Systems and software engineering. Information technology project performance benchmarking framework. Guidance for data collection and maintenance

Abstract

Benchmarking is an activity of comparing “objects of interest” to each other or against a benchmark to evaluate characteristic(s). In the context of the ISO/IEC 29155 series, the “object of interest” is the performance of information technology (IT) project, and the characteristic is a particular aspect of an IT project such as productivity.

Benchmarking is one of the fastest-growing techniques in the area of IT project management. Instances of IT project performance benchmarking are initiated and conducted for various reasons. Among the most common reasons are the following:
a) the need to compare project productivity between similar industries;
b) the need to compare productivity between different project types and technologies;
c) the need to find the most effective targets for IT development process improvement;
d) the need to compare productivity between different suppliers;
e) the need to improve project management maturity; f) the need to improve project estimation capability.

Much has been written regarding the trials of establishing IT project performance benchmarking, and statistics bear witness to the high failure rate of measurement and benchmarking programs. The most probable causes for failure have been disappointment in the benchmarking outcomes due to a lack of alignment between the selected measurements and business goals, and the misunderstanding of project level measurements in relation to program and portfolio management levels. When there is no alignment between executed measurements and provided outcomes, unnecessary effort is required from the IT project teams collecting the project data. The result is decreased motivation to continue and institutionalize benchmarking. © ISO/IEC 2022 All rights reserved

External Links