Power BI Success KPIs for Project Management

Shubhangi Pandey
By | Updated February 8, 2022 | 11 min read
Power BI KPI Matrix for project management
Monitoring the success of a project is paramount since it ensures that the business objectives are being met. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are an effective solution in these cases since they indicate whether your team is hitting all the vital targets.

 

Watch a short demo to learn how you can track KPIs with BrightWork 365 and Power BI

 

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for project management can be used to measure the performance of any project with different milestones and goals. More importantly, Power KPI Matrix in Power BI is a helpful tool that allows project management teams to track Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and create project scorecards.

 

In this article you will find:

What are Key Performance Indicators?
What is Power KPI Matrix?
Features of Power KPI Matrix in Power BI
Power BI KPI Matrix: Basic Template
How to Use Power BI KPI Matrix for Project Management?

 

What are Key Performance Indicators?

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are a set of measurable statistics that are meant to reveal a situation or a fact. In project management, KPIs illustrate whether a specific target has been met.

For instance, the client retention rate is a key performance indicator that can be used to determine how many clients a business manages to retain in a set period.

KPIs are an essential component of any project since they help management teams in:

  • Increasing Efficiency: By measuring the performance of a project, management teams can identify issues and come up with solutions.
  • Allocating Resources: Measuring the success of a project helps management teams understand whether they need to increase or decrease their resources in order to meet key objectives. For instance, if an organization uses the number of customer complaints as one of its KPIs for its customer service department, a rise in the number of complaints would allow management teams to determine whether they need to hire more employees or improve their training.
  • Managing Projects: A set of KPIs can help managers track the progress of a project from start to end. It also allows them to identify potential problems before they even arise and take corrective actions accordingly.

What is Power KPI Matrix?

Power BI KPI matrix is a free add-on in Microsoft Power BI that can be used to create scorecards for projects. The major benefit of this add-on is that you don’t have to build every part of the scorecard manually.

Project managers can use the tool to list high-priority goals, order the goals by any metric, and measure performance metrics to ensure efficient completion of projects.

Since it’s in a tabular format, the Power BI KPI matrix allows you to add an unlimited number of metrics to the same list.

 

 

Features of Power KPI Matrix in Power BI

Power BI KPI matrix offers the following abilities:

  • Balanced Scorecards: You can present non-additive key performance indicators and metrics in the same list. The KPIs can be customer-focused or financial.
  • Column and Row-Based Sources: You can use your current data without transforming it too much. The tool helps you associate the visual to the metric sources in the columns or the rows.
  • Customizability: Since the Power KPI matrix in Power BI is highly customizable, it lets you personalize fine details, like the background colors and font for every column, row, and cell. Plus, you can change the colors and styles in the visuals. For instance, you may assign different colors to each line in the line chart or each column in the column chart.
  • Expandable Categories: The power KPI matrix in Power BI lets you hide or show metric groups via the Category feature. For instance, you show Subtotal values for additive items.
  • Hyperlinking: You can tie individual hyperlinks to metric categories and names. It enables the end-user to access the related reports and web content easily.

Power BI KPI Matrix: Basic Template

The basic template of the KPI matrix includes the following options for columns and rows:

  • Category: It refers to the type of KPIs or data displayed. You can put similar KPIs together in one category, such as customer-focused or revenue-associated.
  • Subcategory: You may use subcategories to group the KPIs more finely.
  • KPI Name: It’s the name of the key performance indicator that you’re tracking, such as gross revenue.
  • KPI Status: The status is typically shown as a percentage. It shows the status of the KPI in question.
  • Current Value: It shows an overall view of the KPI’s value numerically.
  • Trend: It’s a line chart that shows the value of a KPI over time.
  • Prior Year Comparison: With this, project managers can compare the current performance of a metric to its previous year’s performance.

You do not have to use all the rows and columns in the template. By watching a Power BI KPI matrix tutorial, project managers can easily figure out how to customize the template as per their needs.

How to Use Power BI KPI Matrix for Project Management?

Power KPI Matrix in Power BI has some useful visual tools that project management teams can use to improve efficiency. Here’s how to use the Power BI KPI matrix in project management.

  • Create Custom Line Graphs: Sparklines or line graphs are a nice addition to the KPI matrix. You can add a sparkline or a line graph to each row and use it for all metrics in that row. Likewise, you may change the color for each metric based on its status or add baselines to every chart.
  • Use Hyperlinks: You can add hyperlinks to the KPI matrix scoreboard, making it easier for the end-user to access Power BI reports. You may also add a link in the status column and then select an arrow icon to provide more information about a KPI’s current status.
  • Create Strategic Maps: Project managers can use Visio and similar Power BI visuals tools to transform the information from the KPI matrix into strategic project maps. You simply need to press a button to create flow charts and organize them by timeline, priority, or other factors.
  • Associate Visuals: By binding visuals to the scorecard through hyperlinks, you can easily access the reports and data by clicking on the visuals. That makes it simpler to navigate through your Power BI report. For example, you can generate a visual to show the customer satisfaction rate and bind it to the customer retention KPI cell in the Power BI KPI matrix.
  • Track Multiple Categories: You can also track many KPIs using the KPI matrix by categorizing them into multiple groups (R&D, customer service, marketing, etc.). That enables you to see all the metrics together in the same view.

The idea behind creating a KPI matrix is to monitor, track, and manage projects based on business goals or key performance indicators (KPIs).

Power BI and BrightWork 365

BrightWork 365 is a project management tool that leverages Microsoft Power BI to make project management a breeze.

With BrightWork 365, you can manage portfolios and projects using Microsoft 365 and benefit from a wide range of features, including automated workflows, project request management, reporting, dashboards, flexible templates, and more.

Project management can be a challenge without proper tools and resources, especially when project managers are tackling multiple projects simultaneously. The KPI matrix in Power BI is an effective solution that assists managers in tracking and measuring projects. Its features, such as hyperlinking, visual binding, and KPI categorization, allow managers to track performance against business goals and maintain a high degree of efficiency.

With BrightWork 365, you can enjoy the benefits of both BrightWork’s project management platform and Microsoft’s powerful suite of tools.

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Using Power BI dashboards and reports, BrightWork 365 helps senior executives and PMO leads to easily access, analyze, and action this data.
Shubhangi Pandey
Shubhangi Pandey

BrightWork Content Marketer

Shubhangi is a product marketing enthusiast, who enjoys testing and sharing the BrightWork 365 project portfolio management solution capabilities with Microsoft 365 users. You can see her take on the experience of the template-driven BrightWork 365 solution, its unique project management success approach, and other personalized services across the site and social channels. Beyond BrightWork, Shubhangi loves to hunt for the newest Chai Latte-serving café, where she can read and write for hours.

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