Use of Metrics, Indicators, and Dashboards in Project Management
As part of successfully completing this course, you should be able to master the eight course objectives:
Demonstrate the need for project management metrics.
Establish the importance of metrics in effective management of time, cost, and scope.
Apply the knowledge of project metrics to identify the key characteristics of properly defined metrics.
Characterize Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) as used in metric-driven project management.
Apply value-based project management metrics as important in selecting the right metrics.
Explore project performance dashboards including designs, use, and limitations.
Explore the applications of visual project management tools, including project performance dashboards.
Create proper performance indicators for application in measurement-driven project management.
In this portfolio project, you are to show your mastery of the eight course objectives at a master's level. You are to write a paper that covers each of the eight topics.
Notice that each objective is written with a verb as the first word to show some action that students must achieve for success in this class. Verbs like "demonstrate," "apply," and "create" require that the student takes some action on a project to satisfy the requirement. You should find a project to use in this portfolio where you may take those actions and document them in your paper. You might apply earned value analysis on a project underway to satisfy course objective number 5, for example.
Verbs like "establish," "characterize," and "explore" require that the student shows mastery of current thinking on the subject. This part of your paper may be taken from research, or interviews. You might explore an application of dashboards by interviewing a project manager and performing research on current thinking about dashboards, for example.
Therefore, your paper should include sections to address the following:
Identify and describe an actual project that was successful in part because it used project metrics, what those metrics were, and why they were a contributing factor to success.
Research and report on current thinking in both research and practice about effective management of time, cost, and scope with metrics.
Research and report on current thinking in both research and practice about the key characteristics of properly defined metrics, and identify and describe an actual project to compare its use of metrics to your research to determine if the metrics were properly defined.
Research and report on current thinking in both research and practice about KPIs.
Show your application of value-based project management metrics on a project with which you are familiar and interpret the results of your application.
Research and report on performance dashboards including designs, use, and limitations, and visual project management tools, including project performance dashboards.
Create proper performance indicators for application in measurement-driven project management on a project with which you are familiar.
Since the key sections of your work correspond to individual module of the course, it is recommended that you progressively develop your project based on the weekly topics.
Paper Requirements:
Prepare a portfolio paper to address the eight-course objective. All eight course objectives must be addressed. The Course Objectives are:
Demonstrate the need for project management metrics and benefits of metric-driven project management.
Establish the importance of metrics in effective management of time, cost, and scope.
Apply the knowledge of project metrics to identify the key characteristics of properly defined metrics.
Characterize Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) as used in metric-driven project management.
Apply value-based project management metrics as important in selecting the right metrics.
Explore project performance dashboards including designs, use, and limitations.
Explore the applications of visual project management tools, including project performance dashboards.
Create proper performance indicators for application in measurement-driven project management.
Incorporate at least 10-12 current peer-reviewed scholarly references (current means published in past five years). The CSU Global Library Links to an external site.is a good place to find your sources. Additionally, be sure to visit the Library's Project Management Resource Guide Links to an external site.for assistance with research and writing.
Properly organize your writing and include an introductory section with thesis and mapping, headings/subheadings for the body of your work, discussion, recommendations, and a conclusion.
Any diagram, figure, or table should be included in an appendix, but clearly discussed in the text portion of the paper. Appendices should be included after the references.
Format your entire paper in accordance with the CSU Global Writing Center Links to an external site..
Your paper must be 10 to 15 pages long, not including the required title page and references page or any other supplemental pages such as appendices that you choose to include.
Applications Relative to Course Objectives
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The business world has constantly been changing, and as a result, tracking project performance has become imperative to the success of any project. With the increased number of mega projects and the need for value, some projects have achieved their required goals, while others have not. This creates the need to have a comparative analysis of the cause of the success and failure. Metrics, indicators, and dashboards are some of the tools developed to facilitate the measurement of projects' progress and help in decision-making. If utilized efficiently, then the projects often meet their required goals. This paper will address the use of metrics, indicators, and dashboards in project management while providing an overview of their characteristics and recommendations for creating effective metrics and dashboards to achieve project success.
A Successful Project
The construction of highway 5 in British Columbia is one of the successful projects that utilized the project metrics. In November 2021, a severe weather event was experienced, known as an atmospheric river. The atmospheric river caused havoc, destroying major infrastructure, including highway 5. Getting the road functional was entirely left to the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MoTI). The road connects the port of Vancouver (lower mainland) and the interior of British Columbia. The bridge's destruction disrupted commerce, supply chains, and the movement of people, including tourists. The Project Management Institute (2022) approximates that a total of CAD 250 million goods move through the road daily while also serving 2.5 million people. MoTI then had to commence the construction of this bridge as fast as possible, making it a high-investment project with an extreme running cost. According to British Columbia (2023), the project utilized more than 300 workers and more than 200 pieces of equipment to keep the project working. The contractors also used the project management metrics and portfolio and resource planning for the management of resource time planning and capacity planning. They also utilized a project planning approach involving risk management, project integration management, scope management, and time and cost (Project Management Institute, 2022). After 35 days, the road was restored, making the project a success.
Need for Project Management Metrics
Successful project implementation in the construction industry is elusive due to its complex nature and the active interplay between the stakeholders. However, the use of metrics serves as a guide to successful project completion since they are responsible for the evaluation of the performance and progress of the project while also providing room to assess where there are weaknesses and improve on them. For instance, the Highway 5 contractors followed the project management metrics, such as customer satisfaction and alignment with the project goals. MoTI intended that British citizens could freely move from the mainland to the low land and that the goods from the port move efficiently, facilitating trade. A return on investment (ROI) calculated through (Net benefits/cost) *100 was high since the road acted as a gateway to the mainland, so it had to be constructed faster. The benefits of metric-driven projects include improved planning, accountability, and risk management. For instance, the highway 5 team created a scope of work and the work breakdown structure through the metrics. They also had a risk management team that managed delays such as cold weather affecting construction.
Importance of Metrics in Effective Management of Time, Cost, and Scope
Projects are taken to meet new goals and to bring something to a new level of performance. However, projects tend to be constrained by several things, such as competing demands and completion priorities within the entire project. The project manager needs to understand the triple constraint of scope, also known as the Iron Triangle, which includes time, cost, and the scope of metrics.
As defined by Khan (2019), time is the required duration to bring out the project's outcome. Projects often have completion timelines, meaning they must be completed within the required time limit. The Highway 5 reconstruction project did not have a stipulated timeline, though they aimed to ensure that it was completed as fast as possible. Through teamwork, they ended up completing the project in 35 days. Additionally, suppose the project manager realizes that the time taken for a specific project will likely increase. In that case, he has to allocate many resources to complete or extend the time. A faster project completion means less means high cost.
Cost can be defined as the evaluation of the monetary requirements to finish the project. It includes the cost of different items such as supplies, human capital, and risk calculation (Kerzner, 2022). For cost estimating, the project manager needs to determine the project scope, identify the resources, determine the unit cost, review the budget, then finally, review and refine the estimated amount. Projects must meet the estimated cost regardless of the number of stakeholders and teams involved. According to Brunoro (2022), the cost estimation for repairing the highway was $1 billion due to the time and the extreme kilometers covered. The scope is the last aspect, which refers to the specific boundaries of a project. Identifying the scope ensures that the data collected is relevant and can be used to make informed decisions.
Identify Key Characteristics of Properly Defined Metrics
Metrics provide a way of measuring the success and project's progress, identifying the areas that need improvement to ensure that the project heads are in the right direction. They also help the project team comply with the metrics placed. Good project metrics lead to proactive rather than reactive project management. Measurability is an important project management metric, and it means that the metric needs to be quantified, tracked, and monitored. Metrics that are not measurable create uncertainty that the project will not achieve its intended purpose. Some critical questions the project manager needs to ask themselves include; what exactly should be measured? When should it be measured? And understand how it can be measured. Measurable projects provide a way to evaluate the project and its members and, as a result, give room for continuous optimization and improvement. Highway 5 ensured measurability by including clearly defined objectives; for instance, one of its main objectives was to finish the road and open it to the public as soon as possible, and the fact that the road was completed in a few days shows that it was defined correctly.
Metrics should also be linked to the business performance and reflect the project's true status. Metrics need to be tied to the project's goals, and showing the project's progress helps the company to understand whether it is heading in the intended direction. The Highway 5 reconstruction team created a schedule on what needed to be done and in what sequence, and they also reported every step completed to the project manager. There was a need to have a compilation of the progress of each team that handled the project so that the goals would be met within the required time.
Good metrics also help assess future business performance (Kerzner, 2022). Based on past data and information, metrics help project managers quantify their successes and failures. Metrics give a deeper understanding of the projects by providing real-time data and information, leading to an informed decision. To assess the current performance, metrics tend to use the KPIs, such as the budget and schedule. However, metrics such as ROI, the total cost of ownership (TCO), and consumer satisfaction are assessed in the long term. Other factors include specificity. Good metrics need to be clear and straight to the point. They should not leave room for ambiguity. They should also be time-bound, which means hard deadlines constrain the project (Kerzner, 2022). The Highway 5 project ensured that they were able to complete the project in time and within the shortest time possible,
Characterize KPIs as used in Metric-Driven Projects
Setiawan and Purba (2020) define a KPI as a management tool via which an activity or a process can be followed and controlled to achieve the required results. The stakeholders, project manager, and clients are jointly responsible for the creation of the KPI so that it aids in the development of informed decisions. It should be noted that KPIs are first agreed upon beforehand since they reflect a critical component of the business's success. Additionally, a good KPI often describes the change and does not recommend the course of action that should be taken, as that is entirely left to the project managers.
In the context of project management, KPIs are used to measure the performance of a project against its goals and objectives and to make informed decisions about project direction and resources. Several types of KPIs are commonly used in metric-driven project management. For instance, financial KPIs measure a project's financial performance, including revenue, profit margins, and return on investment. Operational KPIs measure the efficiency and effectiveness of project operations and include project completion rate, the a...