Developing a Balanced Scorecard for Projects

BSC - in Projects
Rafiudeen, Management Consultant, Qatar, Member
Yes I think, it will give you multiple benefits:
- During the planning phase, you will set objectives in all perspectives & identify the measures/ targets / initiatives.
- Throughout the project you will monitor the progress along the set objectives (targets).
- At the end you will see that, you have achieved / improved in many areas. Basically, this will support your commitment to continual improvement.
Good luck

Project Management - BSC
Kartik Patel, CEO, India, Member
Key performance requirements are:
- Resource utilization
- Resource efficiency
- Project and resource timeline efficiency
- Cost achievements
Above are key factors, and then other objectives or measures have to be derived based on your specific needs. With well planned objectives and measures, this will give you very good monitoring, control and actionable items over the period. Your project management system ( clarity or ms project etc., ) can also be integrated straight away to fetch periodic measure values... In fact, such implementations can add tremendous value. I have experienced that first hand!

Reaction to BSC
Hoving
Thanks for your reactions. It supports my first thoughts that a BSC can help measuring and controlling the progress of projects. Identifying the key performance requirements seems to be easy in the way you mention them (they are rather obvious when mentioning them), though a lot of people don't care to look at them during the project life cycle.
I'll try to fit in a BSC in my research in a companies project control system. I hope it'll be beneficial.

Project Management BSC
Tumininu Banwo, Business Consultant, Nigeria, Member
I agree with Kartik, I think overall it puts clarity on your time perspectiveness regarding the project. BSC adds value because value is the bottom line.

Performance Management BSC
Marcel van der Heever, Management Consultant, South Africa, Member
Kartik is 100% right. I have integrated a project management tool with a scorecard tool to monitor the performance of projects in terms of business objectives set. It facilitates communication to all stakeholders as it becomes transparent to the business what the current status is of all projects.

Managing Scope Using Balanced Scorecard
Kevin B, Member
I am working on putting together best practices in managing scope during the planning, controlling and monitoring phases of projects using the balanced score card.
What key factors should be considered when managing scope, any objectives and measurements we can identify and observe and how can it be integrated into the project scope management? Any thoughts?

BSC May Work If Applied Properly
Vildyaev Daniil, Russian Federation, Member
It all depends on the scope, length of the project. BSC is a tool primarily suited for organizations. Therefore, it might be an excessive effort to apply BSC to some projects. Don't forget about the costs of BSC design and maintenance - time and money. It's complexity should be adequate to project gauge.
Avoid sticking to rigid concepts, since projects are initially devised for structured flexibility. Whether it is a BSC or other technique: all that works - good. And surely, it might be a perfect tool, if it is applied properly!

Balanced Scorecard OK for Projects
Gaia Bassani, Italy, Member
BSC could be a useful tool to monitor one project or also to monitor many projects in connection. You can have a single strategy map for any project or a combined strategy map for projects on the same area for example.
I think the lifetime of the project and the degree of complexity could be two guidelines to choose when developing a BSC for projects.

Balanced Scorecard OK for Projects
Paul Maguire, Business Consultant, United States, Member
I’ve read with great interest the comments above regarding the usefulness, complexity, elements etc., good comments all. Some thoughts to add:
1. The execution of the BSC begins with identifying the initiatives that will serve to close the performance gap for each strategic objective. These are the key action programs required to achieve the targets set in the BSC.
2. All projects should somehow relate to these initiatives; either as individual efforts or as a portfolio of projects. If the linkage is not clear, then it should be clarified or dropped. The clarification includes the value provided towards closing the performance gap. This serves as the baseline for success and post mortem evaluation of the project.
3. There are similarities between project management and BSC and personal scorecards cascaded from the organizational BSC – each help to clarify the contributions to achieving the strategic objectives.

Project Scoreboard Better then Scorecard
Gary Wong, Consultant, Canada, Premium Member
Projects are all about execution. People need to know if they are winning or losing at the end of each day. Using a baseball analogy, the scoreboard tells you who's winning at the end of each inning. The scorecard tells you who won at the end of the game.
Franklin Covey uses this approach in their 4 disciplines of execution. A compelling scoreboard is created by the team players who report weekly at a 15 minute meeting.
Go to YouTube and check out their video and examples how this works. "Balanced" means integrating economic, social, and natural environmental needs. These are typically longer-term and often out of the project manager's direct control.
The equivalent would be measuring baseball team performance by fan attendance. No, keep the project measures on the field and in the control of the players. A scoreboard does that; a BSC probably won't.

Project Management - BSC
Ahmad Sultan Abdulla, Consultant, Malaysia, Member
I agree with @Kartik that the BSC could be used to monitor projects based on the 4 items he has listed. We have done similarly as a PDP with several projects running at the same time. But you have to be a bit more flexible and adapt them for purpose you would like to use them for.