December 21, 2019

46 Key Indicators For Successful Portfolio Management

A portfolio can be defined as a group of related or unrelated businesses, projects or programs managed by a single management executive. Based on this definition, are you or your business managing portfolios of projects or businesses?

What key indicators are you using to manage them? An extensive study on portfolio management was completed and published in July 2014 by research team RT303 of the Construction Industry Institute. In this study, the research team identified 46 separate indicators that should be regularly monitored by a portfolio manager.

A portfolio manager takes a high level view of all the projects in their portfolio and identifies the key indicators that they should be monitoring every month. These key indicators can also be used to generate a custom set of questions as you take a deep dive into your portfolios and projects each month.

Listed below are the 46 key indicators for portfolio management that were identified by the CII RT303 team.

Schedule:

Number/ Percent of Milestones Completed (or Missed) vs. Planned
Number/ Percent of Projects on (or behind) Schedule
Total/ Average Days ahead of (or behind) Schedule
Schedule Durations Compared to Benchmarks (average for portfolio)
Number/ Percent of Projects with Schedule Durations Longer (or Shorter) than Benchmarks

Cost/Cash Flow:

Actual Cost-to-Date and Revised Forecast vs. Planned (Monthly and Cumulative)
Cost Variation (Monthly and Cumulative) – at project and portfolio level
Estimated Completion Cost vs. Original/ Current Budget
Number/ Percent Projects within (or over) Budget
Total Portfolio Cost vs. Budget
Project Cost Estimates vs. Benchmarks (average for portfolio)
Number/ Percent Projects with Costs Higher (or Lower) than Benchmarks

Safety and Environmental:

Safety and Environmental Incidents (First Aids, Recordable Injuries, Days-Away-From-Work Injuries, Spills, Releases, etc.)
Incident Frequency Rates
12-Month Rolling Average of Incident Rates
Number of Environmental Permits Outstanding
Near Misses
Proactive Safety Activities (Documented Audits, Job Safety Analyses, Hazard Identifications, etc.)

Change Management / Scope:

Number of Requests for Information (RFIs)
Total Number of Scope Changes
Total Cost of Scope Changes/ Change Orders
Total Changes as Percent of Original Approved Budget
Total Value or Percentage of Estimate Omissions

Resource Allocation:

Project Team Member Turn-Over
Planned vs. Actual Engineering/ Construction Hours
Planned vs. Actual Resources (human resources (Full-Time Employees), equipment, etc.)
Capital Efficiency (Value of Projects Managed) per project manager
Percent Utilization of resources (e.g., Project Team Members, equipment)

Process / Supply-Chain:

Actual vs. Planned Number of Purchase Orders/ Contracts Issued
Number/ Percent of Late Deliveries
Bid Amounts as Percentage of Engineering Estimates
Locally-Sourced (High Value Offshore, Minority Participation, etc.) as Percentage of Total Procurement

Quality:

Average PDRI Score at Project Funding (or Earlier Stage Gates) (as a potential leading indicator of project quality)
Number of Defects (Welds, Test Failures, etc.)
Percentage of Rework
Number/ Percent of Projects Completed with (or without) Significant Issues
Number of Deficiencies Open for More than Target Resolution Period

Risk Management:

Summary/ Status of Known Risk Issues and Mitigation Plans
Risks Mitigation Actions Completed for Reporting Period
Risks Eliminated (or Unrealized) during Reporting Period
New or Emerging Risks Identified during Reporting Period

Client Satisfaction, Other:

Customer Satisfaction Index
Training and Development Status
Number (or Percentage) of Projects in Each Project Stage
Number or percent of projects in each project phase
Overall Portfolio Performance Index = Number of Successful Completed Projects* / Total Number of Projects Planned to be Completed

* Success is defined by meeting predetermined Schedule, Cost, Safety, and/or Operability targets

If you do not already have a system for managing a portfolio of projects, go to CII’s website and purchase the RT303 – Managing a Portfolio of Projects research report and findings and implement a similar system in your business.

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