Monitor and evaluate project elements with the monitor and analyze project performance process area

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Applies to: Dynamics 365 Business Central, Dynamics 365 Finance, Dynamics 365 Project Operations

This article describes how you can use Dynamics 365 products to support organization's requirements to monitor and analyze project performance.

Introduction to monitor and analyze project performance

The monitor and analyze project performance business process area focuses on systematically monitoring, assessing, and evaluating various project elements, including the following list:

  • How much of the project scope is already delivered?
  • What remains?
  • What are the project costs and revenue?
  • Are there any risks?
  • Which issues prevent the project from progressing as planned and meeting its objectives?

By monitoring project performance and conducting in-depth analysis, project managers and stakeholders can gain valuable insights, make informed decisions, and take any corrective action that is required.

The process of monitoring and analyzing project performance should be established at the onset of the project. As soon as the project objectives, scope, and resources are defined, it's imperative to set up a monitoring and analysis mechanism. In this way, you ensure that a system for gauging progress, measuring performance, and implementing course corrections is in place from the earliest stages. Early incorporation of this business process area also ensures that data collection is consistent throughout the project, so that insights for analysis are more accurate.

Stakeholders

Many people across the organization should contribute to the decision-making process and design of the monitor and analyze project performance area. The following list provides examples of such stakeholders:

  • Project managers: Responsible for monitoring project progress.
  • Steering committee: Responsible for making decisions based on an analysis of project performance.
  • Project sponsor: Responsible for reviewing the reports and assessing their effect.
  • Finance controller: Responsible for project budgeting, costing, and analysis of financial data.

Monitor and analyze project performance process flow

The following diagram illustrates the monitor and analyze project performance business process area.

Flow diagram for the business process area, which is explained in the paragraphs after the image.

Each solid gray rectangle on the diagram represents an end-to-end business process. The solid blue rectangle represents the business process area. The diagram shows the subprocesses for the business process area. The arrows on the diagram show the flow of the business process in an organization. If a subprocess can lead to more than one other subprocess, the parallel subprocesses are shown as branches.

The monitor and analyze project performance business process area flow diagram covers the following steps.

  1. Start

  2. Project to profit end-to-end process

    A parallel branch of this end-to-end process is end-to-end process 3. Record to report.

    1. Govern projects

      Parallel branches of this subprocess are the Manage project contracts, Manage project resources and schedules, Manage project delivery, and Manage project financials subprocesses.

    2. Monitor and analyze project performance

      1. Define project metrics

      2. Define baseline for project metrics

      3. Measure or calculate project metrics

      4. Compare metrics to baselines

      5. Communicate performance to stakeholders

      6. Corrective action?

        1. A branch for Yes leads to the downstream Govern projects subprocess.
        2. A parallel branch for No leads to Project done?

      7. Project done?

        1. A branch for Yes leads to 4. End.
        2. A parallel branch for No leads back to Measure/Calculate project metrics.

    If the scope, schedule, or budgets change, the following subprocesses are downstream: Manage project resources and schedules, Determine project scope and schedule, and Manage project financials. Manage project budgets leads back to Define baseline for project metrics.

  3. Record to report end-to-end process

    1. Record financial transactions
    2. Report and analyze financials and cash flow

  4. End

Monitor and analyze project performance benefits

There are many key benefits that can be used to monitor and measure the success of implementing technology to support the monitor and analyze project performance business process area. The following sections outline the key benefits that an organization might monitor and measure for monitor and analyze project performance.

Intelligent project analytics

Dynamics 365 includes project management capabilities that support intelligent analytics and reporting. The insights that are derived provide a detailed view of project performance. Details include information about completed work, a comparison of forecast and actuals, a review of cost and revenue metrics, and an analysis of Earned Value Management. By using the out-of-box inquiries and dashboards, project managers get a complete overview that helps them make informed decisions.

Learn more at Dynamics 365 Project Operations and Project management in Dynamics 365 Business Central.

Integrated resource management and financials view

In solutions with Dynamics 365 Project Operations and Dynamics 365 Finance, the ability to track and monitor project progress from opportunity to delivery gives an end-to-end view of the project. Through integration with the Microsoft Project client, you can open, manage, and monitor a work breakdown structure (WBS) for the project. The project manager can publish any changes back to Dynamics 365. The project manager gets a thorough perspective on employee workload and capacity. In this way, they can ensure that deadlines and quality standards are met. The project manager also has clear budget tracking and adherence during the project's full span. In addition, data consistency is considered throughout the process.

Proactive risk management

Project monitoring and analytics help the project team recognize project issues and misalignments before they become critical, so that it can act immediately. Proactive risk management is essential. It lays the foundation for effective and successful project execution, and helps prevent both financial and time impact.

Next steps

If you want to implement Dynamics 365 solutions to assist with your monitor and analyze project performance business processes, you can use the following resources and steps to learn more.

  1. Govern projects

  2. Manage project contracts

  3. Manage project resources and schedules

  4. Manage project delivery

  5. Manage project financials

  6. Monitor and analyze project performance (the article that you're currently reading)

You can use the following resources to learn more about the monitor and analyze project performance process in Dynamics 365.

Contributors

This article is maintained by Microsoft. It was originally written by the following contributors.

Other contributors:

  • Martin Walker | FastTrack Solution Architect
  • Lalitha Chintamaneni | FastTrack Solution Architect
  • Rachel Profitt | FastTrack Solution Architect
  • Milda Beinaryte | FastTrack Solution Architect
  • Satish Panwar | FastTrack Solution Architect
  • Marc De Deygere | FastTrack Solution Architect