert's arguments taken from the documents of the interviews as support of the affirmations made within the article.

Learning and Skills
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Business linking success factors
Business linking is the starting point of any BI project.There is a consensus among several experts around the first-hand knowledge of the kind of business or organization and, derived from that, the sector in which it operates, activities developed by organization and, in itself, its position in economy.Furthermore, addressing business strategy becomes the second essential element in this factor since it represents the mission, vision, strategies, objectives, needs and, generally, all issues than have led the organization to think about a BI solution.Based on that, further actions can be determined in order to make a more optimal and efficient project.This factor is the roadmap to project development since it sets a frame to follow according to the collected information that characterizes conditions in which an organization operates both internally and externally.Thus, subsequent actions can be stated to achieve results and fulfil the initially posted goals which justify the BI project development.

Project leader or "champion" set up success factor
It is vitally important to establish the project leader role.As experts stated, it is not reduced to a person but a position regardless of its denomination.They also emphasize the strategic importance that this role has within the project development.This person is integral at technical, operative and personal levels.They must always be at the knowledge vanguard in favor of the BI project, and guiding all participant members according to that acquired knowledge and experience, not only technically but professionally and personally.
He/she must be influential in order to persuade other people of the benefits and the individual role within the project.Equally, he/she must be strategist at forming teams and groups in such a way that he/she exploits individual and group capacities for the common benefit.
He/she must be a person with values, always transparent to avoid influences from the top management or the operative side, understanding each one.This person will be in charge of negotiations among the parties involved, both internally and externally, dealing with problems and situations derived from the development and execution of the project.
This person must match efforts through technological, intellectual and personal resources coordination, exploiting individual capacities, serving as a central project axis and propending for centralization of activities and delegating responsibilities to all participants.

Business strategy success factors
As a first step, business strategy works to align input between project development and its proposed objectives and its implementation.As Expert 5 says "all has to be routed to the strategy.That is why it also has to be aligned with the top management, it will be the primary line".
What is the importance of business strategy for a BI project?In the words of Expert 6 "any process and in this case a BI process, it is part of a strategy.The first thing to define is: what is going to be the strategy?What do you want and where do you want to go to?What are the goals and objectives you want to achieve?That is the first thing you have to establish.Then you define a plan: how can you achieve that?"It indicates what works as a support factor for the organizational processes.
In relation to the above, Expert 4 states that "it is required to know what the strategy of the business is, weaknesses and strengths to know where it is oriented" It summarizes that the business strategy factor works as a diagnosis tool, allowing one to know what the initial situation is without BI project, and what the desired state to reach with the project is.
Business strategy is not static.Thus, it is also presented with a factor of dynamism.According to the experts "There must be clarity that strategy is normally emergent" and it is dependent from the organizational environment, "to the extent in which the environment changes, strategy changes" otherwise the expected results could not possibly be achieved" states Expert 3.
It is evident that business strategy becomes a guide and at the same time a driving force that promotes the planning and implementation of a BI project, specifically its execution since the project will match the initial requests posted by the top management and the other people engaged.

Change management success factors
It is a linked factor to the organization's culture in which the BI project will be developed.
According to Expert 1 "there should be an early and simultaneous preparation.In any project, generally an informatics project, change management is needed.More in business intelligence.You need it as a key success factor to technology implementation" Fear of change, as in any daily life situation, is present in this kind of project.Linked to that, the perception of BI tools in the project as a means of control, makes users and affected people in general take negative attitudes towards the BI initiative.Added to that, reactivity to carry out new processes and change the ones that exist, along with people's perceptions about being replaced by technical tools, reaffirms negative perceptions regarding actions in the BI project.
Although the above is not positive for the project, positive perceptions are also found at the moment of managing the change.According to the Experts' opinions, to innovate with a BI project in an organization allows the organizations to optimize processes that were tedious before, improving developed activities and achieving better results.
Likewise, there is the perception of specialization, which gives the person an image opposite to which he/she can form based on the established organizational culture, receiving benefits and learning new ways to perform the same processes.

BI project deployment success factors
According to the interviews with experts, the word Project holds the first use-frequency place (number of times it is repeated within the texts) by experts interviewed.It is no wonder, since it is the most important part of a BI solution.It includes in detail all issues, from the beginning to the end, being the center of all activities.
Consistent with the experts, the first step to follow must be evangelization and engagement of all of the actors who are going to be immersed in the project.In order to make them participate in its development, one must take them into account and show them the importance that it is going to represent to both their individual work and the organizational processes.This is achieved by training, meetings and constant and accurate information exchange.
At a general level, the BI project must start by setting its scope, thus, the relevant actions to formulate the project in detail should be set.That scope must obey the already set business requests mentioned, which indicate the need and relevance of formulating a BI solution, taking into account the expected goals.
Once those elements have been established, next one must undertake the project planning, which will determine in detail the schedules, tasks, and necessary resources (economic, intellectual and temporary) as well as business processes that will be engaged to achieve the goals established.Equally important is the responsibilities and role distribution for the process development.
Within these business processes, experts ensure that is important to detail issues such as: planning, and data collection, structuring, control and quality, as well as infrastructure, feedback and environment adaptation, continuity of activities and their follow-up.The latter is very important since it must be seen from three different points of view: business, technical and analytical, always guaranteeing business continuity.

People and human talent team success factors
Although social relations present difficulties due to their dependence on emotional, cultural and personal factors, among others, BI solutions are developed in environments where everyone has their role, responsibilities and an awareness of being part of a team that aims to achieve the agreed objectives.
The work team and the experience that members acquire are essential elements when developing a BI project.Based on this, the knowledge building, meanings and experiences that will benefit both individuals and organizations are important.Similarly, it is shown that the work team and its composition are mediated by six characteristics that could grow or limit its performance and development: collaboration, engagement, communication, trust, cooperation and coordination.
Collaboration is the first characteristic.According to Expert 6, along with coordination, "[They are] vital because the project could tend to fail", it must be immersed within the project from the conception because "[within] the plan there must be all details of collaboration strategy in different fronts" in order to know where you want to go with that collaborative work, and who must participate.
The second characteristic is engagement.According to Expert 2, "engagement [must be] formal, formalized engagement works well because when it does not, it ends badly.[It] is the first thing to be workable, to have engaged people.When people are engaged, they will surely be responsible" but that is not so easy in practice because "engagement is usually too low since we are hunters of opportunities and to the extent in which we find a better one, we will go behind it" stated Expert 3.
Communication appears in the third place.It "has to be open" said Expert 6.According to Expert 5, everything that happens, regardless of the kind of information, must be communicated."(…) it is conveyed alike, if there is a day I do not inform people, small or big things, they work well or not" problems could appear, so "[it] must be as transparent as possible".
Trust is the fourth characteristic.As Expert 4 states, "is an essential element", also for Expert 5 who comments that "it is indispensable and it must be totally transparent in order to achieve integration of all engaged people in your project".As Expert 6 states "trust has to be vital, because everything that will be implement from the BI point of view is to improve the business".
The fifth place, and not the least important, is cooperation, which is essential because of the interdisciplinary nature of BI projects.As an Expert states "if we do not cooperate between business, technical and analytic parties, it will be a failure" which is shared by another Expert who states that "cooperation is important because these kinds of solutions or systems are naturally made for several working teams, they are not made for a single person".Indeed, cooperative work ends up being synergic by nature.
Finally, coordination is the last characteristic.This one "goes hand in hand with activities and responsibilities of each one and how I coordinate myself, with my pairs, my partners, to achieve the common goal, what is expected from all of these implementations" states Expert 6.It is "one of the needed skills for a person who wants to be on BI" remarks Expert 5.
Besides those elements and characteristics that are present in the teamwork, there are other cross constructs in group activities which are essential to the job.Those are: involvement, empowering and participation which depend on organization of individuals.

Learning and skills success factors
Learning processes, according to experts, are generated at several levels.First, at a macro level, in which there is a conception of value generation for collective learning.Thereupon, there is a meso level, which is referred to as the existing relationship with external agents who foster learning through practices and knowledge that are initially foreign to the organization.Finally, there is a micro level, which involves technology as a tool or a way to learn and apprehend knowledge in a suitable environment.That environment counts on issues such as the individual insertion within the project, involvement, constant communication, a continuing information flow to get feedback and improvement, and a practice and operation stage that will work as a foundation to gain knowledge and then create new knowledge.
To promote that learning, an individual must possess certain types of skills, which make him/her liable to get and generate a specialized knowledge within a BI project.Both technical and non-technical skills shape the set that will give a result of specialized knowledge and learning in the field.According to Expert 3 "people's skills in all levels are very heterogeneous" and likewise "they will depend on the role that individuals have within the project" states Expert 6.
In agreement with what the experts say at a general level, it is important to have technical and non-technical skills that carry them to be "people with a lot of negotiation skills, they must know how to listen to the internal client's needs and have an open attitude, they have to be very analytic people that solve conflicts" affirm Expert 5. Concordant with that, they must "learn and apprehend" and "develop the ability of questioning, this for them to talk the same business language" state Experts 3 and 4.
On the other hand, it is necessary to have certain technical skills "which are related to structuring and designing a project of this nature.That is done by specialized people in BI".According to Expert 1's opinion."If the part of models is worked, analytic models, statistical models, [there] must be a person who has this skill, this knowledge; a person who does not know about it cannot be there" concludes Expert 6.
According to Expert 4 it can be summarized in professional and cross skills, which allow one to understand a business situation, give a suitable use and interpretation, and thus "[be] able to carry this business request to a specific technical request."

Information and technologies success factors
One of the essential inputs of BI solutions is information.According to the experts, it is more important than technologies because it could take the second or even third place when it is about seeing the importance of the component of the solutions.
Although data and information that could be generated are abundant, experts agree that information depends on the kind of project to be handled, for instance, financial projects, marketing projects, or human resources projects.With that, the kind of structure and design needed for its development can be established.
To have access to that information, the first thing is to conceive the study and design access roles.Not all users have the right to access to the same information and equally it must be ensured that the information they can access is pertinent to his/her task development.It happens to both internal information and external information coming from suppliers, customers and all related stakeholders.
However, to discern, use, analyze and get meaning from the information obtained, an operation by using technologies is needed.Those depend on the project scope, size of the organization, purposes, available resources and all elements analyzed above in the success factor of the BI project's development.According to the experts, technology does not take a privileged place when thinking of a BI solution because it is only a tool that gives options and facilitates the development of actions that could not be done without it.
In the words of one of the interviewed experts, there is a "very strong relation, but there is not conditionality, that is to say, it does not depend on any technology to do anything.Not even on the use of Excel [since] you can do an analysis generated by the experience, an industry analysis [for instance] with the simple fact of knowing how many new clients came".It is concordant with the opinion of a second expert who says "they are marvelous but sometimes are overvalued, I can tell you that there are BI projects that perfectly work with Excel".
According to Expert 6 "whether it is wanted or not, technologies are important.(…) those tools exist for any reason, they are made for a different type of requirement".Those tools "must possess both functional and nonfunctional characteristics".They must be also intuitive, friendly and accessible, as much as possible, always thinking about the users.As Expert 1 states, maybe the most important issue of those technologies must be their usability, since "it must be addressed to final user, not to the informatics technicians".Likewise "they are made to be a tool for the functional areas, not only for technicians' use, it is not a tool for the informatics area, but from this area tools are enabled to be used by final users".
Technologies in BI solutions must work as learning tools in order to improve skills and facilitate issues such as communication, relationship consolidation and the strengthening of organizational processes.They should be used as complementary tools, generating timely advantages, even when it is only a supporting tool.This must be done without omitting key issues such as security and the collaboration developed jointly with new information technologies.
It must be taken into account that technology, regardless of it costs, brand or reputation, must obey a need and must work under a cost-benefit logic, regarding the organization's needs."Tools are as good as information you enter, that's where all should start" states Expert 5. "Its investment will depend on its future return" argues Expert 1.

Professional networks success factors
Despite the fact that "Professional Networks" is not one of the most used terms in the experts' speeches, it is also one of the key success factors for BI solutions as it could be observed.This is based on statements made by the six interviewed experts, who agreed that the fact of belonging or keeping up with what happens in professional networks, more exactly about BI topics, potentiates some faculties for professional and personal development in order to get more successful BI projects and solutions.
According to the collected information, six features that characterizes professional networks as BI key success factor could be observed.First they work as input sources for the project development because they find information from third parties, which could complement specific project developments, according to their characteristics and past experiences.
As a second step, an element to overcome obstacles is used, allowing one to beat possible personal and organizational barriers presented during the development of this kind of project.Linked to the above and with a remarkable importance, it works as a synergy source, meeting and centralizing the resources available in the network to the project benefit.This, taking into account that complementary visions could be reached, and concepts, roles, experiences and resources, among others, could be shared.
An enrichment source is the fourth feature, having access to information and resources which allow a continuing learning and updating, based on interactions with third parties.Similarly, resource sources that provides knowledge, human and intellectual capital, both internal and external, depend on the organizational needs and itself the BI project through collaborative work.
Finally, an associated source achieves the constant articulation and communication among parties which will contribute resources, source and whole network quality improvement.It is important to mark that this feature goes hand in hand with communication and tracking to have knowledge about activities that other parties, which belong to the network, are developing.

Economic resources
As Expert 1 states, BI project or solution choice is based on a cost-benefit relation, for him "a solution is not expensive by itself, it must be seen in a cost-benefit context.Solution choice depends on this relation".Although this topic is sensitive at an organizational level since it involves monetary resources, it is essential when working on a BI solution.As Expert 2 states, "those are resources that must be used from the [project]

Intellectual resources
According to Expert 3, "there is not [any] technology that works without the human element and intellectual capacity for processing and analyze information.You could have marvelous systems but if you do not have people behind it, who have the capacity to exploit it to the maximum, there is no way to make it work".
Meanwhile Experts 1 and 2 state that "when [there] is a project, [it] is necessary to know which experts [are] needed to be involved" given that and to develop it, "a specialization is necessary (…) [Since it involves] specialized people in the BI field, [which] cannot be done by anyone, that is why there are firms specialized in BI".It makes evident the importance of the kind of requested resource, facing also that it is "a fundamental intellectual resource, [which makes it] so difficult to get an expert person in the field".
As a conclusion and as Experts 4 and 5 affirm, "If there is a well-formed team which can implement and execute it, they really could work better or worse with one or another technology but they will carry out and will get the best from that.If you have the best technology but you do not have the people who could carry it out, it will not work" therefore "you need the technology knowledge and you need people who have the knowledge around it".

Technological resources
According to Expert 6: "A technological resource is important because it often determines the success or not of the BI initiative.(…) it is not the same to make it with a software, product or hardware resource of low performance, poor upgradeability which does not have the capacity to grow in a corporate environment with all of what it involves: security, versioning, collaboration and all corporate issues you could have, compared with a tool that gives us this kind of possibilities".
It is concordant and it goes hand in hand with the affirmation of Expert 7 saying that "technologies will be used, it should be the best existing in the market" and it is advisable that "a project like that (BI project) must have an alliance with infrastructure organizations, because [it] needs servers, machines, etc."With that you get constant updates and avant-garde technologies are promoted.
In this point, Online Social Networks (OSN) are presented as "a still well-unexplored field", Expert 4 states, and adduces that: "there is an opportunity.(…) one of the current trends is: why do we not take advantage of that which is in social networks?Why do not we bring it and transform it?Since those data exist there, why do not we transform it into knowledge for the organization?
Although OSNs were not considered to be a key success factor in BI solutions, they are involved at the time to think in sources, data handling, ETL, market analysis, brand perception and generally, issues related with marketing, as experts said.

Metrics key success factors
According to information gathered from the experts, metrics allow one to fix goals and to know where to go with the project development or what one wants to achieve.Accordingly, indexes allow one to do a follow-up of the project development, showing results based on the initial goals.
Metrics also allow one to determine behaviors during the development and execution of the project, which allows them to handle it in less uncertain environments, and establish proactive and reactive actions.It allows the organization to identify the degree in which objective fulfilment has been achieved and thus the achievement of dependent activities of the strategy that gave rise to the project development.
They are also immersed as management tools as part of the advanced reports or the project's results, and this works itself, supporting the management decisions based on real and consolidated information backed up by reliable systems or technologies.This success factor is key as a management tool since it allows one to analyze, diagnose, preview and make decisions in favor of the project development in order to be successful.

Environment key success factor
This success factor refers to the conditions that are inherent to the BI project during its planning, development and execution on behalf of both internal and external environmental factors, which have influence and direct involvement in the project activities and the people involved in the project.
Since environment is changing, project condition must change as well according to new demands.It is part of the paradigmatic rupture of always doing things the same way.
As is evident in interviews, BI solutions, by engaging a set of processes and new or improved technologies, present a resistance on behalf of individual and/or the group culture that is formed at an organizational level, or by the sum of the individual cultures that generate environmental conditions both positively and negatively.
These environmental conditions, despite the fact that they generate barriers, also generate benefits as joint problem solutions on behalf of positive issues formed by the organizational culture.Factors like founded organizational structure are influential in solving problems, since bases of personal and group relationships that operate through past experiences have been settled.

CONCLUSIONS
Up to now, academic research on the key success factors of implementing BI systems were still rare, limited in the scope of analysis (Pham et al. 2016) and poorly understood (Yeoh and Popovič 2016).Although BI solutions try to focus on success in the technological component, they adopt an approach that puts business needs first (Yeoh and Koronios 2010; Yeoh and Popovič 2016).Thus, BI solutions must be part of the company strategy, managed in a centralized way, involving all users from the first initiative, appropriating skills and suitable and needed knowledge.
Research exhibits 13 factors that contribute to improve the success rate of BI solution implementation.These solutions must involve a sponsor from the top management, permanently developing and adapting the expectations and challenges that face the organization, providing training as well as human, material, technical and economic resources needed for its development (Olszak and Ziemba 2012), all aligned with the strategy and the environment in which the organization operates.When all of these elements are identified from the beginning and are used as drivers for the implementation effort, there is a greater probability of success in the BI solutions implementation (Yeoh and Koronios 2010).
Although this literature review identified a total of 12 key success factors for BI solutions, another contribution from the research was the Professional Networks key success factor.This has emerged due to new trends in practice communities, a disseminated access to knowledge and the narrowing of the professional ties among professionals from different or even the same industries or economic sectors.
For further research, this work may involve a greater sample of experts that allow for a more detailed analysis by economic sector, industry and likewise by distinguishing the kind of affiliation (public and private).Also, it could include participants who participated in projects as final users, since this research was developed based on experts who participated as implementers or were part of the top management team that was not necessarily implied to be a user.

Figure 1
Figure1Node classification of key success factors on BI articles.This shows the node structure that is presented for the topic "key success factors on BI".The discontinuous line refers to contributions and its complementarity of each author to every exposed factor.

Figure 2
Figure 2 Importance degree of key success factors of BI solutions.shows the importance of the thirteen identified factors to the experts based on keywords attributed to each one, depending on the context in which each keyword was used by the experts.

Table 1
Collected key success factors (characteristics) based on the literature review.
on results from a big survey, Watson and Haley 1997 (cited by Yeoh et al. 2008), stated that critical factors for BI project success are organizational by nature.

Table 2
Search and document outcomes.Table shows the equations used to retrieve important information to gather documents on the topic: "key success factors" in business intelligence which were applied to the database search.

Table 4
Node classification to interviews analysis.This shows the node classification and denomination that was used to the interviews processing with the NVIVO software.