When the theatre curtains rise, the play will
begin and can’t be stopped. Like a play,
once project begin, the work didn’t stop until completion. The root of
the difficulty is that we can’t see what’s happening when it’s happening; so
this article provides guidance on how to focus on weaknesses to get the project
back on track when it starts to go off the rails.
First of all, let me say that Dashboard design
is not an exact science, anyway obviously, the purpose of a Dashboard is not to
entertain and also is not to provide dashboard developers a chance to astonish
people with their artistic talents. That means that a Dashboard should be
designed with appropriate consideration, which enable see what is meaningful
and think without distraction.
Too often we evaluate performance against plan;
so projects are performing better/worse than expected or close to plan. Trying
to be practical, efficient and professional, a bull’s eye Chart uses just two
simple KPIs and can be tracked regularly. Such indicator enables
greater analysis; it’s helpful to bring deviations to light, to
reset our expectations to something more realistic; containing the secret of a
successful project.
A bull's eye chart shows performance of the
project by plotting the SPI and CPI.
The Schedule Performance Index (SPI) is an
indication of the schedule performance of the project (how you are actually
progressing compared to the planned progress).
The Cost Performance Index (CPI) measures the
value of the work completed compared to the actual cost spent on the project.
This indicator gives the project managers
control over updated information of the project, and can be used in two ways:
- Monitor the performance of a single project
during development.
- Monitor the performance of multiple projects
by each point indicating a different project.
Once you know this useful tool, just now
there's the mountain itself to climb: the project's completion.
Hope it helps!
Best wishes.
Joan Martí Peraire.
