Project Scorecard

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The Project Scorecard is a further development of the Balanced Scorecard for strategic projects known from corporate management . These projects serve to implement the corporate strategy, which is often already formulated with the help of a balanced scorecard.

The project scorecard is used both to control individual projects and to link these projects with the overarching corporate strategy.

Overview and motivation

Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton describe in their work the implementation of corporate strategy within the company's hierarchy by breaking down the balanced scorecard down to individual departments or even people. With regard to the implementation of the strategy with the help of projects, they remain quite abstract and are limited to the project selection for individual goals or key figures in the balanced scorecard. They do not contribute to the control of individual projects.

The missing link between corporate strategy and project is identified in various studies as a major failure factor in the implementation of strategic projects. There is a gap here between the projects and the overarching strategy, which can be closed with the help of a project scorecard.

Perspectives of the Project Scorecard

Since projects by definition have a fixed start time and a fixed end, the four standard perspectives of the Balanced Scorecard according to Kaplan and Norton are not suitable for mapping the project strategy. Therefore, different perspectives are defined for the Project Scorecard:

The strategic coupling perspective forms the interface between the overarching corporate strategy and the project itself. It shows the project's strategic contribution independently of the project result. The main question is: "What should be achieved with the project?"

The single project result perspective derives more concrete objectives for the project result from the higher-level strategic coupling perspective. These are broken down within the perspective according to the dimensions of the magic square known from project management: scope, quality, time and costs.

The project management processes perspective contains goals and key figures for the project management processes that are particularly important for the individual project, such as B. time management, quality management or project marketing.

The project potentials perspective contains goals and key figures for the potentials that are particularly important for project success, such as B. team members or external service providers.

The project scorecard over the course of the project

The Project Scorecard supports strategic projects over the entire course of the project from the project idea to the project completion with the help of the Project Scorecard Management Process. It is divided into several sub-processes:

The project scorecard is set up in the implementation sub-process . This takes place in workshops in which the project initiator and the project client take part. The perspectives listed above are provided with goals and key figures in a top-down procedure. All goals are to be linked with the help of effect relationships in the sense of a strategy map. The result of the sub-process is the project scorecard, which can serve as a decision-making basis for the start of the project.

After the project has started, two cyclical sub-processes run in parallel. In the measurement and control sub-process , deviations from the key figures, in particular from the lower perspectives, are recorded and control measures are taken. At the center of this sub-process is the task of keeping the project on the chosen course.

In the sub-process review and adjust , however, the strategic assumptions that were made when drawing up the project scorecard are critically scrutinized. For example, it is checked whether the project's strategic contribution can still be achieved or whether, for example, B. a change in the overall corporate strategy makes it necessary to adapt the project objectives. The main question here is whether the chosen course is still correct.

The sub-process Complete is triggered after the work on the project has been completed and is used to evaluate the project. First the project is officially declared over. The previously defined key figures are then recorded and the success of the project assessed. In particular, the key figures from the strategic coupling perspective can often only be measured at a certain distance from the end of the project, when the project result first has to take effect within the company in order to achieve the desired strategic effects.

Similarities with the balanced scorecard

From the concept of the balanced scorecard, the requirement for clear measurability of the goals through the definition of key figures was adopted unchanged. For each goal within the project scorecard, at least one key figure with target values ​​and time reference should be defined.

Likewise, the connection of the goals through effective relationships in the sense of a strategy map from the concept of Kaplan and Norton was adopted. All goals within the Project Scorecard should be linked to one another by effect relationships. If a higher-level balanced scorecard is available, the goals of the strategic coupling perspective should be linked to the goals of this company scorecard with effective relationships.

The restriction to a few particularly important goals and key figures applies to the Project Scorecard as well as to the Balanced Scorecard. The rule of thumb formulated by Kaplan and Norton of around 20-25 goals or key figures therefore also applies to the Project Scorecard.

literature

  • Markus Selders: Project Scorecard - An instrument to support the management of strategic projects . Publisher: Shaker, 1st edition, 2009, ISBN 978-3-8322-8446-6 .