Do you measure how well your processes are performing, and if so, how? Having the data is the first step. The metric that comes up most is time in status. How long does work stay in each stage before moving forward?
Use time in status dashboard widgets to show the average time your team spends in each status or phase, compared to the service level agreements they have committed to. An SLA of two days for a review stage averaging six days in reality tells you the review stage is the problem. You can track total project time from start to finish versus the target, broken down by project type and by quarter.
Tracking time in status, overdue tasks, and last modified date together is especially useful for work that does not have obvious visibility, like procurement steps or tasks without a stakeholder watching them closely.
How to define a successful process
Before you can measure whether your process is working, you need to define what working looks like. What is the expected time from project start to completion for each type of work you do? What should the average time in each status be? Set those as benchmarks, then compare reality against them.
Without existing benchmarks, start by running reports on what is happening. What is the average time in each status over the last quarter? How many projects are completed on time versus late? Those numbers become your baseline, and targets follow from there.
What to build in your dashboard
The widgets that come up most: overdue tasks by owner, so you can see immediately who has worked past its deadline. Time in status by project type, to see where specific types of projects consistently slow down. Projects completed on time versus late, tracked by week or month. Workload distribution across the team, to catch situations where one person is overloaded while others have capacity.
For teams doing more advanced reporting, Wrike Analyze lets you build charts that track project completion times over multiple quarters and compare performance across project types.
All of this only works when the data in Wrike is being maintained accurately. Statuses that are not updated, tasks without due dates, and projects with no clear owners will all degrade the quality of whatever you are measuring.
Before investing in building dashboards, spend time making sure the basics are being done consistently. Statuses updated when work moves. Due dates are set on every task. Every task has an owner. Once those habits are in place, the measurement becomes meaningful.