Integrated Measurement strategy (Part 3)

Identify the key performance indicators (KPIs) and define an objective

When I start to create a measurement strategy the first thing I do is to define all the key performance indicators (KPIs) that will be used to measure the success of a project.  I usually create a table with a spreadsheet to house the KPI information.  Within the table I create either three or fours columns.  The first column within the table created I use for the name of the KPI, second column is usually the description of the KPI and finally the last column is the objective of the KPI.  If your project is an integrated program that involves many channels then I would also create another column to specify which channel the metric is coming from.  Once the table is created I go through each of the KPIs and define an objective.  This is a key step to the process.  When defining an objective I always ask myself, what will I learn from this KPI or what insight will I gain?  If I am unable to define a clear measurement objective for a KPI it is removed from the list.