How do you determine success?

I and many others in the industry have often said and continue to say that success in implementing ECM, BPM, ERM and any other type of project you choose relies on the organization knowing what it is they are trying to accomplish. Once you know the vision and goals for your project, how do you know if you have succeeded? What are the critical success factors (CSF) that will demonstrate how well you have met these goals?

In my view, when you assess the high level critical success factors for your project you may generate a list that includes but is not limited to:

• Reduced risk of disputes, litigation and fines
• Improved content security
• Meeting targets better by saving staff time
• Less lost information / content
• Increased levels of confidence in content
• Sharing of content across organisation
• Faster movement of information between staff

This means you must also determine some Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for you to measure against as well. KPI criteria should be some type of specific measure that matches to your stated CSF. For example, if your CSF is meeting targets better by saving staff time your KPI might be a 70% reduction in the archiving process for legal staff, within 6 months of implementation of the new system.

In order to recognize success, you need to define success and formulate measurements that will demonstrate your success or identify areas that still need improvement to realign to the goals and achieve the success you seek. When you find you have met the CSFs, shout it from the highest mountain and let the world know. Success breeds success and you want to keep the momentum and support moving in your direction.

 What say you? How do you determine success for your projects? Do you have a story to tell? I want to hear from you and learn what you and your organization are doing.

Looking to increase your level of knowledge? Join me for the BPM Certificate course in Chicago, IL from September 22-25. I look forward to seeing you there.

Looking to take a course online? There is still time to take advantage of AIIM’s Cash for Certificates program. To qualify, simply send your contact details and documentation of your current certifications and designations to cashforcertificates@aiim.org and AIIM will issue you a $250 voucher valid until August, 31, 2009, that you can use for any of the online certificate programs.

Bob Larrivee – AIIM

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Comments

[Project Management]

project success based on some variation of the Triple Constraint for many years as well, some placing more emphasis or value on one of the legs or some combination of legs. On the whole, organizations have no standard measure in place for determining project success so generalizations are problematic.