Using Balance Scorecard to Measure Project Effectiveness

HRM 517 WEEK 10 Using Balance Scorecard to Measure Project Effectiveness

You are a project manager for a large electronics retailer (e.g., Best Buy) who will be implementing a new time keeping system to track hourly and salary employees’ time and attendance. You have been asked to develop a balance scorecard that can be used to manage the effectiveness of this project. Select an area (e.g., financial, customer, business, and learning) that you will focus on from a balance scorecard viewpoint and explain how you will measure the effectiveness of the project. 

The new time tracking system for a major electronics retailer is an intensive project and as the project manager, it is imperative that the internal issues of the project be managed by using a balanced scorecard. All aspects of this project are interrelated and each area of the project, whether it is financial, business, customer or learning related, affects the other, however for successful determination of a project, each area must be considered individually. The balanced scorecard approach to controlling projects addresses the relationship between customer quality issues and financial issues of scope, cost, scheduling and communication. “The concept behind a balanced scorecard is that an organization needs to be evaluated along customer, internal business, financial, and growth and innovation perspectives” (Kloppenborg, 2015, p. 382) and we will better understand the impact of the project on all of these areas.  We must first consider the work to be done: implementing the new time keeping system to track hourly and salaried employee’s time and attendance. Then, as the person controlling and managing this project, I must address risks associated with this project and communications issues. By using the balanced scorecard, I will be able to perform “health checks” throughout the project lifecycle to catch issues that might impede the progress of the project. . In order to measure the success of the project, I believe that the financial side will give us a better picture of whether or not the project was successful because nearly all phases of the project depend on financing. Did the project come in close to the budget? If the project met the budget and did not exceed the agreed upon overrun, I believe it could be counted as successful. If the project goes way over budget or even grossly under budget, then the project was unsuccessful in the financial area. Over budgeting funds for a project can be costly to the organization because it causes monies to be set aside that could be used otherwise in the business. Also, financial records from previous payroll quarters will reflect if the new timekeeping system is saving money for the company as well as information retrieved from employee surveys to see if the new system creates fewer mistakes a interaction with HR regarding inaccurate payroll information.

References:

Kloppenborg, T. (2015). Contemporary Project Management, 3rd Edition. [Strayer University Bookshelf]. Retrieved from https://strayer.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781305560321/https://strayer.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781305560321/

Stewart, W. E. (2001, March). Balanced Scorecard for Projects. Retrieved from www.pmi.org: https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/balanced-scorecard-projects-2006

NOTES:

Class – To successfully accomplish all five aspects of project determination, a project manager can think in terms of a balanced scorecard approach to his or her project. The concept behind a balanced scorecard is that an organization needs to be evaluated along customer, internal business, financial, and growth and innovation perspectives. If one considers a project as a temporary organization, the same aspects make sense to monitor and control a project. Thoughts, Dr. Castellese

• Facilitate the process by which the decision is made P.

To successfully accomplish all five aspects of project determination, a project manager can think in terms of a balanced scorecard approach to her project. The concept behind a balanced scorecard is that an organization needs to be evaluated along customer, internal business, financial, and growth and innovation perspectives. If one considers a project as a temporary organization, the same aspects make sense to monitor and control a project. Exhibit 14.1 shows a project balanced scorecard approach to project determination. P. 382

EXHIBIT 14.1 BALANCED SCORECARD APPROACH TO PROJECT DETERMINATION