How do you actually know a project is succeeding, rather than just staying busy? For most organisations, the honest answer is: not with any real precision. That gap between activity and performance is exactly what this KPI-Driven Project Performance Training Course, from the Arab British Fellowship Training Academy, is built to close.

The course focuses on the added value organisations gain when they apply effective control mechanisms and performance measurement tools using proven project management techniques. There are dozens of metrics that could be tracked on any given project, but only a handful actually determine its real performance - and which ones matter depends entirely on the project's nature and goals. Because projects are usually multi-tiered, with several phases, scopes of work and interfaces, they need comprehensive planning and effective management to be measured and managed accurately. Without that foundation, project performance can be neither measured nor managed with any confidence.

Who Should Attend?

• Project, programme and portfolio managers, and project coordinators.
• Project analysts, planners, estimators, and consultants.
• Team leaders and product managers.
• Specialist technicians and technical assistants.

How Attendees Will Benefit

• Understand why value-based project management matters, and how to create effective key performance indicators.
• Build dashboards that report project performance clearly.
• Launch a project effectively by embedding key success criteria into its charter, and create a comprehensive, integrated project baseline.
• Measure, manage and predict project performance using earned value techniques.
• Handle the dynamic nature of most project environments through proactive change management.

Module 1: Project Foundations and Context

• Project definition and characteristics, and the fundamentals of project management.
• The importance of understanding a project's context and environment.
• Defining project scope and determining its commercial viability.

Module 2: Understanding Performance and Key Performance Indicators

• Defining performance in a project and why measuring it matters.
• What key performance indicators (KPIs) are, and why defining them well matters.
• The specifications of SMART objectives and their relationship to KPIs.

Module 3: Types of Key Performance Indicators

• Indicators for measuring project team performance and the performance of the final product.
• Organisational and operational performance indicators.
• Financial performance indicators.

Module 4: Planning Projects for Performance Management

• Planning, organising, executing and managing a project.
• Developing work plans and cost structure plans.
• Project management roles and responsibilities, and techniques for estimating time and costs.

Module 5: Designing and Preparing KPIs

• How KPIs vary by organisational goal and size, and the specifications of a good KPI-design team.
• Defining the project's strategy and goals, and brainstorming around KPIs.
• Common obstacles in defining KPIs, and how to map measurable results with practical examples.

Module 6: Applying and Monitoring KPIs

• Building a project management system and choosing the right KPIs.
• An implementation strategy for activating KPIs, and the problems that commonly arise.
• Performance monitoring with earned value management, and measuring and analysing project progress.

Module 7: Measuring Project Performance and Correcting Course

• Defining project results and comparing them against the KPIs set.
• Identifying errors and shortcomings, and adjusting the work plan accordingly.
• Controlling the project's handover to operations.

Module 8: Managing Risk to Protect Project Performance

• Building a risk management plan, and identifying and analysing risk.
• Developing a risk response plan.
• Risk management through to project closure.

Module 9: Building the Team and Managing Stakeholders

• The team development cycle, and building an effective project team.
• The difference between leadership and management, and the keys to effective influence.
• Managing stakeholders and their expectations.

Module 10: Practical Application: Building and Measuring KPIs on Real Projects

• Hands-on models for building and measuring performance indicators on real projects.