We’re struggling with KPI management in ProjectPlace due to the way permissions work. Any user who has access to create or view a portfolio also has the ability to add, modify, or delete KPIs—and things can get messy very quickly.
We’ve communicated to our Portfolio Admins that KPIs are shared across all teams using ProjectPlace, and that they should not deactivate or modify KPIs without broader consideration. Usually this message lands and things work out—but it only takes one rogue user to create chaos 😯.
We experienced this again last week when a group renamed a large number of KPIs to “deleted” and marked them as deactivated because they decided they no longer wanted to use them. These admins had originally created the KPIs some time ago, so they felt they “owned” them and should be able to dispose of them—despite the KPIs being in use elsewhere.
One idea we’re considering is assigning each group its own KPI category that they are responsible for managing. We would make it clear to all Portfolio Admins that if they choose to use a KPI from another group’s category, they are subject to any changes that group makes. The intent would be to:
- Encourage teams to primarily use their own KPIs
- Increase awareness of the risk of using KPIs created by others
This approach wouldn’t fully prevent the issue, and the biggest downside is that it would likely increase the number of duplicate KPIs. That said, duplication already exists today—this would just amplify an existing problem.
Separately, I plan to submit an IdeaPlace request to allow KPIs to be managed at the Account Admin level, rather than by all Portfolio Admins.
In the meantime, I’d really like to hear from others:
- How are you managing KPI governance in ProjectPlace?
- Have you found any effective ways to prevent accidental or unauthorized KPI changes?
Thanks in advance for any insights you’re willing to share.