PMO KPIs: Success metrics to prove the value of your PMO
What should a PMO measure?
There are millions of data points, so how do you decide what is really going to make a difference for your team?
In my experience, we want to track metrics that we can do something about and that enable decision-making. There are plenty of things that your Project Management Office could track but that wouldn’t move the needle – focus on capturing data that’s to do with things you can actually do something about.
Below are some examples of key performance indicators to consider, that measure project performance in an aggregated way.
If you are looking for KPIs to set for people in project roles, as part of their annual performance review, then I have a guide to KPIs for Project Managers that also covers goals you can set for PMO analysts and PMO managers.
Delivery success KPIs
- Project benefits realized vs planned – in my experience this is the most important one!
- % of projects delivered on time
- % of projects delivered on budget (or combine these two for a ‘project success rate’ measure, although you’ll have to be very clear how ‘success’ is defined)
- Customer/stakeholder satisfaction scores
- Milestone completion rate – helps you identify trends in projects running behind
If you’re in a less mature environment, it can also help to track aggregated project-related KPIs, for example, actual cost of all projects under portfolio management.
Don’t track earned value
I wouldn’t track earned value. That’s a project management KPI. I’ve seen other people recommend tracking Planned Value or Schedule Variance but really, what does that give you at PMO level? If your teams are using earned value, they’ll be using this data for operational efficiency anyway, so the results will show up in your other metrics.
Governance adherence KPIs
- % of projects with approved business case (which will be 100%, obviously!)
- Compliance with reporting cycles (e.g. weekly updates submitted)
- Audit or QA findings resolved within agreed time
Someone suggested that we include ‘% of projects following the agreed methodology’ but as you should be tailoring the methodology to suit the project, that is a bit pointless.
It’s also really hard to establish what it looks like to follow the methodology. Perhaps track how many projects go through the stage gates or approval process, if that’s important to you.
Operational/throughput KPIs
- Number of active projects vs resource capacity
- Resource utilization (useful for professional services organizations)
- PMO response time (e.g. to new project requests)
- % of projects using standard templates/tools
- Project stage distribution (e.g. initiation vs execution vs close)
KPIs are different for different PMO types
Choose KPIs based on your PMO type (supportive, controlling, directive etc). Focus on what people want to know about and that would drive actions and decisions.
How to report PMO KPIs to senior leaders
As a PMO leader, you’ve got to share information with other leaders.
Tailor the message to the audience
Execs care about strategic alignment, risk, ROI, or in your organization the emphasis might be on something different, like sustainability goals or budget spent.
They want data they can use to take decisions, so measures like resource utilization rate, rework rate, resource conflicts, those are things they can act on. And your data can surface this information.
Practitioners (that’s project managers like you) would want to see different things. I am interested in whether my project is achieving its sustainability objectives, of course, but I’m also more bothered about whether I’m being judged on compliance with reporting cycles. And in that case, I want to see my track record.
Tailor the message to the audience so everyone gets what they want.
How to Set up a PMO Series
The first 30 days of your PMO: A week-by-week guide
Your PMO Toolkit: The essentials you actually need to set up a PMO
12-step checklist for setting up a PMO
How to write a PMO mission statement
How to structure and staff your PMO (without a big budget)
Use visual dashboards
Use Red-Amber-Green (RAG) status for measures, projects or the portfolio overall. Read my guide on how to define RAG and use it on projects, so you can set criteria about what each color means.
Show trends and the impact you’ve made, not simply raw data points. Add spark lines in Excel or use arrows or RAG status to show movement from last month (or the last time you reported – try not to get into the habit of reporting weekly as it’s a lot of work and really things don’t change that much).
Make it easy to spot outliers or risks needing action: call these out with colors or in a separate section of the dashboard if necessary.
Suggested reporting cadence
Live dashboards are great, and people can self-serve information in real-time. But let’s be honest: stakeholders won’t go looking for the information. The number of individuals I can think of who have self-served in my career would fit on a hand. That’s not because they don’t care, but because once the dashboard is in place, they assume someone will report outliers and escalations, and we do.
As a PMO leader, you’ll still have to send out links to dashboards, packs, decks or email updates, depending on what your leadership team needs.
Monthly or quarterly portfolio review packs are useful to have as an audit trail of a snapshot in time. You might also need to produce KPI snapshot slides for exec meetings or ad hoc deep dives for problem areas, so be ready!
Communicate the reporting deadlines to project managers so they can organize themselves to give you the data you need.
KPIs in action: Example metrics dashboard
There’s an example below of what a dashboard could look like in table format. I wasn’t able to use status indicators as colored blobs in the Status column, as the emoji characters wouldn’t show up in this article in every browser, but I would recommend that you do that.
Switch out the words ‘Red/Amber/Green’ in the Status column with a visual color indicator. Leave the word in as well. This makes the report more accessible. Remember, people with red/green color deficiency will find it harder to distinguish on track and off track projects if you skip the words.
| KPI | Definition | Target | May | June | July | Status |
| % Projects on Time | % of active projects meeting timeline commitments | ? 85% | 78% | 81% | 88% | Amber |
| % Projects on Budget | % of active projects within agreed budget limits | ? 90% | 92% | 94% | 93% | Green |
| Reporting Compliance | % of projects submitting status updates on time | 100% | 95% | 100% | 98% | Amber |
| Stakeholder Satisfaction | Avg score from post-project survey (1–5) | ? 4.0 | 4.2 | 4.5 | 4.3 | Green |
| Benefits Realisation | % of forecast benefits delivered (closed projects) | ? 80% | 76% | 85% | 83% | Green |
| PMO Response Time | Avg days to respond to new project requests | ? 5 days | 4.2 | 5.8 | 4.6 | Amber |
| Open Risks Resolved on Time | % of high-priority risks mitigated by due date | ? 85% | 72% | 86% | 88% | Green |
Include a legend:
- Green = On target
- Amber = Watch / trending up
- Red = Off track
Tips for customization
- Replace months with weeks or quarters depending on your reporting cycle.
- Add trend arrows (? ? ?) if desired for visual clarity.
- You could also highlight the top 3 KPIs in a summary box at the top of your report
Add any extra measures you’ve identified that will help your execs or team make the right choices about where to focus their attention.
Agile PMO dashboards
What if your PMO has to cover projects using
Here are some examples.
| KPI | Definition | Target | Sprint 6 | Sprint 7 | Sprint 8 | Status |
| Sprint Velocity Stability | Consistency of story points completed across sprints | ? ±15% variance | 12 pts | 14 pts | 13 pts | Green |
| Team Throughput | Total stories or features completed | ? 8 per sprint | 9 | 10 | 8 | Green |
| Planned vs Delivered Ratio | % of committed work completed per sprint | ? 90% | 88% | 92% | 91% | Green |
| Defect Leakage Rate | % of defects found post-release | ? 5% | 6% | 3% | 4% | Amber |
| Cycle Time (Avg) | Average time from work start to completion | ? 7 days | 9 days | 6 days | 7 days | Amber |
| Team Happiness / Morale Score | Team-rated satisfaction score (1–5) | ? 4.0 | 3.8 | 4.2 | 4.4 | Green |
| Business Value Delivered | Sum of value points assigned by Product Owner to completed work | Track only | 48 pts | 65 pts | 58 pts | For info |
| Story Carryover Rate | % of stories not completed and carried to next sprint | ? 10% | 12% | 8% | 5% | Green |
| Release Predictability | % of releases delivered on planned dates | ? 95% | 100% | 100% | 90% | Amber |
Tools for dashboarding
If you already have enterprise project management software, you may find it has dashboards or rolled up reporting already. If so, use that as a starting point.
You can also pull out data from your project management tools and display it through Excel.
What to do with your KPIs
Use KPIs to trigger action, not just report history. They should (if I haven’t already made this point often enough above) drive action and decisions. Reporting for the sake of reporting is time consuming and pointless.
Create KPI ownership within the team. Show people what the KPIs are being used for so the project teams understand what is happening to their data.
Review and evolve KPIs as the PMO matures. What works in the first few months of your PMO won’t be what you report on in two years. Go with it, you’ll get feedback and evolve in time, and that’s fine!
