Selection and Implementation of a Set of Key Performance Indicators for Project Management

Abstract

The use of indicators focused on management performance is relatively new and only really appeared in the past few decades. A relevant number of authors consider that their use is a key factor in project management. These measures should add value to one or more of the stakeholders. Project delivery and project management require different sets of metrics to monitor their successful progress. While the first relies on the characteristics of the specific project, the latter can be generalised, as the process is often similar across projects, regardless of their nature. In the literature review of this subject, most of the references are focused to particular aspects of the project management, such as earned value analysis, risks, project evaluation or maturity models. This paper describes a comprehensive set of performance indicators suitable for implementing any project management and project monitoring management activities. The significant collection of metrics identified in the research (over 300) form the basis of the methodology developed for this paper and based around the Delphi method. Using the Delphi technique, a dashboard of 26 indicators narrowed from the original 83 has been created after using three consultation rounds with a high level of consensus and a stable and homogeneous response from a panel of seven experts. This research had taken into account different ways to analyse this consensus and stability, selecting the one based on the coefficient of variation. Within The flexibility and customising capability of this set of indicators has been validated using a case study based on a consultancy project.