Metrics and Earned Value in Clinical Research Projects

“[Companies]…measure too much or too little, or the wrong things, and they don’t use their metrics effectively.” Michael Hammer Founder of Business Process Reengineering

The above quotation from Michael Hammer is as valid today as it was when he first said it. This workshop is about the effective use of metrics to monitor the real progress of your clinical research project. There are two types of metrics ‘Leading’ and ‘Lagging’. The former provides the project manager with information on the status of a project and allows him or her to forecast outcomes. The second type of metric, the lag metric, provides information on what has happened and is more of a historical record. Leading metrics are few and far between and are the most useful for a project manager. We cannot talk about metrics without discussing Key Performance Indicators (KPI) – the clue is in the name, they must be important (Key), they must be a measure of performance, and they must be indicators that allow you to forecast, so by definition these are leading metrics. The session will also look at deliverables and the important part that they play in the calculation of the Earned Value (EV), which is the ultimate leading metric and KPI for project progress. The session will include a demonstration on how you can use EV to monitor progress in clinical research projects.