From the course: Project Management Foundations

Identify project deliverables and success criteria

From the course: Project Management Foundations

Identify project deliverables and success criteria

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- [Instructor] Put simply, project deliverables are the results that a project delivers. To determine whether deliverables are what they're supposed to be, you need some way to measure them. Those measurements are called success criteria. Deliverables can be tangible, like a building, a new product, or a new service. They can also be more abstract, like improved results, say a decrease in reported errors. Deliverables help you define the project scope, which basically means what is and isn't included in the project. Deliverables then help you measure progress while your project is underway. To document project deliverables, start by listing the end deliverables. That is the results your project delivers at the end of the project. For example, one end deliverable for the scheduling project would be "new scheduling system and processes launched". Next, document intermediate deliverables, which are delivered during the course of the project. An intermediate deliverable for the scheduling project would be to sign a contract with the scheduling system vendor. Keep in mind, the project customer doesn't necessarily receive intermediate deliverables. For example, you might have an intermediate deliverable for completion of initial system testing that the customer doesn't have to approve. Try to define deliverables that can be accomplished in the timeframe between status reports, that way you can evaluate progress based on the deliverables completed since the last report. Now that you've identified your deliverables, how can you tell that the ones you receive are what the stakeholders want? You guessed it, you need quantifiable criteria you can measure them with. Success criteria are definitions of what success looks like. Some are easy to figure out, like signed vendor contracts or the certificate of occupancy for a building. Other criteria are not so easy, because they're subjective. To be effective, write success criteria that are clear and quantifiable. For the scheduling project, you might define success for increased customer satisfaction as a four out of five rating on customer surveys. Deliverables are the results your project is supposed to deliver. Success criteria help you determine whether those deliverables are what you need. For practice, try to identify some end and intermediate deliverables for the hospital scheduling project. Then define success criteria that are clear and quantifiable.

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