Project Metrics

Project Metrics

Introduction

The purpose of this study is to expand the boundaries of our knowledge by exploring some relevant information relating to the analysis of Project Metrics. The metrics of the project are a set of indicators intended to monitor and predict the performance of primary indicators of the project (the cost, time, quality, resources, changes in purpose, etc.). Metrics usually include a set of standard indicators, but can be extended with other indicators, based on the specific nature of the project. The management of a project is usually assigned to a project manager, who mainly focuses on the coordination and control of the various components and the various actors with the aim of minimizing the probability of failure (Wysocki, 2004).

In large-scale projects, the project management can be delegated to more than one person. Commonly in the group, there is a leader who is still called project manager; the group is accompanied by other persons involved in the activities of management of parts of the project. These are sometimes called task manager. In this paper, the author will conduct a discussion on the use of practical project metrics, measurements, single value indicators (metric), and/or controlling variances (e.g. what facilities does Microsoft Project provide for Project Managers and Team Leaders to track progress against plan/budget?)

Discussion & Analysis

The introduction of the metric helps measure the performance of the project through the measurement of the set of indicators that are part of it. Typically one of the most important uses of the metrics is to measure the progress of the project. The advantages of using them, includes (Kliem, 2008):

identifying the problems of cost / schedule of project before they become critical;

helping the team to focus on the completion of its activities

In particular, the technique called Earned Value Analysis allows you to find a common denominator for:

time spent (compared to estimated time)the money spent (compared to the cost in the budget)

the value of the work done, the so-called Earned Value (compared to the estimated work)

The management of metrics project is a process which is divided into:

definition of project objectives and criteria to measure their achievement;

creation of a balanced set of metrics and indicators;

definition of critical thresholds for each indicator;

acquisition during construction of the progress, data and improvement of the indicators;

analysis of the progress of the work;

final evaluation of the project based on the metric taken

Particularly important are the metrics used to calculate the ' Earned Value and the ' progress of project costs. On the basis of the values, corrective actions or process improvements can be initiated to make them more efficient and effective. Management and quality of metrics are closely related. It is difficult to improve the quality of the deliverables or processes, without making measurements. The metrics are therefore used to define the level of expected quality (quality of deliverables and quality of project processes) and to check the trend during the life cycle of the project (Wysocki, 2004).

The test phase of a project is realized through the implementation of a control system ...