Is it worth measuring productivity improvement (soft) benefits in project management?

[KenStandfield]

Many projects today seek to increase productivity, effectiveness,
employee engagement, customer service, retention, knowledge value,
collaboration effectiveness, etc - as well as reduce costs. Cost
savings are easy to quantify, but non-financial value is typically
very difficult to quantify.

We have developed the capabilities to financially value and
financially report productivity, effectiveness, and other intangible
benefits (aka "soft benefits") associated with projects and was
wondering if this is something that would be beneficial to the project
management community?

For example, if a project sought to increase employee engagement then
would estimating the current financial value of engagement and
disengagement inside an organization in terms of cost , revenue,
earnings, and financial analyst metrics (such as return on assets,
return on equity, etc) be a worthwhile thing? The same could be said
for knowledge activities, collaboration activities, and other human
capital orientated approaches. By creating an initial position, and
then estimating the value of performance improvement interventions to
the end state, the gap could be valued, and a figure put forward to
estimate the value of the project in terms of productivity
improvement, revenue improvement, earnings improvement, and if
suitable even market value and share price improvement.

Your thoughts and views would be much appreciated and welcomed.

Best,
Ken Standfield
http://www.standardsinstitute.org

[shippee]

This seems almost like a rhetorical question, as it is posted in many
other groups exactly the same way by the same author ... see for
example,

http://www.mcse.ms/message2407971.html

http://www.mcse.ms/message2407928.html

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.projectmng/browse_thread/thread/c5371a8a846243b1/7ab4c45fc597700c#7ab4c45fc597700c

However, I would submit were one to use one of the three basic tools
and techniques for cost estimates:

analogous or top-down: use the actual cost of a previous, similar
project as the basis for the new estimate

bottom-up: estimate individual work items and sum them to get a total
estimate

parametric: use project characteristics in a mathematical model to
estimate costs

then one could incorporate ways to accomodate "earned value
management", thereby capturing some of these non-financial costs.

v/t/y

Steven Shippee

On Jan 28, 5:16 pm, "KenStandfield"