The extent to which the performance of the project needs to be measured and analysed, and the degree of formality involved, depends on the value of the information to the participating organizations.
This, in turn, depends on whether the organizations will be undertaking projects, especially similar projects, in the future.
Whatever the motivation for measuring and analysing project performance, the measures have to be agreed at the outset, in project initiation and planning, or the information simply may not be collected.
Supplier organizations, in particular, will be concerned to use project metrics and lessons to refine their processes, methods, tools and estimation - promoting continual improvement.
In these circumstances, there are several metrics that may be valuable, for example:
Most if not all of these metrics can be derived from the project’s Checkpoint Reports, Quality Register, Issue Register and Risk Register.
Project Board members should ensure that metrics regarded as valuable for business purposes are retained for analysis by programme and/or corporate management.
A summary, at least, of the key performance measures should be included in the End Project Report.
Analysis of project performanceDepending on business needs, the End Project Report should include an analysis of the key metrics, including trends.
This can be used for refining future estimates, root cause analysis of project-related problems and simply capturing lessons.
Lessons can be learned from the measurement and analysis of project performance.
But lessons can also be learned from anecdotal experience and recommendations by project management team members.
Though lessons should be identified and processed throughout the project, the key ones should also be recorded in the End Project Report.
Moreover, Project Board members should ensure that the lessons are communicated effectively to programme and corporate management and to other stakeholders where appropriate.
Ideally, this will be in a form that can be further analysed, alongside metrics and lessons from other projects (e.g. a database repository) - so that the business value is optimized.
End Project Reports are no less valuable for projects that are terminated prematurely - lessons learned from failure frequently have the most business value.
Follow-on action recommendationsIn complex projects it is not unusual for there to be loose ends - outstanding risks or issues.
Though these need to be managed properly, it is often uneconomical to have the project drag on until they are complete.
In these circumstances, it makes sense to document and agree the issues and risks concerned, and to allocate them to user or operational support managers for further resolution.
Project Board members must ensure that these agreements are satisfactory and secure - and that they do not disguise any significant underlying problems.
The End Project Report should account for these arrangements and any other recommendations for follow-on actions.
Communicate the End Project ReportLastly, once Project Board members are satisfied that the content is complete and accurate (both for their purposes and to meet programme and corporate business requirements) they should make sure that the information is communicated properly to all stakeholders.
Consider getting an agreed summary of the project at project closure for use in promotional or reporting documents.
This will save time in the future when Project Board members have dispersed.
When independent organizations are involved in the project, this often involves different versions of the report for different participants, with suppliers seeking to maximize the use of performance metrics and sales/marketing collateral.
The Communication Management Strategy may already cover the needs for communicating the End Project Report.
The suggested format for the End Project Report, with generic quality criteria, is provided in the Product Description in the folder ‘Product Description outlines’ as part of the product package.
All references above are in Directing Successful Projects with PRINCE2® unless stated otherwise.
PRINCE2® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce in the United Kingdom and other countries.