By Kimie Tonge

Data is king, and in project management it still holds that title. Data is a collection of numbers, research or observation used for analysis, but to simply state, data is often considered as ‘fact.’ It is used in various industries such as healthcare and medical, finance, and marketing. It is used to make informed, strategic decisions and solutions, keep track of progress and outcomes, optimize resources, and to support a claim or reasoning.  

Project management techniques and tools have evolved with data analytics, data visualization tools, and project management software. These are used to collect data, to analyze trends and make predictions, to create graphs and dashboards to display the key metrics, budget, and timelines, to track progress, assign tasks or for team communication.  

Data driven predictions are useful to conduct feasibility studies. For instance, market feasibility, which is how a product or service is expected to perform within the market, and identifying market competition and sales predictions. Financial feasibility would be looking into specifics such as: Will there be a return on investment (ROI)? What about economic benefits? It may include a cost-benefit analysis. In short, acquiring these types of data sets should answer the question” Will this project be financially feasible?

However, its utility extends beyond financial aspects; in a project's early stages, it is imperative to establish objectives, define scope, identify stakeholders, and assess risks. During this phase, data is also used to determine whether your organization has the staff and resources to complete a project. Let’s further explore the ways in which data can impact a project.

Data through Research  

A needs assessment is an analysis that is often conducted in the initiation phase. It determines what needs, problems, and priorities are to be addressed; and what gaps exist between the current state and desired state. It evaluates the requirements of a project. This can include the tools, system, skills, and knowledge- whether these needs to be obtained, and what already exist. In a proposal for a community project, the project team can use various methods to retrieve data on a specific community such as surveys, focus groups, and interviews.  The collected data is analyzed for issues, trends, and patterns- all part of the needs assessment.  

Stakeholder assessment is another form of data acquired through research and observation. Engaging stakeholders plays an important role in a project’s success, as they have a great influence on project outcomes and can provide valuable input. The information gathered from identifying and assessing stakeholders can be used to determine their level of interest and influence.  

An additional aspect of determining a project’s success is through reviewing client satisfaction as well as team and/ or stakeholder’s satisfaction. This can be conducted through a satisfaction survey. A satisfaction survey uses multiple choice, range, or open-ended questions to gather information about a customer’s experience on a service or product. The information is used to identify strengths, weaknesses and to develop better experiences.  

Data through Numbers 

A data-driven project is one that is on its path to success. Key performance indicators (KPI) and metrics use data to show a project’s effectiveness and performance. These give an evidence-based look on how your project is doing and drive informed decision making, so a project can use the power of data towards action and improvement.  

KPIs and metrics can involve people, finance, customers, process metrics. It shows how a project tracks their target, goals or outcomes using measures or metrics. They can be used to track tasks done by deadline, actual budget compared to planned budget, ROI, planned hours vs. time spent, number of returns, cost per hour. KPIs and metrics are also used in project review, this can be done by measuring customer and stakeholder satisfaction, employee turnover rate, number of errors and customer complaints.  

In a project that focuses on training participants, it may be helpful to consider metrics such as training sign-up or course completion rate. Information such as the number of sign-ups could help to determine whether more marketing or outreach efforts are required. In marketing and outreach, KPI and metrics can determine the ROI on market strategy or the number of views or reach on social media content or visit on website. A project’s target may be to have 300 pamphlets created and distributed within three months; tracking this data will keep an eye on whether the project is moving towards meeting its benchmark and decide on changes if necessary.  

Data can be used to rectify hiccups; a project’s task may be taking considerably longer than anticipated and is approaching its deadline. The data might show possible solutions or identify problems, this may be to redistribute work tasks or perhaps there are not enough resources to deliver products in a timely manner. The data can further be beneficial for resource management and monitoring the budget. These are just some of the scenarios in which metrics and indicators can solve problems. Overall, a project without data is walking blindfolded.