Project Success Evaluation

Thanks Pankaj: This is all great but do you measure for example how many non-conformance reports did you receive ? How many changes did you do ?

I meant to say, all what you said is very true but this is the big picture, do you look at the small details as well in your evaluation ?

Hi Mounir,

This article is great and this is exactly why I raised my question due to the Gaps in identifying Project Success Criteria.

It is not always about satisfaction, money and schedule ... These are the big picture but there are other factors that definitely should be evaluated.

Hi Rami: We don't measure anything at closure stage. During monitoring and control process we do check for any non-conformance or any approved change is done or not.

Closure here is generally for final verification of complete scope. As you know in EPC projects closure is the toughest part. They will keep giving you a list of punch points(already verified scope) to comply. Sometime customer will ask for minor gold plating(something which is expected but not clear in scope). This part needs a lot of care but same time you will have pressure from management to collect the final payments.

Well, you have a point and this is why there is something called: "Flawless" these days where you close the punch list as you go with the project so when you are near completion, the snag or punch list is very minimal making closing somehow reasonable but I understand your point if view in EPC Projects.

During M&C, you check for NCR but at the end of the project, when you do the certifications, you have a summary table for all NCR's, CAR's, Rework. We usually measure these against other projects to determine another factor of success.

You have raised a good point.

We usually have long duration fixed price contracts and final performance of each contract depends upon various factors. Sometime we have finance problem from management or payment issues with customer. Lot of claims, scope change, delays, penalties or time extensions are involved. Also Many time a lot of work happens to be scope creep or gold plating, just to please the customer. Surely it is difficult to analyse such conditions because each contract follow a different issues.

However our PMO is monitoring final performance based upon previous experience(usually financial returns, time and experience with customer) and it sends input to BD team for future business with same customer.

Pravin, that's true and you might have missed customer satisfaction as well but as I mentioned to Pankaj, those are the big picture, do you look at the small picture / details ? If yes, what are those details ?

Nguyen: This is one criteria for measuring success so I understand from what you said is that if the project went over budget but the client was satisfied then you consider your project a success ?

Rami, you know, projects are rarely completed in/on time, budget, with 100 percent meet customers' requirements unless we did over estimate time and cost with limit number of very SMART requirements. Of course, all criteria must be specified and are carefully measured and assessed during project execution to know if we meet project/ phase objectives, but in the end, the satisfaction of key stakeholders then decides the project is succeed or not.

I said "the satisfaction of not only customer but also the sponsor. In addition, we need to care about the satisfaction of other key stakeholders". Some projects complete meet all of their objectives but customer refuse the results as they don't need them anymore, the products are useless for their business just because of business changes after that. Some projects satisfy customer but not sponsor and also other key stakeholders. In my point of view, a project is considered to be truly succeed when it satisfy all parties and its' product bring benefit to all in the long run. So, we often say "the degree of success" a project has is...

Nguyen, I somehow agree but mostly disagree with you.

1- Many projects I've worked in were completed on time and within budget. Contingency reserves and management reserves plays a big role here - Not over estimating time and cost.

2- If the client did not accept the deliverable because he doesn't want it then why the project was initiated ? Why there was no regular scope validation ? If this happens then this is very poor PM Practice.

3- The issue of the product bringing benefit to all in the long run is something evaluated during the evaluation phase prior to initiating the project and if it aligns with the strategic views of the organization and goals then it is considered and those benefits are stated in the business case in addition to the measurable objectives.