3.3
CAPABILITIES, OUTCOMES, AND
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
A
Capability
is a specific competency that must exist in an organization in
order for it to execute project management processes and deliver project
management services and products. Capabilities are incremental steps,
leading up to one or more Best Practices. Each Best Practice is made up of
two or more Capabilities.
The existence of a Capability is demonstrated by the existence of one or
more corresponding
Outcomes.
Outcomes are the tangible or intangible
result of applying a Capability. In the OPM3 framework, a Capability may
have multiple Outcomes.
An example of a Capability and its Outcome, in the case of the Best Prac-
tice cited earlier, would be as follows:
Best Practice: “Establish Internal Project Management Communities”
Capability (one of four for this Best Practice): “Facilitate Project Manage-
ment Activities”
Outcome: “Local Initiatives—The organization develops pockets of con-
sensus around areas of special interest”
A
Key Performance Indicator
(KPI) is a criterion by which an organiza-
tion can determine, quantitatively or qualitatively, whether the Outcome
associated with a Capability exists or the degree to which it exists. A Key
Performance Indicator can be a direct measurement or an expert assess-
ment.
Example: the KPI for the Best Practice, Capability, and Outcome just shown
is “Community addresses local issues.” In other words, the existence of the Out-
come “Local Initiatives” would be determined by whether or not communi-
ties within the organization are actually focused on addressing issues of local
interest with regard to project management.
Chapter 3—Best Practices
©2003 Project Management Institute, Four Campus Boulevard, Newtown Square, PA 19073-3299 USA
15
When a Key Performance Indicator is quantitative, involving direct mea-
surement, a form of metric is required. A metric is a measurement of some-
thing. Something tangible, such as an error count, can be measured directly
and objectively. Something intangible, such as customer satisfaction, must
first be made tangible—for example, through a survey resulting in ratings
on a scale—before it can be measured. A metric can be binary (something
exists or does not exist), it can be more complex (such as a scaled rating),
or it can be monetary (such as financial return).
Figure 3-2:
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) confirm the attainment of Outcomes
3.4 DEPENDENCIES AMONG BEST PRACTICES AND
CAPABILITIES
To ascertain the existence of a Best Practice—and, therefore, to assess the
organization’s maturity accurately—an organization must understand the
dependencies among Best Practices and Capabilities.
One type of dependency is represented by the series of Capabilities
leading to a single Best Practice. In general, each Capability builds upon
preceding Capabilities, as illustrated in Figure 3-3.
