Measurable Organizational Value (MOV)

The first phase of a project begins with conceptualizing the project’s goal and overall measure of success called the Measurable Organizational Value (MOV). The Measurable Organizational Value (MOV) is the goal of the project and is used to define the value that your project will bring to your client. To provide real value to an organization, a project must align with and support the organization’s vision, mission, and strategy.

The MOV must:

• Be measurable: measurement provides a clear definition of success for all of the project’s stakeholders.
• Provide value: time and resources should not be devoted to a project unless it can bring value to the organization.
• Be agred upon: a clear and agreed upon MOV sets expectations for the project’s stakeholders. The MOV must be doable and worth doing.
• Be verifiable: if the MOV acts as a measure of success, then it must be verified at the end of the project. This does not always mean that the MOV will be met immediately at the end of the project when the product, service, or system is delivered. Often there will be a time period of perhaps a week, a month, or even a year before the full value of the MOV is achieved; however, the organization should evaluate the MOV in order to know whether it received the value it envisioned for the time, money, and resources invested in the project.

The following steps to define project’s MOV:

• Identify the desired area of impact: a project can have an impact on an organization in many different ways. (Customer, Strategic, Financial, Operational, Social)
• Identify the desired value of the project: once the desired area of impact is identified, the next step involves determining the desired value the project can bring to the organization.
• Develop an appropriate metric: once there is agreement as to the value the project will bring to the organization, the next step is to develop a metric, or set of metric, that:
• Provides the project team with a performance target or directive
• Sets expectations among all stakeholders
• Affords a means for evaluating whether the project is a success later on.
• Set a time frame for achieving the MOV: once you have identified the area of impact, value to the organization, and an appropriate metric, you need to set a time frame for achieving the MOV. Keep in mind that this time frame may not coincide with the scheduled completion of the project work.
• Summarize the MOV in a clear, concise statement or table: once the impact and value to the organization are verified and agreed upon by all the project stakeholders, the MOV should be summarized in a single statement or table. Summarizing the MOV provides an important chance to get final agreement and verification, provides a simple and clear directive for the project team, and sets explicit expectations for all project stakeholders.

References

Jack T. Marchewka. (2014).Information Technology Project Management. 05th Edition. 1STBL. Singapore. ISBN: 978-1118911013 .