Project delivery: has the definition of quality Changed, or should KPIs Change?

Before rushing to next steps after Project Go-Live, it is best practice to evaluate the quality of the
delivery, identify further corrections and/or improvements, and build a lessons learned report. KPIs are
essential in this process. But should an organization use the same KPIs before and after delivery? Or
does the Change in perimeter require the use of a complementary set of KPIs? Some thoughts.
Change KPIs
Companies monitor KPIs for Project and Budget reasons. Following Human and Change matters is
usually triggered by the Change methodology applied in the Project. As indicated in our previous
newsletter, one has to be aware that the Change elements to be measured before, during and after the
implementation are not necessarily the same.
In many Projects, Change is monitored by tracking progress of Change Management activities like
communication deliveries, communication effectiveness, training participation and attendance.
Whatever activities are tracked, and whatever measurements are used to track Change Management
effectiveness, the monitoring of KPIs will measure the overall effectiveness of the Change Management
plan and provide some guidance to further improve the Project progress.
Before & During the Change
To build the initial Change plans, it is essential to assess both the Change
itself and the Organization. To assess the Change itself, one will focus on Success is not a function
the scope of the Change, the number of impacted people, the amplitude of the size of your title but
of the Change, the type of Change (process, technology, merger, the richness of your
culture) and the like.
contribution.
To assess the Organization, the elements to take into account are the Robin S. Sharma
organizational culture, the effect of past Changes, the managements
predisposition to Change, and the stakeholder readiness for Change. A detailed explanation on how to
do this can be found here.
As explained in our article Change Management: Using KPIs to drive changes, it is important to
determine during the Change whether the Change Management activities are on track and working, and
take the corrective actions where needed.
After the Implementation of the Change
After the implementation of the Business & IT Changes, the prevailing tendency is to continue to
monitor the KPIs that are in use, until they have reached the expected optimum, or to focus mainly on
the speed of adoption.
Notwithstanding the added value to complete the evaluation process with existing KPIs, organizations
should keep in mind one of the key fundamentals of Projects: Projects are temporary endeavours,
serving an organization/company. Some Projects focus on the delivery of a product, on the
improvement of the (quality of) processes, or on the improvement of the organizational dynamic.
Project organisations should therefore anticipate the future outcome of the Project by defining KPIs
that allow bridging towards the future state. This can be done in two ways. Either new KPIs are defined
or the monitoring of existing organizational out-of-Project KPIs is embedded in the Project life cycle.

JRGEN JANSSENS
The easiest way is to look back into the business case of the Project, or to develop knowledge on the
companys existing KPIs. This can put the focus back on key aspects like the increase of efficiency, more
transversal integration, improved lead times, more value for money, an increase in customer intimacy
and the like. Once done, timelined targets can be set for these KPIs, to initiate the monitoring.
Project Contribution & Corporate KPIs
In practice, this is more complicated than it appears. Many organizations lack a structured set of out-of-
Project KPIs that can be directly linked to Projects or Project components. Defining these KPIs and
agreeing on the target level of these KPIs can turn out to be complicated
due to a combination of political reasons, organizational cross-impacts, Continuous
or lack of technological comparability. improvement is better
Projects involving supply chain, for instance, might impact an than delayed
organization, the way of working of the users, the adherence to the perfection.
corporate procedures and the process efficiency. To guide this Project, Mark Twain
the Project management team and the Change management leaders will
set up diagnostics, define Change related Project KPIs, define the Change and Project plan, and take
mitigation actions when needed.
These KPIs, however, do not necessarily reflect the post-Go-Live contribution of the Project.
Such a supply-chain Project might, for instance, impact the delivery performance. This can be measured
by the OTIF indicator (On-Time In-Full). All things remaining stable, it can be stated that the OTIF level
before the Project and the OTIF level after the Project should remain the same (or increase with a
certain percentage by a certain moment). A Project, however, is delivered in an environment that is in
continuous evolution: supply and demand Changes, market conditions Change, competitions acts,
suppliers Change etc.
It is therefore not straightforward to define to what extent attaining / not attaining KPI targets is due to
the Project. Rather than waiting for the end of the Project to build the bridge between Project KPIs and
future corporate KPIs, it is therefore advised to initiate this at an early stage. This will greatly contribute
to defining clear KPI targets with all stakeholders.
Does this mean that the other Project related Change KPIs used before, during and at the end of the
Project are worth less? No. Both sets of KPI targets contribute to delivering value to the company. The
foundational precondition, however, is that both sets are defined from the early stage onwards, and are
managed accordingly.

Do you feel like sharing your thoughts or experience on the use of Change KPIs in Project life? Let us know!
Exchanging, sharing or debating all is welcome!

Information about the Author: https://be.linkedin.com/in/janssensjurgen

Information about QSpin : http://www.qspin.be/index.php/about-qspin/

JRGEN JANSSENS
References & Further Reading:

Holhaus, K., (2014), What Metrics Should Be Measured for Change Management?, Palo Alto, CA.
Parker, J., (2016), Measuring Project Success Using Business KPIs, Ontario, Canada.
Phillips, J.J., Snead, G.L., Bothell, T., (2002). Project management scorecard: Measuring the success of
Project management solutions. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Elsevier Science and Technology Books.
Project Management Institute, (2013). A guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK
guide), Newton Square, PA: Project Management Institute.
Prosci, (2016), Best Practices in Change Management, Fort Collins, CO .
Reid-Powell, M., (2016), Making Change Stick: Change Management Metrics, Oak Brook, IL.
Sowden, R., Hinley, D., & Clarke, S., (2010). Portfolio, Programme and Project Management Maturity
Model (P3M3): Introduction and Guide to P3M3, London, UK: OGC.

JRGEN JANSSENS