KPIs for Project Management

Project Management KPIs Examples and Tips

KPIs or key performance indicators, both financial as well as non-financial, are essential components that are used to appraise the progress of an organizational objective.

 

 

However, regardless of this reality, KPIs are generally misunderstood.

 

The benefits of measuring Key Performance Indicators or KPIs.

 

• It can be a rapid way of identifying the actual implementation of a strategic objective.
• Quicker decisions can be made when there are specific and accurate measures to support them.
• The management gets an overall view of departmental performance in a single location.
• The team is able to work jointly towards a set of common measurable objectives.
• It also serves as a means to identify any potential future problems and to mitigate it accordingly.

 

Project Management.

 

 

Project management is the process of commencing, planning, implementing, monitoring, and concluding the work of a team, to achieve specific objectives and success benchmarks. When a project is set up, one has to pay attention to different factors, to accomplish project objectives. These should be presented in a simple manner so that it can be easily interpreted.

 

As such, the best strategy to employ is to identify a few key performance indicators (KPIs) that will convey the information in a simple and effective manner, for anyone wanting to know the progress and the actual project status.

 

KPIs for Project Management.

 

KPIs for project management consists of various specific measurement tools to accurately identify how teams are able to achieve specific objectives. The KPIs for project management are usually agreed upon very early in the project venture. They indicate the organization’s impression of the project, and consolidate project responsibility across multiple administrative departments.

 

Each team may have different roles to play and tasks to complete. However, overall they support the KPIs in their own, unique way. Understanding the role of KPIs in project management helps build team synergy, and provide an interactive framework to monitor organizational project success.

 

Key performance indicators can also be used for all types and in all sectors of project management… in IT or information technology sector, engineering or construction sectors, supply or risk management sectors, manufacturing, quality or supply chain sectors, sales, or financial management sectors,  and other related sectors as well.

 

What are some of the good KPIs for Project Management?

 

KPIs consist of some of the most important performance objectives across all aspects of team involvement in a project. The terms and range of an organization’s KPIs tend to differ for each project. However, there are diverse and different facts and stats, which can be helpful to any organization.

Some Examples of KPIs in a Project Management are:

 

 

• The Project schedule.
• An estimate to project completion.
• The current development backlog.
• The monthly labor costs.
• Current resource allocation.
• Other Issues found by customers.

 

The specific topic areas generally include:

 

• Deviation From The Planned Budget.

This is the variance between the proposed budget and the actual costs. Helps to track down waste and inefficiency, and helps in the planning of unforeseen costs, which are characteristic to most projects.

 

• Deviation From The Pre-planned Time Schedule.

The variation of the planned time schedule is the difference in time between the planned set of data against the actual schedule. Understanding this, can help in the efficient allocation of tasks, and improvisation in the planning of time allocation.

 

• Deviation From The Staffing Schedule.

The deviation from the planned personnel program and schedule.

 

• The Percentage of Milestones Missed.

When too many milestones are not achieved, employees generally feel discouraged. Identifying when objectives are missed can help resurrect a project, and tone down similar challenges in the future.

 

• Cost Variance

An accurate cost variance helps to assess efficient teams and processes. This inadvertently helps key decision makers, where a project was worth the investment, and helps in the decision making of future similar projects.

 

Increasing Team Productivity.

 

The need to increase project performance in the field is greater than ever before. This is mainly because most organizations have integrated project management into their systems. Hence, it is obvious that exceptional results can only be achieved through a healthy work culture. This is clearly vindicated by the usage of appropriate KPIs that are devised to enhance the efforts that project managers put in successfully completing their projects.

KPIs for Project Management – Conclusion.

 

• Success and project performance is not always easy to measure.
• A project manager can gauge the status of a project through KPIs.
• Exhibiting the KPIs, helps minimize the noise and clutter.
• A “Dashboard” is the most efficient way to display multiple KPIs in a single view.

In short, by utilizing a strong KPI project management strategy, project managers and their teams, achieve bigger goals, increase team productivity, cultivate better work ethics, and complete projects successfully.