KPI of the Day – Project Mgmt: % Requirements changed during project execution
Definition
Measures the percentage of the initial requirements that were changed during project implementation.
Purpose
To indicate project alignment with the initial specifications.
Recommendations
Managing change requirements is an important project management stage and various project management methodologies propose a particular approach towards this.
Throughout the project management life-cycle, project execution is key. This phase entails the process of undertaking the tasks established during the project planning stage and working towards the desired project deliverables. Change, however, is inevitable, and the impact of change may not be as visible in other areas of activity as in project management.
Requirements often change because of operational issues, shifts in the market or business environments, however with project management it is the client requirements that bring about the most change in project execution. In this context, it is the project manager’s responsibility to ensure that the necessary interventions are made as they are required.
Such interventions may be related to changing the pace of the execution of project tasks, adding or reducing project resources, partnering with peers to meet deadlines or even sparing expenses through trade-offs with competitors.
Effective project scope management, in this case, ultimately ensures that change within project execution is adequately managed so as to not negatively impact the goals and objectives set forth through project planning.
Further recommendations on effectively handling changed requirements during project execution include the following:
- Working closely with the clients and implementing an open communication culture;
- Identifying change in the project early on and promptly providing resolution;
- Prioritizing stated requirements in a timely manner;
- Estimating both effort and time needed to work on change in requirements.
Performance targets can vary depending on the project type (in the case of software development projects, change of requirements can be done more frequently than in the case of a construction project).
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