Project Management Best Practices: Achieving Global Excellence, 4th Edition

11 Measuring Return on Investment on Project Management Training Dollars

11.0 INTRODUCTION

For almost three decades, the 1960s through the 1980s, the growth and acceptance of project management were restricted to the aerospace, defense, and heavy construction industries. In virtually all other industries, project management was nice to have but not a necessity. Very few project management training programs were offered in the public marketplace, and those that were offered covered the basics of project management with weak attempts to customize the material to a specific company. The concept of measuring the return on investment (ROI) on training, at least in project management courses, was nonexistent. More recently, however, several studies have quantified the benefits of project management and there has been some pioneering work on the benefits of project management training.¹ There is still a great deal of effort needed, but at least we have recognized the need.

Today, our view of project management education has changed and so has our desire to evaluate ROI on project management training funds. There are several reasons for this:

• Executives realize that training is a basic necessity for companies to grow.
• Employees want training for professional growth and advancement opportunities.
• Project management is now viewed as a profession rather than a part-time occupation.
• The importance of becoming a PMP^® credential holder² has been increasing.
• There are numerous university ...