Projects Delivery KPIs
Projects delivery KPIs are important to measure the risks and opportunities that influence the strategic performance of projects and the team involved.
The project management KPIs types could be defined mainly around the following Criteria:
1. Financial: These are typically utilized when the measure is monetary.
2. Quantitative: These are for projects where the relevant metric is not financial but is something that can be quantified numerically like time delivery.
3. Qualitative: A qualitative KPI is used when the relevant metric is not numerical in nature like skills developed during the project.
4. Process: A KPI evaluating the process employed in a project can be used when the priority is to assess efficiency like measuring the implementation and improvement of a defined process.
5. Team performance: This type of KPI can be used to measure a team’s strength and its ability to deliver based on certain criteria.
However, theses KPIs depend on the organization type and culture. For example, you can’t hold the PD and PM responsible for the performance unless you are giving them the right authority financially and technically. Therefore, in an organization, which depends on functional operation, project team KPIs would be different to a PMO system KPIs.
Therefore, generally for project control we can divide KPIs into five levels: –
1. Organization’s project delivery KPIs according to the market.
2. Portfolio KPIs/programs KPIs
3. Projects KPIs,
4. Teams KPIs
5. Personnel KPIs.
The selection of these KPIs depends on the end-user and audience. The project dashboard can’t present it all. You need to define the purpose of reporting to define the appropriate dashboard for each KPI.
For easy reference, the following are a collective of most used KPIs which can be used as appropriate in the three levels:
1. Planned Value (PV) Project KPI
PV can be calculated by these two formulas:
Planned value = (the hours left scheduled on the project) X (project worker’s hourly rate)
Planned Value = (Planned % of tasks left to complete) X (project budget)
For example, if you have a project for 4 weeks with a total planned budget of 40000 USD, the Planned Value after 3 weeks (if you’re on schedule, you’ve completed 75% of the project activities and you’ve got 25% to go) is 25% of 40000 USD which makes the project planned value at this point of the project is 10000 USD. If you’ve actually spent more to date, it means that your Actual Cost has been higher than the Planned Value.
2. Actual Cost (AC) Project KPI
The Actual Cost KPI is also referred to as Actual Cost of Work Performed (ACWP).
It indicates how much money you have spent on a project as to date. There’s no formula for calculating the project’s actual cost, you just have to add up all the project-related expenses you’ve used to date.
Project budget is calculated considering all the hours planned for the project, so use the time spent on tasks to calculate the Actual Cost spent on salaries, resources etc.
3. Earned Value (EV) Project KPI
This KPI is also referred to as Budgeted Cost of Work Performed (BCWP).
This project KPI shows the approved budget for all the performed project activities by a specified date. It shows how much planned work you have actually accomplished and what’s the budget for these accomplishments.
When managing multiple projects, it’s best to create multiple KPI dashboards. For example one for each extensive project, one that summarizes all projects’ performance and a team dashboard to keep everyone updated.
Now that we’re done with the basics, let’s move on to more complex project KPIs that give us a complete overview of the project and business performance and are a must-have on your project tracking dashboard.
If you’re still looking for a perfect tool for your project team, learn about the essential features of the best project management software.
4. Return on Investment (ROI)
Project’s ROI reflects on its profitability and shows whether the benefits of the project exceed its cost.
Not all projects are destined to have a positive ROI in the first place. Sometimes, the ROI should be considered long term as some projects take more time to grow profitable.
ROI metrics on the project KPI dashboard should be derived from measurable components like the project’s Actual Cost and Earned Value.
5. Cost Variance (CV) (Planned Budget vs Actual Budget)
Project’s cost variance reflects on the project expenses.
It indicates whether the estimated cost of your project is below or above the planned baseline. To calculate the Cost Variance, compare the Planned Budget to Actual budget at a given time.
When measuring the Cost Variance, you can easily notice whether you’re beyond or above your approved budget.
6. Cost Performance Index (CPI)
This project KPI helps you approximate how much time you’re behind or ahead of the approved project schedule. CPI is the ratio of the planned budget to what you’ve actually spent to accomplish these tasks.
As the Cost Performance Index suggests the relative value of work done, it can be seen as the indicator of the project’s cost efficiency.
7. Cost of Managing Processes
Add this metric to your project dashboard to get an overview of time and resources spent on supervising and managing the project.
If the cost of managing processes seems too high, it might indicate that your project manager’s doing an inefficient job.
On the other hand, if the management costs are too low, it means that your teamwork may be poorly organized. It’s normal for the team to spend time on project meetings, making sure that everyone’s on the same page.
You can ease the project manager’s workload by using automated invoicing and time billing software , saving hours every week.
8. Planned Hours of Work Vs Actual Situation
Overseeing this project metric indicates how many working hours were planned for the project processes compared to the actual time spent. You can apply this metric at different time periods and compare multiple project phases. If the actual amount of hours spent highly exceeds the scheduled time, it’s time to re-estimate the time scheduled for the project.
9. Overdue Project Tasks / Crossed Deadlines
Add this metric to your project tracking dashboard to get an overview of how many project activities are overdue. This KPI is a calculated percentage of projects with crossed deadlines compared to all the completed project activities.
If you have a high percentage of overdue tasks, it’s time to think over the project schedule and bring in some new contributors.
10. Schedule Variance (SV)
Schedule Variance shows how much ahead or behind of planned budget (and scheduled work) your project is running.
It can be calculated by subtracting the project’s Planned Value of its Earned Value.
In other words, you take the time and budget that you initially planned to spend up to date and subtract it from the actual budget spent to date. If the sum is negative, it means that you have managed to achieve more than planned, and have a bigger budget left to spend on remaining tasks.
11. Schedule Performance Index (SPI)
This project management KPI will tell you whether you’re ahead or behind the planned project schedule.
It’s similar to many previous KPIs, except that the value of this metric is always close to number one.
To calculate Schedule Performance Index, divide the project’s Earned Value (EV) with the Planned Value (PV). If this metric is less than one, it indicates that the project is potentially behind schedule. If the SPI is greater than one, it indicates that the project is running ahead of schedule.
Schedule Performance Index = (Earned Value) / (Planned Value)
12. Missed Milestones
Similar to the number of missed deadlines, this KPI is widely used on project dashboards. It indicates whether you’ve overestimated your capacities and are running behind the schedule or you’re doing just fine, never missing a milestone.
It’s okay to miss a couple of milestones during a long-term project process, but if it’s becoming a rule instead of exception, it may be a sign that you need to review the whole project process.
13. Percentage of tasks completed
To get a really quick overview of your project’s performance, create a KPI indicating the percentage of completed tasks.
Enter the planned time for each project activity so that the KPI won’t reflect the number of various-size tasks but the time spent. You’ll get more accurate reporting and understand in what phase your project actually stands.
14. Resource utilization
While the majority of previously listed project management KPIs indicate how your project currently performs, resource utilization enables a quick glance at your team’s work.
Resource utilization measures how the time of team members is used while working on the project.
It implies how much time are people working on billable activities compared to the time spent on non-billable tasks.
This metric is specifically important when working for multiple customers, for example, various agencies need to watch this KPI. You’ll notice how many hours is spent on meetings and scheduling instead of actually working on the billable project activities.
Visits: 1818