KPI Formula Issue - "Change Requests Managed" = Changed/Total

[zubairn]

Hi,

If my KPI is "Change Requests Managed" and the formula is: Completed Change Requests/Total number of Change Requests

If in a particular month the number of requested changes is 0 then denominator will be 0 and hence mathematically the result will be infinity. Is this ok or how should the KPI be adjusted?

thanks

 

[Pancho]

Re: KPI formula issue

Chuck Norris could do it!


Kidding aside. Why don't you simply report the two numbers along with their ratio?

Here, for the ratio, you can copy and paste this: ∞.

 

[Jim Wynne]

Re: KPI formula issue

Hi,

If my KPI is "Change Requests Managed" and the formula is: Completed Change Requests/Total number of Change Requests

If in a particular month the number of requested changes is 0 then denominator will be 0 and hence mathematically the result will be infinity. Is this ok or how should the KPI be adjusted?

thanks

Welcome to the Cove.

What's your target? If your target is, for example, to have all change requests completed with in x days or weeks, you only have to track the elapsed time between submission and completion.

 

[zubairn]

Well, i agree its a silly question but still....

when the formula is inserted in a balance scorecard tool. infinity would not show in the green graph area right...

the purpose of this particular kpi is just to indicate amount of work done (i know, not measuring quality or time aspects)

 

[Pancho]

Ok, maybe an alternative KPI would provide you with a measure of the work done for your Scorecard with less math yoga. CR = Change Request. Here are a few ideas:

• Net change in open CRs: CRs opened this period - CRs closed this period
• Net % change in open CRs: (CRs opened - CRs closed) ÷ (open CRs at the beginning of the period + new CRs this period)
• Your own, transformed 1: CRs closed this period ÷ (open CRs at the beginning of the period + new CRs) (note that you couldn't close a CR this period if you didn't have it open at the beginning, so no x/0 here. You might get 0/0 tho!)
• Your own, transformed 2: (Completed Change Requests + 1) ÷ (Total number of Change Requests + 1). (there! Not even Chuck could 0 in this denominator.)
  

Good luck!

 

[pldey42]

When people are measured they try to make themselves look good. Therefore I think KPIs should be designed to encourage desired behaviour.

So the first question is, what does “change request managed” mean?

Does it mean that the request has been through impact analysis and either authorized or rejected? I hope so, because if it means that it has been implemented as well, it's asking for hurried implementations and mistakes. Let's assume it means “changes analyzed and authorized or rejected”.

It's trying to drive closure, and it seems as though a monthly cycle is desired by your organization. What happens when a CR is raised just before month end? Is it rushed, or can it be carried over? I would propose carried over. So the KPI ought to reflect the idea of giving a CR one month (30 days) to get itself managed:

Numerator = Number of CRs that were completed this month within their 30 day limit
Denominator = Number of CRs that should have been completed this month because their 30 days expired this month

Multiply the result by 100 to make it a precentage.

This will encourage people to complete CRs within 30 days of receipt, the behaviour I assume you want.

If both numbers are zero in a certain month, forcing the dashboard to go green could be a mistake, for it could indicate that the change request process has failed completely. Green should mean 100% of received CRs were completed on time and nothing else. If it's zero/zero, the KPI should show up as text: “No CRs this month” or such. Please do not allow yourself to be constrained by the tool. Make it do what you want. It's easy in software to write things something like:

If (denominator is zero) report “No CRs” Else (KPI = numerator/denominator * 100; report KPI)

If it won't do it, find a decent programmer or find a better tool.

Of course, if the KPI is defined this way, there is the matter of the CRs that did not get completed. One solution would be to make a similar KPI for overdue CRs, perhaps giving them closure timeframes of 60 and 90 days. This will encourage people to complete overdue CRs within 60, or at most 90 days. (After that I'd raise a corrective action to learn why not even 90 days is enough, and fix it.)

Hope this helps,
Pat

 

[zubairn]

thanks Pat and Pancho.

“changes analyzed and authorized or rejected”. i.e., managed change requests definately looks much more useful and indicative of the health of the CR process.
Brgds,
Zubair

 

[kgott]

When people are measured they try to make themselves look good. Therefore I think KPIs should be designed to encourage desired behaviour.

Pat

I dont want to appear to be stating the obvious here but we should be focusing on the process not on the people in the process.

I would suggest that you do as Jim suggests. Is there a particular reason for having change requests turnaround time as an improvement indicator?

I would have thought that its far better to use indicators that are directed at building capacity to improve. Some of the common type of indicators that are used are "convienience indicators" which contribute little to improvement of the system.

Perhaps consider the number of suggestions/opportunites for improvement which have been identifed, assessed and exploited by management as an indicator of both management committment and improvement of the management system.