S.M.A.R.T. Objectives

by Liz Meyers

If your audit team has been asked to be part of a large IT project, the first way you can help is to review all project objectives to make sure they are S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound) and that they tie in with the project’s overall strategy.   Without S.M.A.R.T. objectives, team members may be unclear as to what they are responsible for doing. This leads to people working hard, but just not on the right things. Remember, the number one reason project teams fail is they don't have a complete understanding of what they are trying to achieve! It is difficult to hold anyone accountable for their deliverables if the objectives can be easily misinterpreted.

Common business objectives often do not follow the S.M.A.R.T. guidelines.  For example, the objective “Implement new third-party CRM system A.S.A.P.” is not S.M.A.R.T. because it does not define a specific time frame. "A.S.A.P." can be defined by the CIO as “within 12 months”, while the CFO defines "A.S.A.P." as “within 3 months”; big difference. This objective could be made S.M.A.R.T. by changing "A.S.A.P." to “October 31, 2012”. An objective to “program a 200 man-hour enhancement to current payroll system within 2 hours” by placing 100 programmers on the job is not realistic. If you find objectives like these, work with the appropriate managers to make the objectives S.M.A.R.T. Below is an example of a S.M.A.R.T. objective.

Strategy:      Increase Market penetration by 25%

Project Objective or Initiative:

Select, purchase, and implement a package CRM System at all company sales regional offices by December 2012.

Activities:

1.  Select and purchase CRM system and vendor by Dec 15, 2010.

2.  Design Phase to be completed by March 31, 2011

3.  Programming and Data clean up completed by Oct. 31, 2011.

4.  Testing completed by Jan 31, 2012.

Note: Activities under the Project Objective become the S.M.A.R.T objectives to the various teams that they are assigned.

Verifying the project’s objectives are S.M.A.R.T. will assure the project teams are working on the right things to make the project successful.